Student's Signature ___
Chair's Signature ___
Director of Online Programs' Signature
Online courses are to be evaluated annually by a certified faculty-centered peer review team, set forth by the Director of Online Programs and Distance Education Committee. The evaluating consultant(s) should be from an outside university-supported body, such Quality Matters™ which provides quality assurance and helps to improve and certify the design of online and blended courses. Online and Hybrid courses are to be assessed against a set of standards that deem best quality of instruction and design. Standards should consist of:
Selection of online and blended courses to be evaluated should be based upon various factors (e.g. frequency of course offering, program completion, etc.) set forth by the Distance Education Committee. Courses assessed for quality will be permanently filed with the Office of Distance Education. Documentation received from reviewer(s) will be provided to Vice President of Academic Affairs, Division Chair and teaching faculty. This material should be used as a means to gauge professional development, and if needed, grounds for continuation of an instructor teaching online. The Distance Education Committee will set the grounds as to what is and is not considered best measure of quality.
Ongoing evaluation of online and blended courses can be done informally each semester by way of an evaluation form. This evaluation form is intended to be a component of the peer evaluation process that is already established. Instead of making a classroom observation, which is not possible for a virtual class, a peer evaluation team comprised of those experienced in teaching virtual classes will be temporarily added to the roster of the Blackboard shell as teaching assistants to give them access to all areas of the course. Should a division lack a sufficient number of faculty experienced in teaching virtual classes, the chair can ask members of another division to serve, as is often done for division tenure and promotion committees. In the case of a class being offered as a virtual class for the first time, this review should be used to help guide the faculty member toward more effective delivery of course materials rather than as part of the formal evaluation process. The faculty member can request evaluation of a virtual class to be a part of his or her annual review.