Creating a Culture of Online Quality: The People, Policies, and Processes that Facilitate Institutional Change for Online Course Quality Assurance

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-17
Author(s):  
Bethany Simunich ◽  
Elizabeth A. McMahon ◽  
Leigh Hopf ◽  
Barbara W. Altman ◽  
Whitney Alicia Zimmerman
Keyword(s):  
Quality Assurance ◽  
Institutional Change ◽  
Online Course ◽  
Course Quality ◽  
The People

scholarly journals Evaluating Online Course Quality: A Study on Implementation of Course Quality Standards

2020 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Whitney Zimmerman ◽  
Barbara Altman ◽  
Bethany Simunich ◽  
Kay Shattuck ◽  
Barbra Burch
Keyword(s):  
Quality Assurance ◽  
Online Learning ◽  
Course Design ◽  
Quality Standards ◽  
Online Course ◽  
Faculty Professional Development ◽  
Course Quality ◽  
Peer Reviewers ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship

This study examined the relationship of intentional faculty professional development, intentional online course design, and informal course reviews to the results of official interinstitutional peer review within higher education institutions. Quality MattersTM (QM) provided the setting for this exploration of the relationship of three independent variables at the course level at institutions that have voluntarily implemented QM online learning quality assurance tools and processes. Data for this study were extracted from a larger statistical project conducted regularly by QM, which included the results of 5,436 online course reviews completed between September 2014 and May 2020 at 360 institutions. These courses were assessed for meeting quality standards in structured, interinstitutional, reviews, conducted by three faculty peer reviewers. QM provided the setting and data for this study; however, the study was not about QM. Instead, it was about exploring the relationships of variables within an institution’s control in the quest for benchmarking and improving online learning. Having and disseminating online course quality standards does not ensure implementation of those standards and quality assurance processes. This observational study provides a better understanding of how the implementation of those standards and quality assurance processes might impact outcomes.

scholarly journals Online Course Quality Assurance: Development of a Quality Checklist

2015 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
pp. 126-140 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven McGahan ◽  
Christina Jackson ◽  
Karen Premer
Keyword(s):  
Quality Assurance ◽  
Online Course ◽  
Course Quality ◽  
Quality Checklist

scholarly journals Understanding Student Engagement in Large-Scale Open Online Courses: A Machine Learning Facilitated Analysis of Student’s Reflections in 18 Highly Rated MOOCs

2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Khe Foon Hew ◽  
Chen Qiao ◽  
Ying Tang
Keyword(s):  
Machine Learning ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Online Courses ◽  
Subject Area ◽  
Online Course ◽  
Valuable Insight ◽  
Course Quality ◽  
Learning Classifier ◽  
Quality Rating ◽  
Open Courses

Although massive open online courses (MOOCs) have attracted much worldwide attention, scholars still understand little about the specific elements that students find engaging in these large open courses. This study offers a new original contribution by using a machine learning classifier to analyze 24,612 reflective sentences posted by 5,884 students, who participated in one or more of 18 highly rated MOOCs. Highly rated MOOCs were sampled because they exemplify good practices or teaching strategies. We selected highly rated MOOCs from Coursetalk, an open user-driven aggregator and discovery website that allows students to search and review various MOOCs. We defined a highly rated MOOC as a free online course that received an overall five-star course quality rating, and received at least 50 reviews from different learners within a specific subject area. We described six specific themes found across the entire data corpus: (a) structure and pace, (b) video, (c) instructor, (d) content and resources, (e) interaction and support, and (f) assignment and assessment. The findings of this study provide valuable insight into factors that students find engaging in large-scale open online courses.

One Step Forward or One Step Back? Explaining the Performance Paradox in the Civil Service of Bangladesh

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-29
Author(s):  
Asif M Asif M Shahan
Keyword(s):  
Institutional Change ◽  
Institutional Context ◽  
Behavioral Pattern ◽  
Political Context ◽  
The Political ◽  
Institutional Rules ◽  
The People ◽  
Specific Manner ◽  
Bureaucratic Responsiveness ◽  
One Step

In Bangladesh, two contrasting scenarios regarding the responsiveness of the bureaucrats working at the field level are present. Whereas some bureaucrats reach out to the people and respond to their demands, others remain unresponsive and unapproachable. So, why do the bureaucrats working at the grassroots, while performing under the same rules, same institutional context and reality, perform in two different ways while interacting with citizens? How can these two contradictory sets of understanding regarding bureaucratic responsiveness coexist in Bangladesh? This article attempts to unpack this puzzle by relying on a slightly modified version of historical institutionalism. Building on Bell’s model of ‘agent-centric institutional change’ and by using a modified version of Mahoney & Thelen’s framework of institutional change, it argues that dialectical interaction between agents (bureaucrats) and institutions (i.e., rules- both formal and informal, norms that affect the behavior of the agents) within the broader political setting can best explain the variation in behavioral pattern of the bureaucrats. The political context allows agents to exercise discretion in a specific manner in executing their roles and functions while being constrained by institutional rules and norms. The dialectical interaction between structure (political context), agent, and institution determines the current administrative reality, which has allowed the contradiction to emerge and sustain.

Secular Evolution in the Philippines

2017 ◽  
pp. 154-182
Author(s):  
David T. Buckley
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
Reproductive Health ◽  
Institutional Change ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
Authoritarian Rule ◽  
Quarter Century ◽  
Secular Evolution ◽  
The People ◽  
Health Legislation

How has the Philippines’ benevolent secularism withstood challenges brought on by authoritarian rule and religious pluralization over the past quarter century? This chapter documents the role of religious-secular and interfaith partnerships in steering institutional change in Philippines in two periods: the “People Power” Revolution against the Marcos dictatorship and more recent contention over reproductive health legislation. Religious-secular and interfaith alliances helped topple the Marcos regime, and more recently have alleviated some tensions related to reproductive health legislation. The chapter traces elite alliances through field interviews and records of the 1986 Constitutional Commission, and then documents similar consensus in public opinion data.

Using Gagné's Events of Instruction to Analyze Online Course Quality

2011 ◽  
pp. 2231-2238 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marc R. Robinson
Keyword(s):  
Instructional Design ◽  
Online Education ◽  
Learning Community ◽  
Student Perceptions ◽  
Course Design ◽  
Online Courses ◽  
Online Course ◽  
Design Quality ◽  
Course Quality ◽  
Events Of Instruction

Student perceptions of online courses are likely influenced by two overarching aspects of quality: instructor quality and course design quality (Ortiz-Rodriguez, Telg, Irani, Roberts & Rhoades, 2005). Both of these forces in online education may be analyzed using a well-known model of instructional design - Gagnés instructional design and cognition theory, the centerpiece of which are the nine events of instruction (Gagné, Wager, Golas, & Keller, 2004). Multiple studies positively correlate learner attitudes and perceptions of the online course to instructor quality. Early studies evaluating instructor quality attempted to correlate instructor quality with the attitude and perception of the learner, but not directly to learner success or course design quality. Researchers of online courses, such as Palloff & Pratt (2003), discussed the role of the instructor in depth while neglecting the roles of the learner, the institution, and course design. The main focus remained instructor-centered, and highlighted key instructor tasks such as understanding the virtual learner in terms of roles the learner plays, fostering team roles for the learner, designing an effective course orientation, and identifying potential legal issues the instructor might face (Palloff & Pratt, 2002, p. 16). A distant secondary focus was on effective course design. This highlighted instructor tasks in building an effective online learning community without highlighting the roles effective communication tools would play.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document