Module 5 Overview: Quality Assurance in Blended Learning

Introduction

Quality course design is critical to the success of online teaching. Without basic quality elements, students quickly become frustrated and lost. As an instructor, it is important to provide students with the tools they need to be successful in your course. Quality teaching is another critical factor in student success. Students need to know the instructor is participating in the course, and there are many ways to establish instructor presence online. The contents of this module provide an introduction to quality design and teaching and explore several standards you can apply in your own practice.

Learning Outcomes

At the completion of this module, you will be able to:

Identify several sources of quality design and teaching standards for online/blended learning.

Evaluate the quality of your own design and teaching.

Create a student self-check form to gather student feedback during your teaching practice.

Activities

The following course activities are designed to help you achieve the learning outcomes for Module 5. You can access the activities directly from the links in the table below, or in sequence by clicking the Next button at the bottom right side of this Canvas frame.

Reading/Viewing:

Quality Assurance in Blended Learning (20 minutes, longer if you explore links.)
Boettcher and Conrad's Ten Best Practices for Teaching Online (About 20 minutes. I recommend purchasing the book, if you will be teaching fully online courses.)
Blended Course Implementation Checklist (10 minutes)

Activities to complete or submit:

Discussion - Student Self-Check form activity
DePaul Interactive QM Rubric - Try using this for your own course to see how it rates. (Nothing to submit.)
Module 5 Drop Box - Submit anything for which you'd like instructor feedback.

Explorations (Optional):

Constructing Communication in Blended Learning Environments: Students' Perceptions of Good Practices in Hybrid Courses
The Indicators of Instructor Presence That are Important to Students in Online Courses
Course checklist from Udemy - It's a commercial online course provider, where instructors sell courses, but the checklist is pretty solid.
Blended Course Peer Review Form
Assessing Credibility of Online Sources
Design Thinking for Educators - a Free Tool Box