Conference Presentations

A study that explores strategies to better meet the needs of university students participating in blended/hybrid courses will be presented and discussed.  In this study, feedback from students on the challenges of participating in blended/hybrid courses was put into practice in 12 blended courses.  Implications for blended course design and instruction will be explored with suggestions for some simple strategies to enhance the blended/hybrid course experience for all students.

As education programs across the country transition from NCATE to CAEP accreditation, programs need new ways to present evidence of program quality. By aligning education course to QM Standards, education programs can create LMS course models that integrate assessment must-haves across programs; this helps accreditation leaders make a compelling case for program quality. Participants will see examples from a required graduate research course designed on the QM model and also see examples of how course-based assessment melds with course objectives within Canvas LMS.

Teaching online requires a unique balance of pedagogical and time management skills. Open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, the online classroom can seem overwhelming to both new and experienced online faculty. In the demanding COVID-19 era of remote and hyflex teaching, faculty may experience burn-out associated with facilitating online forums, posting assignments, and providing feedback.

Don't know where to start with curriculum mapping? No instructional designer?  No problem!  Learn how QM Standards inspired faculty as they developed assessment models.  With QM Standards guiding the way, you will no longer be "lost in the woods."  Bring your electronic device for an interactive game.

Do your course activities go along with your learning objectives? You need course mapping to align your course components and meet QM Standards! This poster will break down course mapping into easy steps, share tips, provide samples and templates, and give you hands-on course mapping practice.

Courses become journeys into content for many learners.  Come experience how to map out and align their journey through your course by using a course mapping strategy!  Tools and explanations will be provided for participants to create a course map.

Often, faculty are unfamiliar with instructional design principles and at the same time instructional designers are unfamiliar with course subject matter. As for the students, their question is, “Why am I doing this?”  This session will discuss using course maps to help faculty and designers work together to conceptualize goals for instruction, to help students understand the purpose of course goals and instructional materials, and to design instruction that satisfies QM alignment standards (2.1, 2.2, 3.1, 4.1, 5.1, and 6.1).

 

If you have been involved in a Quality Matters (QM) review, you know how detailed and thorough these need to be. During our reviews, we started to notice that "course alignment" is probably the predominant aspect of most of the essential standards that the QM rubric measures, and that it is not always easy inferring the intentions of the course designer or subject matter expert (SME), when designing the course materials and assessments. In other words, the journey of mapping the alignment between course objectives, modular objectives, course materials and assessments is not an easy one.

Any QM expert knows alignment can be a bumpy road! Sometimes we come across potholes like unclear objectives and unaligned activities and assessments. In this presentation, the speaker will distill how the nouns (the what) of a standard and the verbs (the how) form a foundation for alignment. During this 50-minute road trip, we’ll make pit stops using tools like polls and small group activities to better understand how to reach our alignment destination.

Have you ever felt powerless or creatively paralyzed when it comes to incorporating the QM Standards in your course design? In this dynamic, practical, and powerful session, you will learn how to develop a functional Master Course Template that will address 26 of the 43 Quality Matters Standards.

Developing an effective online course can be challenging and requires a more than average score on the instructional materials and resources Quality Matters Rubric.

Join us as we share our adventures as a faculty group of digital immigrants who collaboratively designed five core courses in an education Master’s program. Based on Best Practices in faculty development, our session will provide insight into working as a team to meet QM principles. We will outline tips  that can be used as you transition to online learning, you will reflect on how a collaborative program development process could work for you. 

Online faculty development programs have become critical for academic staff in higher education. The Pathway to Master Online Instructor Program was created to meet faculty's needs in course design, delivery, and course improvement. A study,based on Phase 1 of the program, examined the design of an online teaching certificate course developed according to QM standards. The presentation reports the results of the study and provides opportunities for participants to explore the relationship between QM essential Standards and faculty-perceived learning.

Do you have a theory of action?  What guiding principles and strategies do you find essential to plan and deliver synchronous instruction online?  Join us for this interactive and dynamic exploration of best practices in synchronous instruction, where you'll have the opportunity to learn from and collaborate with fellow leaders. Together, we'll uncover strategies that lead to highly effective synchronous sessions, transforming your online teaching game for the better!

Handouts

While a successful QM review is the ultimate goal, there are many ways to embed quality along the way and maximize "met" objectives. A multi-state panel representing several K-12 programs will discuss how QM principles can be included in all aspects of online education.