Nomination Information
Purpose: To recognize system-level leaders who have had significant and demonstrable impact on the implementation of robust quality assurance practices in digital learning across an education system or consortium.
This award acknowledges that creating scalable and sustainable practices that drive and assure quality in digital teaching and learning requires leadership that aligns these efforts to strategic goals and facilitates the support of campus and external stakeholders. This award aims to recognize evidence of ability and impact in engaging and supporting a system of QM institutions in quality assurance implementation activities. Quality digital education — particularly online and hybrid learning — requires the types of connections between people, communication systems, policies, resources, and evaluation practices that can only be achieved through skillful and committed leadership.
GENERAL INFORMATION
- QM or MOL Board Members are not eligible for this award.
- Nominations, including self-nominations, are open to qualified leaders of QM systems.
- Use the online form to submit a nomination.
- Include complete contact information for the individual nominated (e.g., name, title, organization, address, phone, email)
- Include the contact name and information for the individual submitting the nomination
- The winner will be notified three months prior to the QM Connect Conference and announced at the Awards Presentation during the Conference.
Award Criteria
There are many dimensions of effective leadership for quality assurance in digital education. We seek to recognize leaders for their sustained leadership vision, strategic alignment of QA initiatives, principled approach to engagement, effective change management practice, and impact on quality assurance practices across the institutions and system.
- Sustained Leadership Vision: Must have: 1) responsibility for a system-level QM/quality assurance implementation; 2) articulated, adopted, or aligned with a comprehensive vision or philosophy of QA implementation for the system and/or the institutions that participate in the system; and 3) evidence of efforts to support the vision for a period of at least 4 years.
- Strategic Alignment of QA Initiatives
- Created and/or supported strategies that have had a significant impact on online/digital education and related quality assurance efforts by connecting such efforts to system-level strategic goals and/or directly supporting strategic goal alignment at the institution level.
- Principled Approach to Engagement
- Effective Stakeholder Involvement: Planned and supported inclusive ways to engage institutional faculty, staff, and QMCs. Garnered the support of key campus, system, and external stakeholders.
- Values and Ethics: Adhered to personal core values and ethical standards. Evidence of commitment to these values and ethics can be seen throughout their leadership, supported initiatives, goals, and outcomes.
- Effective Change Management Practice
- Developed and shared processes for navigating across institutional silos to change or improve staffing, communication systems, policies, resources, and evaluation practices to support the implementation of QA practices across institutions and supported by system collaborations.
- Demonstrated Impact on Quality Assurance Practice
- Recognition: Recognized by state, system and/or institutional leadership, faculty and staff, and/or students for impact of QA implementation.
- Impact: Developed or improved the practice of quality assurance for digital education within institutions and across the system, with metrics to showcase the efficacy of efforts or other meaningful impact on quality-related policy or practice.
Required Evidence
The Awards Committee will look for 1) a clear and explicit explanation in the narrative about how the criteria are demonstrated by the nominee in ways that support successful QM and quality assurance implementation; and 2) supporting implementation-related artifacts with a description or explanation of how the artifact demonstrates the achievement of the criteria.
Using the online form, please submit the following items as attachments and organize evidence to correspond to the following sections:
- Sustained Leadership Vision
- Demonstrate that the nominee has a recognized leadership role for system-level QA/QM implementation, goals for what they want to achieve, and evidence that they are working towards these goals.
- Evidence Examples:
- Resume/CV, job description or other evidence in title or charge that demonstrates responsibility for system-level QA implementation.
- Narrative that includes the articulation of the nominee’s vision (strategies/plans/goals) for QA system implementation and key ways they are implementing the plan.
- Strategic Alignment of QA Initiatives
- Demonstrate that the nominee has tied QA implementation goals to institutional or system strategic goals.
- Evidence Examples:
- Identification of, and links to, the specific system and/or institutional strategic plan goals or priorities with a narrative explanation of how the QA implementation plan has been aligned to these goals.
- Principled Approach to Engagement
- Demonstrate that the nominee has:
- Engaged in meaningful effort to engage campus and external stakeholders as appropriate to their plan.
- Adhered to a set of core values for respectful and ethical leadership.
- Evidence Examples:
- Artifacts with explanations of the practices used to engage faculty, staff, and QMCs directly in implementation efforts and to promote broader awareness for campus and/or external stakeholders; could include such as policies, practices, resources and/or actions taken.
- Narrative to articulate specific leadership principles and adherence to core values and ethical standards as demonstrated by specific examples drawn from practice.
- Demonstrate that the nominee has:
- Effective Change Management Practice
- Demonstrate that the nominee has facilitated cooperation and collaboration across institutional units and/or between institutions and provided specific resources, incentives and/or encouragement for this collaboration.
- Evidence Examples:
- Narrative, supported by relevant artifacts, of how cooperation and collaboration was achieved through the use of any or all of the following levers for change: staff tasking, communication practices, policies, resources, and data.
- Demonstrated Impact on Quality Assurance Practice
- Demonstrate that the nominee has:
- Earned prior recognition and/or awards for leadership in quality assurance or quality improvement in digital education and/or for service at the institutional and/or system level.
- Demonstrably improved the practice of quality assurance within institutions and across the system.
- Evidence Examples:
- Links to evidence about the awards along with a narrative description about the significance of the award.
- Narrative with verifiable acknowledgement (e.g. internal or external publications, websites, and other resources) of the change in institutional and/or system level QA practices to ensure quality in digital education.
- Demonstrate that the nominee has:
