Putting a Different Spin on it: Using the QCTIP scorecard to assess the online New Faculty Orientation for hybrid courses at UMUC

Concurrent Session 2

Session Materials

Brief Abstract

Are you as excited about OLC’s new Quality Scorecard Suite as we are at UMUC? We are so excited that we put a different spin on the Quality Course Teaching and Instructional Practice (QCTIP) Scorecard. We are using the scorecard standards to evaluate a new faculty orientation for hybrid courses.   

Presenters

Lead Presenter: Heather Welzant, University of Maryland University College

Dr. Heather Welzant is Associate Vice Provost, Academic Performance Improvement at the University of Maryland University College (UMUC). She is responsible for partnering with other areas of the academic community at UMUC to achieve the greatest possible performance impact by ensuring that robust, systematic, aligned, and consistent quality processes are deployed in order to capitalize on evidence-based decision making. Dr. Welzant joined UMUC with over 17 years combined experience educating and training adult learners in both educational and business arenas. Further, she brought 10 years of higher education teaching experience; both traditional and online. Dr. Welzant holds a PhD in Education with a specialization in Training and Performance Improvement from Capella University. Her research interests are with faculty and student performance relevant to online teaching and learning.

Co-presenter: Alli Woods, UMUC

Alli Woods has served as the Associate Vice Provost of Faculty Development for the University of Maryland University College (UMUC) for the past three years; her primary responsibilities include overseeing all faculty training and development for the university, assisting with faculty governance, and creating faculty recognition programs for the university. Prior to this time, she was the Director of the Center for Teaching and Learning at Kaplan University and before being promoted to this role, served as a faculty member, subject matter expert, and faculty trainer for Kaplan. Alli has a master's degree in Higher Education from Bowling Green State University and an undergraduate degree in Communication (specializing in Public Relations) from Ohio University.

Tags

OLC Accelerate 2017 Professional Development and Support Approaches Blended Certification Collaboration Effectiveness Engagement Faculty Faculty development Faculty roles Faculty well-being Instructor experience Instructors Leadership presence Online Online community Pedagogy Professional development Quality instruction Teaching Teaching presence Training

Extended Abstract

As UMUC has embarked on strategic commitment to systematic and aligned quality assurance efforts at the institutional level, the Online Learning Consortium (OLC) simultaneously released the Quality Scorecard Suite. We were very interested in the Quality Course Teaching & Instructional Practice (QCTIP) Scorecard, but not for the purpose of evaluating online courses. Instead, we wanted to evaluate an eight-day, fully online New Faculty Orientation for Hybrid Courses at UMUC, FACDEV 212 Effective Teaching of Hybrid Courses. The quality assurance review of the FacDev 212 results in evidence-based observations and actionable recommendations. The goal is to favorably impact the ability to continuously improve and sustain excellent educational programs for UMUC faculty who teach in a hybrid format.

University of Maryland University College currently offers a myriad of hybrid courses, primarily supporting our military learners around the world.  The faculty who instruct in this format often have an incredible amount of professional expertise, but face challenges in envisioning how to best meet all of the necessary learning outcomes in a hybrid format.  The office of Faculty Development developed an online training to assist the faculty in their hybrid teaching skills, but there had not been an opportunity, until the partnership with the UMUC Academic Performance Improvement department, to thoroughly review the training. 

Through our talk show presentation approach, we’ll be using a variety of interactive techniques to encourage the greatest amount of attendee involvement. We will also be sharing, at a high-level, the stakeholders who were involved, the process we used, general findings, and ways to adapt the QCTIP for use with any New Faculty Orientations. We will attempt to address the following questions for our audience:

Why we believed there was a need for this project?

How we decided to start this project?

What challenges did we have? 

What were the different steps in the initiative and what was the deliverable?

How are we capturing this work to continuously improve the faculty experience?

What has been the impact on our faculty?

The session will culminate with the presenters guiding participants through a fun and engaging brief exercise to reflect on the OLC’s Quality Scorecard Suite and develop a storyline for a higher ed blog called OLC -QA Talk. The objective is to develop an OLC - QA Talk Brief that showcases the next big idea for a quality scorecard. Participants will be encouraged to get up and move around the room.

Participants will use the following materials during the presentation: handouts, large post-its and stickers. The PPT will be posted on the conference web site, or submitted to the conference proceedings.

Finally, as a result of this session, participants will be able to:

  1. Define the steps involved in using the QCTIP Scorecard applied to Online New Faculty Orientation.
  2. Identify both the challenges and rewards to using this process for continuously improving faculty development offerings.
  3. Describe the methods to gather data that favorable impact the continuous improvement of our faculty.
  4. Create an idea for a future quality scorecard