Overview

Developing and teaching an online class can be a daunting challenge. In the past, UW-Green Bay subscribed to the Quality Matters to provide guidance in course design. That program provided useful assistance to instructors in the development of online courses, yet Quality Matters shied away from issues related to teaching online courses. The team in the Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning seeks to build upon the work the institution did with Quality Matters to provide a course quality process that assists with development as well as teaching online courses.

Anecdotally, this makes sense as many instructors report to us that developing relationships with students is among the most satisfying elements of face-to-face teaching and among the most difficult experiences to replicate in the online environment. This also makes a sense according to recent research which has shown that interactions among students and with instructors is the biggest determinant of student success in a course.[1] In this light, the Center seeks participants who would be willing to help us develop a rubric which will serve as the backbone of our trainings to help with online course design and delivery.

Two phases

We seek participants who are willing to assist with either or both of the following phases of this study.

Phase 1

We seek instructors who will be willing to analyze their courses with a draft version of our rubric and provide feedback on their experience. This analysis will take place both before the start of the semester and mid-way through the term. The goal of this phase is to determine the degree to which the rubric helps instructors with the development and instruction of their online courses.

Eligibility

• Any instructor who teaches an online course during the four-week three summer period which commences on July 15.
  • We would like three to five participants.
• Participants must be willing to discuss their experiences with the rubric prior to the start of the term; at mid-term; and at the end of the term.
• Participants will be taken on a first come, first served basis.

Requirements

• Assess online or hybrid course with the draft version of the rubric before semester and mid-way through the term
• Provide feedback on experience.
  • The purpose of this phase of the study is to refine the rubric and is not part of a research study.

Benefit

• Participants will earn $300 for their help, along with consulting help from the CATL team

How to apply

Email Nathan Kraftcheck (kraftchn@uwgb.edu) or Todd Dresser (dressert@uwgb.edu) if you are interested. Please email by July 8 if you are interested in being part of this phase.

Phase 2

We seek instructors who will teach the same course in the online environment in the fall and spring semesters of the 2019-20 academic year. We would like for these instructors to teach the fall semester as they normally would and to then apply changes based upon the rubric in the spring semester. We would like to compare the experience of the instructors and the students in the course. The goal of this phase is to determine the impact of the rubric for the student experience.

Eligibility

• Anyone who teaches the same online course in the fall and spring of AY 2019-20.
  • We seek five to seven participants.
• We will take participants on a first come, first served basis with preference for openness to modifying course during the period between semesters in December and January.

Requirements

• Teach the fall offering as you typically would
• Assess course with rubric for Spring
• Consult with CATL on how to make changes based upon the rubric during Winter break (we expect that all participants would make some changes).
• Allow CATL to survey students on their experience in your course.
  • This phase is part of a research project that the Center is conducting as part of the UWGB teaching scholars program. We are in the midst of seeking IRB approval for this study and participants will be required to ask students to be part of this study.

Benefit

• Participants will earn $750 for their participation in this program.

How to apply

Email Nathan Kraftcheck (kraftchn@uwgb.edu) or Todd Dresser (dressert@uwgb.edu) if you are interested. Please email by August 23 if you are interested in taking part in this phase of the project.

• Include a paragraph in your email which answers the questions: Why you are interested to take part in this study and what about your online course you are interested in improving?

[1] Shanna Smith Jaggars and Di Xu, “How Do Online Course Design Features Influence Student Performance?,” Computers & Education 95 (April 1, 2016): 270–84.