Systemwide Program to Support and Enhance Academic Quality in Online Courses March 5, 2014 Introduction The CSU follows the national, accelerating trend of significant growth in online teaching and learning. As CSU campuses offer additional online courses, it is critical to define quality online teaching and learning, as well as to determine how to assess it and make desired improvements. It is necessary to support faculty, staff, and administrators to design and deliver hybrid and online courses successfully with our students achieving and exceeding our academic standards and graduating in a timely manner. The State of California Assembly Bill 386, passed in 2013, requires the CSU to provide its students access to all fully online CSU courses across our 23 campuses by fall 2015. The CSU developed CourseMatch in fall 2013 and is currently offering 45 fully online courses to CSU students in spring 2014. The launching of CourseMatch serves as an opportunity to evaluate a range of processes to implement the requirements of AB 386. For example, the student academic administrative infrastructure to enable the articulation, discovery, enrollment, completion, and transcripting process for students utilizing CourseMatch is being developed. In addition, the Chancellor s Office, in partnership with the CSU Academic Senate, will support a systemwide program to support and enhance the academic quality of fully online courses being offered by the campuses and/or included in CourseMatch. As noted in the ASCSU Online Education White Paper, teaching and learning in fully online courses requires a different combination of skills, knowledge, content, and pedagogy for faculty and student success. The program will be guided by a set of principles that draws upon the existing strengths of the CSU faculty, campus leadership and organizations, and collaboration. Recognize and support existing expertise and proven methods for course redesign within the CSU by establishing CSU centers of excellence whose responsibilities will be to share, mentor, and support the evaluation of the exemplary practices Ensure a focus on department implementations which support communities of faculty and the institutionalization of the innovations within their academic programs Support systemwide networks of faculty and staff committed to improving student learning through transforming course design and scholarship of teaching and learning Page 1
Innovate course designs by integrating new pedagogical approaches with technology to provide interactive learning activities and student engagement Leverage open educational content, lowering costs for students and increasing available contemporary content for students to use to support their learning Leverage vendors and professional organizations who can provide services that support building the CSU capabilities in course redesign Provide a wide range of cost- effective supplemental instruction services with a focus on technologies targeted to improve student readiness and success, including tutoring, basic skills development, online communities, and other high impact practices, available 24/7 To support and enhance the academic quality of online courses and rapidly increase the readiness, scalability, and sustainability of successful CourseMatch courses, the CSU will address seven (7) major goals. 1. Students should be prepared for success in fully online courses. 2. Online learning experiences should provide students with equivalent (or better) quality instruction as they receive from traditional face- to- face courses. 3. Online courses must be accessible and useable by all students, including those with disabilities. 4. Student achievement of learning outcomes should contribute to the metrics on quality education. 5. Academic integrity of student performance must be assured to minimize cheating and plagiarism. 6. Campuses need to support faculty designing and delivering quality online courses with professional development and support services. 7. Techniques, experiences and outcomes from the various campus projects should be disseminated widely across the CSU campuses through effective communications between campuses as well as the Chancellor s Office. Progress to Date The CSU Chancellor s Office Academic Technology Services has been developing and implementing systemwide services that will enable the CSU to quickly and effectively make significant progress on the above seven (7) goals. 1. QOLT (Quality Online Learning and Teaching) program has been designed and implemented by faculty and staff of the CSU. QOLT integrates a number of existing evaluation rubrics to advise, inform, and recognize quality online courses. The QOLT program is in its 3 rd year of adoption in the CSU, with 17 campuses using the QOLT assessment rubric to evaluate and recognize a total of over 200 hybrid and online Page 2
courses. The QOLT program provides campus faculty the tools and training to conduct the assessment of the quality of their fully online courses. The QOLT rubric can be used by the instructor in a self- assessment, by an invited colleague as a peer- reviewer, and by the instructor s students. Each level of review provides an opportunity for the instructor to gain valuable insights about online course design. 2. Quality Matters (QM ) is a not- for- profit, nationally recognized program which provides training for faculty to become certified as online course evaluators using the QM guidelines and provides certification of courses meeting the QM standards for quality of online teaching and learning. The CSU QM systemwide contract is in its 2 nd year of providing a 67% discount on campus membership and about 50% discount on certification and training programs. Three CSU campuses have become QM institution members. 3. Wiley Learning Institute is a nationally recognized, for- profit unit of Wiley & Sons that provides virtual and face- to- face faculty professional development for faculty to learn innovative and effective pedagogies for hybrid and online teaching and learning. The CSU is implementing a 2 nd year of this program in collaboration with the CSU Institute for Teaching and Learning, as well as the CSU Faculty Development Council. Wiley Learning Institute is providing services at significant discounts under systemwide agreement. Approximately ten campuses have incorporated the Wiley Learning Institute trainings and resources into their faculty development programs. 4. Academic Integrity services have been supported for many years through systemwide contracts for plagiarism detection technologies (e.g. Turnitin) and online exam development and delivery tools (e.g. Respondus). Both of these services have been integrated into almost all CSU campus learning management systems. In addition, Academic Technology Services is currently working with ProctorU to develop a systemwide contract for high quality, online exam proctoring. 5. Accessible Technology Initiative has been providing a variety of services and resources to support faculty and staff utilizing websites, technology tools, and instructional materials that are more accessible. In addition, Universal Design for Learning principles and methods have been incorporated into a number of the Course Redesign programs. Responding to the Challenge of Quality Online Education in the CSU With the prospect of over 3,000 fully online courses being available through CourseMatch in fall 2015, the CSU needs to establish, promote, and implement quality assurance practices by faculty and staff. With 20,000 faculty in the CSU and only an estimated 300 faculty currently supported through the 2013-14 Course Redesign with Technology programs (www.calstate.edu/courseredesign), the CSU needs to implement a program to further support more faculty to implement exemplary online instructional practices and ensure students will Page 3
have a successful learning experience. While campus programs do exist, these efforts will go further by providing the resources and support to enable greater development and assessment of online course quality. Providing faculty and campus staff the professional development will be essential to build quality into the courses as they are developed. Milestones will need to be achieved if the CSU is to be successful in its online courses strategy. Below is a list of possible milestones that will need to be defined and achieved. Spring 2014, most CourseMatch courses (~ 35) will have completed a QOLT assessment (self- evaluation, student- ratings, peer- review) Fall 2014, most CourseMatch courses (~ 100) will have completed a QOLT assessment (self- evaluation, student- ratings, peer- review) Spring 2015, most CourseMatch courses (~ 500) will have completed a QOLT assessment (self- evaluation, student- ratings, peer- review) Fall 2015, most CourseMatch and AB 386 courses (~ 2,000) will have completed a QOLT assessment (self- evaluation, student- ratings, peer- review) Supporting Campus Quality Assurance Efforts The Chancellor s Office will implement an RFP process to fund campuses implementing quality assurance programs for their online courses. Campuses are at different stages of readiness to support the design, quality assurance, and delivery of fully online courses. The RFP will provide campuses flexibility to define their program that is aligned with their readiness and priorities. Recommended components for campus proposals include: A campus program for implementing professional development services supporting the quality, integrity, and accessibility of online instruction and supporting the timely and reliable assessment and reporting of course quality redesign activities on their campus. The campus program needs to be aligned with other campus priorities and the campus online education policy. Each campus will deliver the program through the appropriate organizational unit that provides faculty development and support for hybrid and online teaching and learning. A Faculty Associate who will facilitate and manage the implementation, assessment and reporting of the quality assurance strategies on their campus CourseMatch and fully online courses. The role of the Faculty Associate can be performed by existing faculty and/or staff or can be a new assignment on campus. The Faculty Associate can be provided assigned time to work within their campus faculty center for teaching and learning or similar organizational unit. Page 4
The integration of systemwide shared services that are aligned with the campus priorities and online education strategy. The initial launch of the quality assurance program will become part of the larger course redesign efforts, a significant and long- term initiative in the CSU and we will continue to integrate quality assurance services into our eacademies. Recommendations for Proposed Campus Program The systemwide program to support and enhance quality of online courses will require many people and organizations to work collaboratively. We realize that the short timeline, the complexity of quality assurance issues and strategies, and the needs to consult with faculty, staff, and students on your quality assurance strategies will create some challenges in preparing your proposal. We realize that not all campuses will be ready to launch a major quality assurance program immediately so propose activities that will get you started this year and help you become better prepared for expanded quality assurance activities next year (We expect the next RFP for 2014-15 will be distributed in early fall 2014). Getting Started This Year- Preparing for Next Year: Below are some recommended responsibilities for personnel leading and facilitating the components of a campus quality assurance program as well as other systemwide groups responsibilities to support campus programs. In developing your campus proposal, you can incorporate some roles and responsibilities within your plans as they fit your campus priorities, readiness, and culture. Consultation with faculty, academic technology support staff, and student support services will be important to shape proposal. Responsibilities of the Campus Personnel in Campus Program: Proposal for campus programs will need to identify campus personnel and organizations who will be effective leaders for their campus quality assurance program. Some campuses have existing faculty and staff who are performing these responsibilities and some do not. In either case, the role of Faculty Associates can be critical to support the peer- to- peer professional development and the successful adoption of quality assurance methods to a growing number of online courses. 1. Faculty Associates mentor their colleagues on their campus in supporting quality online education. There are a variety of resources and services that can be used by the Faculty Associates to develop their skills and knowledge about quality assurance and online education. The training and certification opportunities listed below can enable the Faculty Associate to fulfill their responsibilities more successfully. a. Complete training in the use and support of the QOLT course evaluation instruments b. Become a certified Quality Matters (QM) peer- reviewer of online courses Page 5
i. Complete the Applying the Quality Matters Rubric training ii. Complete the QM Peer Reviewers Course c. Participate in the systemwide Course Redesign, Professional Learning Community activities d. Support campus participation in CourseMatch and the application of quality assurance 2. Faculty Associates and a campus team coordinate campus participation in systemwide quality assurance programs, including a. Systemwide QOLT program for fully online courses b. Adoption of tools and training for improving academic integrity of student performance c. Adoption of instructional materials accessibility and Universal Design for Learning methods for improving accessibility of online learning for all students, including those with disabilities d. Adoption of shared services provided by Chancellor s Office and/or external partners contracted through the Chancellor s Office 3. Faculty Associates and a campus team provide local program management to reliably and effectively communicate the progress and outcomes of the campus projects a. Be communications point- of- contact between the Chancellor s Office and the campus for CourseMatch, AB 386, and the Enrollment Bottleneck Solutions Initiative b. Coordinate with CSU Faculty Development Council in developing reports for the ASCSU and ATS Responsibilities of the CSU Faculty Development Council: Academic Technology Services will be working with and supporting the CSU Faculty Development Council as its members support the following potential activities. 1. Facilitate and support respective Faculty Associates in their efforts to fulfill the above responsibilities. The Faculty Development Council s leadership will build and support a professional learning community for Faculty Associates as an initial task 2. Facilitate the sharing of exemplary quality assurance and course redesign across the CSU through the annual systemwide CSU Symposium on University Teaching 3. Produce bi- annual reports on the Faculty Associates activities and the campuses quality assurance program outcomes and activities to the Chancellor s Office & ASCSU Responsibilities of Academic Senate of the CSU (ASCSU) Academic Technology Services will be working with and supporting the Academic Senate of the CSU in as its members support the following activities. Page 6
1. Provide policy advice on design and implementation of the systemwide program supporting quality, integrity, and accessibility of fully online courses through the appropriate ASCSU committees (Academic Technology Advisory Committee, Academic Affairs, and/or Faculty Affairs) 2. Participate in the review of campus proposals responding to the RFP for quality assurance programs Responsibilities of Chancellor s Office Academic Technology Services 1. Administer and fund the systemwide components of the Quality Assurance Program 2. Design, implement, and assess the systemwide components of the Quality Assurance Program 3. Facilitate and advise campus personnel on their design, implementation, and assessment of the campus components of the quality assurance program 4. Consult and collaborate with ASCSU, Academic Council, and the CSU Faculty Development Council to continuously improve the design, implementation, and outcomes for the quality assurance program Proposal Guidelines, Funding, and Timeline: Proposal Guidelines: Your campus proposal will consist of 4 sections: 1. Background and Goals of Campus Proposal 2. Project Plan 3. Proposed Budget 4. Signature of Provost Background and Goals of Campus Proposal: need to provide a description of campus goals and support for their quality assurance program. The description should include: 1. Brief description of your campus current quality assurance activities supporting online education. Please include a brief description of your current organization(s) or department(s) that would support an expanded quality assurance program (e.g. Centers for Teaching and Learning, Faculty Development Centers, Learning Assistance Centers, etc.). 2. Brief description of your campus goals to provide quality assurance services to your faculty and staff for enhancing and improving academic quality of online education. Alignment of your proposal goals to the broader campus goals and priorities is important. Page 7
3. Brief description of the estimated number and types of courses and faculty that will complete a quality assurance program for the next year (2014-2015). For example, We will be targeting 10 fully online courses for 2014-15; 7 will be lower division general education in biology, environmental science, history, and anthropology departments and 3 will be upper division courses required in our business major. We will review and improve the accessibility of the instructional materials in these 10 fully online courses as well. We plan for at least 50% of the courses being part of CourseMatch by Spring 2015. We plan on increasing the use of Turnitin plagiarism detection software by 15% in 2014-15 and test the use of online exam proctoring services in about 20 courses in 2014-15. Overall, we are estimating about 50 faculty participate in the program with about 10 faculty completing the Quality Matters peer- reviewer certification program. Project Plan: Your project plan should describe how you plan to develop and implement a sustainable quality assurance program for campus online courses. Please include: 1. Brief description of some coherent combination of activities designed to achieve goals, such as communications and outreach to faculty and staff to increase awareness and understanding of quality assurance services, face- to- face workshops and webinars about the different quality assurance services, coordinate faculty participation in QOLT program, coordinate faculty participation in professional development programs and training by Quality Matters, Wiley Learning Institute, Sloan- C, and/or others, coordinate faculty participation in professional development programs and training on academic integrity tools and strategies, and coordinate faculty participation in professional development programs and training on universal design for learning strategies and accessibility tools and strategies. 2. Brief description of your campus team which will support and integrate your Faculty Associate s (or other campus) efforts into your campus online education and professional development activities. There is a range of responsibilities and activities for a successful quality assurance in online education program and all of the burdens should not be placed on the Faculty Associate. 3. Campus commitments to complement and sustain funding and support for their centers for faculty professional development (or similar) within which the Faculty Associates will function. 4. Your project plan will require a campus contact for communicating about the project activities and progress with the Chancellor s Office, the CSU Faculty Development Council, and the Academic Senate of the CSU. This person could be the same as Faculty Associate but not necessarily. Please provide the contact information (Name, Title and Department, Email and phone). Page 8
Funding Requests: Funding requests should be between $10,000 and $20,000, depending on campus readiness, scope of the project, and campus contributions to program. Funds requested for: 1. Faculty assigned time 2. Faculty summer support and stipends 3. Training and professional development support 4. Funding for shared services 5. Travel Campus matching funds and support (when appropriate): 1. Faculty assigned time 2. Faculty summer support and stipends 3. Training and professional development support 4. Funding for shared services 5. Travel Below are some funding recommendations that might align with your campus proposal. 1. $1,000 stipend for conducting QOLT assessments (self and peer- evaluation) for each course that was in the 2013-14 CourseMatch program and will be taught in 2014-15 CourseMatch program. The QOLT assessments need to be completed by Sept 1, 2014 to receive a stipend. 2. Faculty Associate: Funds can cover assigned time and summer to support activities in spring 2014 and AY 2014-15 estimated at $12,000. a. Please provide the contact information (Name, Title and Department, Email and phone) and brief description of how this project is aligned with the person s current responsibilities. 3. Training and certification a. CO will support for all cost of QM training and certification for peer- reviewers in Spring- Summer 2014 b. Campus supports 50% of the cost of QM training and certification for peer- reviewers in Fall 2014 and Spring 2015 c. Campus supports cost of QM campus partner fee (est. $1,100 per year) while CO supports system partner fee (est. $5,500) d. CO and campus share travel costs for QOLT training at CSU faculty development events and conference when feasible and appropriate Page 9
4. Faculty support for participation in various campus delivered/coordinated quality assurance programs that result in adoption of quality assurance processes. 5. Use of shared services with the Chancellor s Office, external partners and/or professional organizations to facilitate scaling, leveraging systemwide contracts. Systemwide contracts include services related to academic Integrity, instructional quality, course redesign, accessibility, etc. Some of the existing vendors of these contracts include: i. Wiley Learning Institute ii. Quality Matters iii. Sloan- C Timeline and Procedure: March 5: RFP distributed March 11: April 3: April 17: Conference call to review program and answer campus questions. Time: 1-2 pm Conference Call #: 888-337- 0215 Access Code: 5042895 Proposals Due 1 proposal per campus (3-5 pages) submitted by Provost Submitted to ghanley@calstate.edu and bchristie@calstate.edu as a Word document Awards Announced Questions? Please email Brett Christie (Academic Technology Services, Office of the Chancellor) at bchristie@calstate.edu Page 10