Quality Course DevelopmentPark University

Quality Course DevelopmentAt Park, we do not focus

course development on training faculty but assisting faculty to develop and

subsequently maintain high quality courses.

Evelyn Knowles, Ph.D.– Coordinator of Program

Quality Development– Assistant Professor in Interior– Design

Katie Kalata, MS/MBA, ABD– Coordinator of Course

Development– Adjunct Faculty

David Curtis, MA– Certified Quality Matters– Trainer and Peer Reviewer– Adjunct Faculty

Contact us at CourseDevelopment@park.edu

Who are we? Park University• A main campus in Parkville Missouri, over 40

campus centers in 20 states & online programs– Over 300 courses online - over 500 sections and over

50,000 course enrollments – Five 8-week terms – 150 faculty developers, 40 program coordinators – Course Delivery Model – Master courses

• www.park.edu

Before You Begin • Program and Course Planning• Contracts – Development and Maintenance

– Department and institutional support

Park Course Delivery Model

Getting Started (Katie)Send a Welcome Email

– Course Information – Course Development

Process– Login information– Instructional Designer

information– Contact Information– Checklist –only

attachment

Assign the faculty to an Instructional Designer – Discipline List – master course, user ID – ID sends a welcome email

Course Development Checklist

Checklist– Common Course Structure

• Where things are located • What content to develop• Accountability

– Mapped • to Quality Standards• to University

requirements

Weekly Home Pages– Learning Outcomes– Overview, description,

topics, summary– Learning Activity

Assignment– Learning Assessments

• Creativity with learning activities and assignments!

Example• CS321 – Web Programming 1

Working with IDsInstructional Design, graphics,

technical support

Communication – email, phone, in-person,

Blackberry, time zones!– Weekly or more often– electronic format or paper

• and the ID reviews, formats and uploads the content – HTML vs PDF

• Pre-reviewing quality • TO DO checklist • Reminder Emails

Finishing Up• Sign off

– Faculty reviews content, makes recommendations

• Send to Quality Standards Review • Make changes recommended by the Program

Coordinator and Quality Standards Review report • Help faculty with other responsibilities such as

reminding them to create their syllabus

Quality Instructional Designers

Challenges that we face in Course Development – low pay – limited in teaching online or college experience– masters degree but can’t teach in the college – basic web development skills – skills are application specific – limited professional growth opportunities– time to build a strong team

Job Description – v – Benefits– Increased base salary– Encourage them to teach outside of the University– Take job-related courses as part of their work day – Informal staff education focused on specific skills– Using standard tools – Adobe CS3 Suite– Flexible working hours, working at a distance– Assign them to disciplines and faculty they enjoy

working with or their skills match

Quality Review (David) • Quality Standards Review

– Quality Matters Rubric• www.qualitymatters.org• Report returned to Instructional Designer• Recommendations

– Academic Department Review

Maintaining Quality CoursesCommunication

– Checklist mapped to quality standards

– CourseDevelopment@Park.edu – Available evenings and

weekends and during maintenance

– Newsletter – 4 times a year

• Redevelopment or Course Maintenance – Frequent changes in

textbooks, courses, and programs, and faculty who develop the courses