Comparing Cookies to Courses

1
Comparing Cookies to Courses

• Best Practice Session at Detroit Lakes
• Based on Quality Matters Project Resources from
  the Maryland Online Consortium
• Deborah Proctor, Ph.D
• Deborah.proctor_at_csu.mnscu.edu
• E-Curriculum Director for Minnesota Online

2
Session Objectives

• Develop a rubric by
• Examining different brands of cookies.
• Determining the criteria for review.
• Setting the standards for the review.
• Reflect on the process of determining quality
  issues and standards.
• Discuss the implications for the process in
  online course review.

3
Quality Matters

• How do we
• identify recognize it?

• Determine the Criteria of the Reviewers?
• Develop a Rubric on Quality?

4
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

• ""Even though quality cannot be defined, you know
  what quality is."
• Robert M. Pirsig - Zen and the Art of Motorcycle
  Maintenance

5
Develop a Rubric

• 1. Determine the criteria Who can review?
• People with some experience in eating.

6

• 2. Examine the goods.
• Open the different bags of chocolate chip
  cookies.

7
Developing Standards

• 3. Establish the weighted criteria of the
  goods. These are your standards.

• What are the criteria?
• What weight will you give each criteria?

8
Rating the Goods

• 4. Collecting data
• How did you test the cookies for quality?
• How did you record the data?
• What are your cookie ratings?

9
Revisiting the Cookie Quality Criteria

• What were the deciding factors for quality in
  your group? The deal breakers?
• What insights to creating a rating rubric and
  process can your group share?
• What revisions did you make to your original
  rating rubric as you compared cookies?

10
The Reflection

• Did your group achieve consensus on the ratings?
  How?
• What were the greatest challenges to arriving at
  a consensus ranking?
• How comfortable would you be if you had to defend
  this rating before your vice president or before
  the faculty association?
• Can your criteria be applied to all such similar
  items?
• Is this process replicable? Can you use this
  process for other quality assurance activities?
• Based on your cookie review what advice would you
  give to quality assurance teams?

11
Cookies Dont Just Happen!

• Recipe
• Ingredients
• Processes
• Packaging
• Marketing
• Seal of Approval

• How is the process for creating quality cookies
  similar to quality online courses?

12
AnalogyCookies to Online Course Review
13
Quality Matters Project

• QM Key Outcomes
• 1) Replicable pathway for inter-institutional
  quality assurance (QA) of online courses
• 2) Faculty-centered, peer review-based,
  consortium-wide quality matters process

• 3) Review tools that incorporate nationally
  recognized standards of best practice
• 4) Face to face and online training
• 5) Expanded resource sharing and increased
  articulation agreements

14
Connecting Outcomes to Peer Review
15
What QM Peer Review is not!

• Not about an individual instructor (its about
  the course)
• Not about faculty evaluation (its
  about course quality)
• Not about winners and losers (its about
  continuous improvement in a supportive
  environment)

16
For Maryland Online Purposes, Quality Was
Described as

• More than average more than good enough
• An attempt to capture whats expected in an
  effective online course
• Based on research and widely accepted standards

100
Higher Standard
50
0
17
For Your Online Purposes, Quality Is? Discuss

• More than average more than good enough?
• An attempt to capture whats expected in an
  effective online course?
• Based on research and widely accepted standards?

100
50
0
18
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

• "What he meant by Quality was obvious. They
  obviously knew what it was too, and so they lost
  interest in listening. Their question now was
  "All right, we know what Quality is. How do we
  get it?""
• Robert M. Pirsig - Zen and the Art of Motorcycle
  Maintenance

19
Inter-Institutional Sharing

• Minnesota Online is a statewide consortium of 32
  community/ technical colleges and state
  universities offering a wide variety of courses
  programs available in our system and we dont
  share muchyet

• Maryland Online (MOL) is a statewide consortium
  of 10 Maryland community colleges and senior
  institutions that share courses.

20
What Are the Challenges?

• Inter-institutional agreement
• Increased articulation agreements
• Peer Review Process

• Adoption of rubric tools and/or standards
• Faculty training and buy-in
• Expanded sharing of resources

21
Scaffolds Ladders

• Great news! You do not have to start at the
  bottom.
• Qualitymatters.org
• ITEACH Online Center
• Merlot.org

22
Whats the Catch?

• Using QM Tools Resources
• Let them know you are using tools
• If you revamp or revise resources or toolsshare
  the materials with them
• Let them know success and challenges of projects
  related to establishing QM

23
Quality MattersQA Process Overview

• Review of online courses by teams of 3 faculty
  members
• Using Rubric tied to national standards of best
  practice
• Feedback provided for improvement of course
  quality
• Instructional design support provided to
  implement recommendations
• Certification of course when standards met

24
Goals for Selecting Courses

• Focus on quality
• Continuous improvement
• Positive environment
• Low-risk
• Increase number of shareable courses