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Evaluating Exemplary eLearning–Best Practices and an Associated Rubric

Moderator: Shirley Waterhouse, Office of the Provost

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University

Panelists:Adonica Aune and Nick White, Capella University

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Agenda

• Overview - Greenhouse Exemplary Course Program (ECP)

• ECP Rubric

• Overview of 2007 Winners

• A Closer Look: Capella’s Public Speaking Course

• Q&A

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Greenhouse Exemplary Course Program (ECP)

A Program to Recognize Effective eLearning PedagogyEarly Beginnings at Blackboard – Product Advisory Board Discussions

Early Beginnings at WebCT – Two Individuals Proposed An Award Program

Currently Six Directors Representing Institutions Worldwide

Rubric Was Developed by the Directors-- All Experienced Faculty

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2007 Greenhouse ECP

In Addition to DirectorsOne-Hundred + Judges

Over One-Thousand Hours of feedback

Ninety+ SubmissionsTen Exemplary Courses; Five Best Practices Courses

Range from Women’s Literature to Nuclear Engineering

Where can I find out more?

http://connections.blackboard.com

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Is Greenhouse ECP Making a Difference?

Provides Faculty and Developers Standards and GuidelinesCan be a Focus for Faculty DevelopmentProvides Faculty a Self evaluation Tool

Institutional Recognition and Rewards for FacultyInformation in Portfolio (promotion and tenure)AnnouncementsAward CeremoniesNews Bulletins

Where can I find out more? http://connections.blackboard.com

We Think so!

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Faculty Participating in the Greenhouse ECP Report:

“I’m going to submit a conference proposal on my course and its compliance with the rubric.”

“I’m going to write a journal article about my course and its compliance with the rubric.”

“The ECP helped me to design and teach my course in ways I might not have without the rubric.”

“Even though I didn’t win, the reviewer feedback was valuable.”

“Using the rubric provided a path for learning new skills and using new concepts, and a way to make my course better.”

Where can I find out more? http://connections.blackboard.com

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The Greenhouse ECP Rubric

• Two separate rubrics prior to Blackboard & Web CT merger- both focused on the same overall outcomes- Pedagogical Excellence.

• Combined rubric brings key components of both

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Four Major Rubric Categories

1. Course Design

Course structure, learning objects, instructional strategies, and accessibility

2. Interaction & Collaboration

Type and amount of interaction and collaboration, specifically learner-learner, learner-content, and learner-instructor interaction and collaboration

3. Assessment

Evaluation of student work towards achievement of learning outcomes, including quality and type of assessments

4. Learner Support

Resources made available to students (accessible internal and external to course)

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Rubric Scale - Six Categories

Exemplary

A model of best practice as related to this criterion

AccomplishedExcellent implementation; comparable to other examples

PromisingGood implementation; however, somewhat lacking in depth or detail

IncompletePartial implementation of this criterion; additional work needed; good start

Not EvidentUnable to locate examples specific to this criterion

Not AppropriateThis criterion has little or no relevance for this course

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An Overview of the 2007 Winners

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2007 Greenhouse ECP Winners

• Intro to DeafBlindness (Utah State University)

• Public Speaking, (Capella University)

• Hawaiian Pacific Literature (Kamehameha Schools)

• Introduction to Online Teaching, (Governors State University)

• Nuclear Phenomena for Engineering Applications (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute)

• Allied Health Education (University of Pittsburgh)

• Cultural Identity through Literature (Virtual High School)

• Web Design and Publishing (Regent University)

• The Sacred Feminine in Latin America (University of Houston-Clear Lake)

• General Biology (Iowa Department of Education)

Similar: All Exemplary Widely Diverse

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The rubric has extremely broad

applicability across platforms, institution type and discipline.

Diversity of the Ten 2007 Winners

• Platform:• 6 WebCT CE/Vista • 4 Blackboard Academic Suite

• Institution Type:• 7 Higher Ed• 3 K-12

• Many Disciplines• Engineering• History• Web Development• English• Etc…

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The Sacred Feminine in Latin America

Our students at the University of Houston-Clear Lake are so grateful for Blackboard! They can now take history courses on-line with no loss of rigor and content. My course filled in less than one hour, so I raised the caps five times. The retention rate exceeded my average for face-to-face courses. Most poignantly, for many women, it was the first time they could take a summer course because they had not been able to afford babysitters to attend class. [e-Learning technology] permits faculty to reach under-served and much-deserving students, thereby honoring the mission of our university, of our profession.

-- Theresa Van Hoy

School: • University of Houston-Clear LakeDescription: • The Sacred Feminine in Latin America

examines pre-Christian, Christian, and non-Christian practices to explore ways in which the feminine has been revered and demonized in Latin America. It also examines those expressions of femaleness and faith deemed non-Christian. These include goddesses, orishas, curanderas, women tried by the Inquisition, and androgynous figures. Underpinning the course are larger questions of how notions of purity, piety, dishonor, and heresy have been constructed in heavily gendered terms in Latin America, the Latino/latinaUS, and beyond. It provides insights into the ways in which political power and access to resources in Latin America are shaped by notions of the sacred, with particular attention to gendered notions of divinity.

Teresa Van Hoy Azalea Boehm

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Nuclear Phenomena for Engineering Applications

Just because a blended/hybrid mode was the right way to go didn’t mean that a computer-Luddite like me should be part of it! Sure, the course was a great success, but not until I began to fill out the ECP Rubric could I take in the big picture: how far Marie-Pierre Huguet (the Course Developer) had brought us, and what Don Steiner (the content expert) had laid the foundation for. The Rubric also reminded us that there is more to do, but it confirmed that we are well along the right path.”

-- Tom Haley

School• Rensselaer Polytechnic InstituteDescription• Nuclear Phenomena for Engineering

Applications (NPEA) surveys the quantitative and qualitative aspects of how atomic and nuclear phenomena apply to our everyday lives through technology and the environment. In a world that is increasingly welcoming and relying on responsible applications of nuclear technology to achieve global prosperity, the knowledge that NPEA provides can open significant career, discovery, and technology leadership opportunities. NPEA also surveys the implications of nuclear technology to instill awareness about what “responsible application” can mean.

Marie-Pierre Huguet, Thomas Haley & Don Steiner

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A Closer Look: Capella’s Public Speaking

Adonica Aune, Professor

Nick White, Course Development Supervisor

Capella University

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Capella and SPC1000

• A little bit about Capella University• A team based approach to course development• Internal standards

and the Bb rubric• An online public

speaking course?

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Course Design

• Learning goals/objectives• Relevance of third party tools• Navigation• Content is in

manageable segments• ADA Compliance

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Interaction and Collaboration

• Synchronous vs. asynchronous• Asynchronous Speech: Jeremy Fisher – Wedding Toast• Synchronous Speech: Art Gow – Final Persuasive Speech

• Peer collaboration strategies

• Learner to content interaction

• IT support• Instructor Role

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Assessment

• Competency based approach• Summative assessments• Assessment first course design process• Formative assessment

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Learner Support

• Learner support, academic advisors, library, and IT support

• Learner portal support resources• Instructor support

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Reflection on Process

• Improves and validates our internal quality efforts• Aligns our internal quality efforts with standards

developed by faculty across institutions• Recognition reinforces the value of our quality efforts

within our institution• Generates needed discussion of benchmarks of quality

in higher education• Effect on learners• Donna Arias – Graduation Toast

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Q & A