Promote reflection on course design that leads to a quality learning experience for students, as well as the achievement of the course goals and objectives.
Encourage dialog and collaboration with other online instructors at the institution to foster the sharing of expertise and innovative ideas across departments and schools.
Create the possibility of incorporating outstanding online instructional strategies in face-to-face courses.
Provide documentation that may be used as evidence of teaching effectiveness for both the annual employee review and promotion and tenure.
The review focuses on online course design, but does not neglect engagement that occurs during the course. “Course design” is the forethought and planning that goes into teaching a course; separate from curriculum, content, and the evaluation of teaching.
The online course environment and standards are very different from the traditional, face-to-face classroom. Standards for online course design address organization, navigation, and the alignment of the course author's content, activities, and objectives. They assist the faculty course developer in thinking through and presenting to the student general expectations and strategies for success.
Equally important, is an intentional organization of course content and a solid plan for engagement which can improve student focus and reduce the course management burden of faculty.
For more information about the process timeline, please see the Course Review Process document.
Review Process Documents
Course Review Documents
Course Review Process: This document lays out the timeline and requirements for the development, design, and review of both new and existing online courses. It also provides examples of review team make up.
Online/Hybrid Course Request Form [PDF][Word]: This form is designed to provide the academic department and/or school, as well as the instructional design staff, information about upcoming online courses.
Readiness Inventories: These questionnaires for the various Learning Management Systems, including Canvas, Blackboard, Moodle, and D2L, are to be taken by the faculty wanting to teach online. These surveys will provide both the faculty member and the instructional design team with information about current LMS capabilities.
Course Planning Template: This chart can be used by faculty in conjunction with the instructional design team to help plan out the course development prior to loading content and assessments into the LMS.
Course Review Rubric: This is the rubric that will be completed by the members of the course review team prior to course launch. For information about each criterion on the rubric, please see the Course Review Rubric with Comments document.
