Making Quality Happen Through a Quality Matters Internal

Making Quality "Happen" Through a Quality Matters Internal Review Process Sherrell Wheeler Director of Online Quality Assurance Associate Professor Christine Trapp Associate College Professor

Outcomes for the Session Discuss the internal review process Identify characteristics of a strong internal review process Discuss solutions to the obstacles of the internal review process

“ELearning doesn’t just ‘happen’! It requires careful planning and implementation. ” -Anonymous

Internal Review Plan Quality Assurance Team ◦ Director of Online Quality Assurance ◦ Four faculty to serve as Master Reviewers ◦ Course Designer All online faculty required to attend APPQMR All online courses required to go through QM review within 3 years New online courses must complete a pre-review before being offered

Obstacles Had to get buy-in from faculty ◦ Added work load ◦ Are we asking too much from adjunct faculty? Hard to review your campus colleagues

Obstacles Hard to secure reviewers Hard to get faculty to prepare the courses according to the QM Standards before submitting Hard to get attendance at training sessions

Solutions Select your “team” carefully ◦ Use some “nay sayers” ◦ Include faculty from across your campus Provide tools ◦ Template ◦ Shell

Solutions Mentoring ◦ One-on-one ◦ Workshops Course Designer ◦ Dedicated, if possible ◦ Train team

Successes First Year A lot of faculty buy in (still some nay sayers) Some wonderfully improved courses that are now user friendly A large distance education budget to support the initiatives Twenty courses QM Approved through external review Thirty-one courses have met internal review

Celebration of Successes President sends personal note card Announced through “ALL” distribution list Announced at convocation Celebration dinner Addition of mark to course for meeting an internal review

“I knew that QM would help us improve our online courses by setting a standard that we all worked to achieve. What I didn't realize is that it would open up so many conversations about online teaching. We, as faculty, are sharing ideas constantly and showing one another tips and tricks that we have learned. The best thing though is the sheer number of NMSU-A faculty and staff I have gotten to know through this process! It has opened up a dialogue with people on campus that I have never known and would never have interacted with to this extend if it hadn't been for QM!” Tanya Allred, Associate Professor of English

The QM peer review process is pretty intense. I might compare it to being dipped into an icy mountain lake--a bit of a shock, but stimulating and awakening at the same time. -Kathy Roark-Diehl

Questions? Sherrell Wheeler swheeler@nmsu. edu Christine Trapp cltrapp@nmsu. edu