Quality of Online Courses

‘Quality of online courses’ was the topic covered this week. This is a crucial element of any online course that all online developers, be it course designers or course facilitators, need to know about and must ensure that it is applied in their online courses. The reading (Quality Matters Rubric Standards 2011 – 2013) provided this week on the topic reaffirmed the criticality of the ‘quality’ element. The reading clearly outlines standards online courses should have to foster and promote quality in online courses which I will reflect upon with reference to my online course (EL001) by pointing out what is missing from the course, and the importance of including the missing elements in my course as future improvements.

a.       Course overview and introduction – EL001 includes all the necessary information regarding this area. Out of the eight criteria under this Standard, Criteria 1.3 and 1.8 are missing from the current syllabus. The former refers to the rules and convention of writing emails, while the latter was in reference to students being asked to introduce themselves to the class. I believe that email etiquette is quite important and it should be included in the syllabus. From experience, because I did not lay out the ground rules of how students should compose and write to me, they write emails full or errors, using abbreviations and colloquial language mostly, and so on. This bothered me a lot, but I don’t blame the students because, as I now realise, it is something that should be laid out right in the beginning of the course. Students must be told of your expectations. Student introduction is something I always do with my students in a traditional atmosphere, but I have not thought of its possibility in an online course. I think this is important and will be included in my syllabus for future use. I am thinking that voki can be used for this purpose; it would be an exciting and enjoyable experience for students.

b.      Learning objectives – There are learning outcomes for the entire course and also for each unit of the course, and I believe these are all measurable and achievable.

c.       Assessment and measurement – Out of the 5 criteria given under this Standard, Criteria 3.5 is missing from EL001, which states, ‘students have multiple opportunities to measure their own learning progress’. In fact, students in EL001 are not given this opportunity. The only way in which students can measure their learning progress is through their learning journal within which they reflect on their learning, and that is all. I am not really sure how this will benefit students, but it is something worthwhile researching to find out its worth.

EL001 is a 100% course work and assessment includes:

·         5 tests (on different topics/skills) administered at different times within the semester

·         1 seminar presentation

·         1 data report (commentary)

·         1 Summary reflective journal

·         3 Reflective journal (on given topics)

·         9 Unit tasks (based on crucial topics that are to be completed a week after the relevant topic has been completed)

Because the assessment tasks were initially meant for face-to-face learners and that there were no changes made to the assessment tasks when EL001 was made as an online for the first time in 2009, I feel the assessment tasks are too rigid in nature thus not suitable nor relevant. I knew something was wrong with the assessments but I couldn’t figure out what it was until I read about authentic assessments and the different learning styles. This is a big area that needs to be improved in EL001.

d.      Instructional materials – The criteria under this are all being met except for 4.4. The course has not been revised in a major way; no changes have been done to the materials included in the course. The readings are out dated by now thus new and current ones are required.

e.      Learner interaction and engagement – From experience, I believe that this is a very crucial part of online learning, whether it be synchronous or asynchronous interaction, the most challenging of all the QM Standards, because it requires a lot thinking and work on the facilitator’s part in ensuring that learners do interact and engage with the facilitator and with each other in meaningful ways. This Standard is missing from my EL001 syllabus and if planned well, I am positive of its potential in bringing about quality learning through interaction. This is the part that I will invest a lot of time on to develop my course to a better place.

f.        Course technology – The facilitator needs to ensure that tools and media support used in the course can be readily and easily accessible, but if not, learners need to know where else can they get support from. Information on this Standard is required in EL001.

g.       Learner support – In addition to the technical support learners can have when problems are encountered, information about academic support must be included in the syllabus also. This is the support given by Student Learning Support in terms of improving time management skills or writing an effective introduction for example. This information is very important and learners need to know.

h.      Accessibility – Information on this is needed in EL001 since the course has not undergone any major revisions for about three years. Since, online learning is the ‘thing’ now, the Standard Accessibility is vital.

While the QM rubric standard is very informative, one has to be very careful with the selection of information and the choice of words to express clear and explicit thoughts. One of the weaknesses of EL001 syllabus is that it is too wordy thus meanings appear to be ambiguous. The QM outlines the required Standards for online courses but one has to also take care that information is presented concisely, precisely, clearly and explicitly. For this to happen, the facilitator requires to invest a huge amount of time on planning and developing his/her online course.