2022-23 — Stanislaus— Building Institutional Capacity for Online Course Reviews

Campus Goals for Online Course Services

Having spent much of 2020 and 2021 teaching in online and hybrid modalities, many faculty and students have increased interest in online teaching and learning even after campuses are fully reopened for traditional in-person instruction. In 2021-22 academic programs at Stan State engaged in a batch course recertification process in which most programs increased the number of course offerings that were officially designated to be offered in online or hybrid modalities, and several academic programs have submitted or begun developing/discussing substantive change proposals to obtain approval to offer degree programs in online or hybrid modalities. Although there is no institutional policy requiring training or course review processes specifically for online/hybrid courses, some departments and programs are creating internal requirements to support quality course design and facilitation. Because we are seeing higher numbers of online and hybrid course offerings than in the pre-pandemic period, we wish to better assist faculty as they offer intentionally-designed online and hybrid courses, rather than courses temporarily moved online amid crisis. 

At Stan State, there is a growing proportion of students who are first-generation, Pell-eligible students and/or who come from historically marginalized populations. For example, over 60% of our student body is categorized as URM with 57% of all students identifying as Hispanic. In Fall 2021, Stan State enrolled 73% first generation students and at 60%, our percentage of Pell-eligible students is about 7% higher than the system average.  Our proportion of male students (32%) is 10% lower than the system average. Amid the pandemic, we saw notable drops in persistence in higher education statewide, particularly among traditionally underrepresented minority (URM) students. For example, CSU systemwide the one-year persistence rate for URM First Time – Full Time Freshmen was approximately 4.5% lower for the 2020 cohort than it was for the 2019 cohort.  During the same time period the one-year persistence rate for non-URM First Time – Full Time Freshmen actually increased over one percent, highlighting the inequities in the degree to which Covid disrupted the educational journey of URM students vs. their non-URM peers. Institutions like CSU Stanislaus which have a predominantly URM student body were hit particularly hard.  For example, the one year persistence rate of First-Time Full-Time Freshmen at CSU Stanislaus dropped from over 86% for the Fall 2019 cohort (above the systemwide average) to only 79.3% for the Fall 2020 cohort.   

These data suggest that Stanislaus State must focus on delivering quality teaching, curriculum, and student support services that draw upon the assets of a diverse set of students while supporting their needs. Part of this effort includes course options for students who can benefit from online and hybrid class spaces, and in developing quality online/hybrid instruction that: a) is equal to in-person teaching; b) is pedagogically engaging; c) promotes Universal Design for Learning principles that makes courses more accessible, and d) supports student learning and success. 

As faculty are attempting to better meet the needs of students through online and hybrid modes of instruction we want to be able to better support the needs of faculty to offer pedagogically effective courses. We have faculty requesting the review of their courses by peers, however, we have not had the bandwidth/capacity to offer this support to faculty. This FLC allowed us to build the capacity with a team of certified/trained campus level course reviewers implementing a new local review process. Additionally, course reviews using the QLT rubric will help faculty to get meaningful feedback and strengthen their course design and delivery, which would lead to better student outcomes and aid in our accomplishment of the GI 2025 goals. 

We see QLT as a partner in achievement of GI 2025 goals because the objectives not only support achievement of course learning outcomes, but ensure that courses are designed and facilitated in a manner that supports student engagement, connection to the course and university, and access to/use of university resources, all of which lead to better student outcomes/success.

Online Course Services Lead(s)

• Betsy Eudey, Professor of Gender Studies, Collaborative Online International Learning Coordinator, and Faculty Fellow in the Faculty Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning.
• Shradha Tibrewal, Director of the Faculty Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning, Professor of Social Work, and Director of the MSW Hybrid Program.

Supporting Campus Partners

• Glenn Pillsbury, Instructional Designer/LMS Expert, Office of Academic Technology
• Karen Zandarski, English lecturer and SQuAIR Researcher
• Terry Jones, Interim Associate Vice President of Faculty Affairs

Campus Commitment Toward Sustainability of OCS Efforts

• The draft informal and formal course review process will be institutionalized through development of procedures in alignment with University policy related to online and technology mediated teaching and learning.
• Support for faculty engaged in online and hybrid course design and facilitation will remain a core focus of the Office of Academic Technology, and the reorganization and staffing of OAT will ensure that these supports are in place.
• The Faculty Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning and OAT will continue to partner to support faculty development activities and course review processes. 

Summary of Previous OCS  Accomplishments

Stanislaus State has been an active participant in the QLT/QA program for over a decade and we have worked strenuously to offer faculty development opportunities for online/hybrid teaching and learning. We have accomplished this through several FLCs funded over the years with the OCS/QA grants, helping us expand the numbers of faculty better prepared to engage in online/hybrid teaching. We have several faculty who have completed the QLT1, QLT2 and QLT3 courses in addition to the campus-based FLCs. Stan State Liberal Studies Professor and FLC facilitator Daniel Soodjinda developed and implemented the Anti-Racism Quality Learning and Teaching (AR-QLT) Course Evaluation Instrument, a tool that is now being utilized at several CSU campuses. However, in the pursuit of first focusing on immediate faculty needs, we have not had the time/opportunity to strengthen our capacity to offer the next level of support. This 2022-23 project allowed us to build infrastructure and institutional processes for course reviews and certifications, along with the capacity to implement this process by formally trained course reviewers.

Stan State’s history with QLT includes the following:

• 2012/13 - expanded infrastructure, increased awareness, and designed and facilitated a faculty learning community (FLC) to promote quality online learning and teaching.
• 2013/14 - continued to develop the FLC model to train faculty in two cohorts. The campus increased awareness by including additional unofficial participants in our trainings. 
• 2014/15 & 2015/16 - strengthened the QLT-FLC’s goals in course development and revision around QLT objectives and trained cohorts of QLT Peer Mentors to perform peer-evaluations.
• 2016/17 - 2019/20 developed a more structured timeline for QLT-FLC and QLT-M participants; incorporated monthly virtual meetings, promoting participant familiarity with Zoom technology and providing ongoing support for course development and FLC cohesiveness. 
• 2020/2021 added AR-QLT Course Evaluation Instrument and participant trainings
• 2021/2022 implemented a year-long FLC using the AR-QLT Course Evaluation Rubric.
• 2022/23 development of Stan State online/hybrid course review infrastructure including faculty preparation to perform reviews.

Training Completions

Through August 2023, Stan State faculty and staff have completed a total of 670 QLT and QM courses offered through the Chancellor's Office. This includes the following from 2022-23:

In addition, in Fall 2022, 23 Stan State faculty completed the ACUE Effective Online Teaching Course. This is the second cohort of faculty completing this ACUE program.

Course Peer Review and Course Certifications

Prior to 2022-23, 14 Stan State faculty and staff had completed the Reviewing Courses Using the QLT Rubric course. Through our efforts this year, an additional 7 faculty completed this training, greatly enhancing our capacity to engage in QLT course reviews. These seven new faculty were the first on our campus to complete the course since the implementation of the 3rd edition of the QLT rubric.

Through the QLT Review FLC, six faculty engaged in their first informal peer review, and had one or more of their own courses informally certified:

• Carlos Andres, Modern Languages
• Stacey Aprile, Teacher Education
• Sriram Chintakrindi, Criminal Justice
• Eric Conrad, Kinesiology and Public Health
• Brittany Desnoyer, Teacher Education
• Kamal Dulai, Biological Sciences

Three faculty served as Peer Mentors to the FLC, and were Team Leads for the informal course review process:

• Jeffrey Bernard, Kinesoliogy and Public Health
• Brett Powell, Kinesiology and Public Health
• Karen Zandarski, English

Two courses were submitted for formal review, and received CSU-QLT certification:

• Cassandra Drake, Senior Seminar (LIBS 4960)
• Meggan Jordan, Medical Sociology (SOCL 4700)

We have developed a draft plan for supporting informal and formal course reviews at Stan State, and will be working in 2023-24 to affirm these processes. Formalization of the plan will not occur until after consultation with appropriate offices and governance committees. Further, implementation is partially dependent upon the staffing of the Office of Academic Technology, and the funding available to OAT and the FCETL. We expect to have more clarity on staffing and funding by the end of Fall 2023. 

The 2023-24 FLC funded through OCS will include informal review of one course for each participant, and we have funding for several formal reviews as well.

Student Online Quality Assurance Impact Research 

In an effort to understand how faculty use the QLT rubric after completing QLT training we have developed a research project in which we will conduct interviews to assess changes made to courses and how those changes impacted faculty’s perceptions of student learning, and physical and cognitive workload when teaching online course. An interview protocol was developed and an IRB application submitted and approved. The research project is ready to be conducted throughout the 2023-24 academic year.

Development of Campus Online Course Services Resources

• The Office of Academic Technology's Online Pedagogy: Best Practices website was most recently updated in October, 2022.
• The Faculty Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning's Teaching Remotely website was most recently updated in March 2023.
• OAT Updates is a biweekly newsletter sent to all faculty, offering tech tips, links to tutorials, and information about upcoming workshops and trainings.

Accessibility/UDL Efforts

• Ally is automatically activated in all courses in the Canvas LMS at Stan State. This allows all students to access print content in a variety of formats, and for all faculty to better understand and address accessibility issues in course design.
• Faculty can obtain support from OAT to assist them in learning how to create/post content that is accessible, and can have content converted into accessible formats for them through submission of an accessibility work request.
• UDL topics are incorporated into the online and hybrid teaching workshops offered by OAT and the FCETL.

Next Steps for OCS Efforts 

In 2023-24 we intend to further refine and implement our informal and formal course review process (which in part relies upon staffing and budgeting). We will offer an FLC on Quality Online/Hybrid course design that includes informal course review. We will also be conducting the SQuAIR project that has received IRB approval. Finally, we will create a website with information about the formal and informal course review process, highlighting courses that have obtained certification and the faculty and staff available to conduct reviews.