Have you ever thought back to your college days and your experience in the student seat? Have you ever reflected on what made your favorite professors so memorable? Have you ever asked yourself, “What makes for good teaching? Or “What is the most effective way to get through to my students today as my favorite professors did with me?”
If you have ever pondered any of these questions, then you centered the lens of reflection on the idea of quality. Quality is the very impetus that guided practitioners in the field of online and blended teaching to collect articulations of effective practices and implementable, tried-and-true approaches that could lend to a better experience in the teaching an online space.
In the spirit of quality online teaching, several years ago SHSU Online developed articulations around nationally recognized, research-based quality assurance standards. In collaboration with seasoned SHSU online faculty, SHSU Online explored best approaches related to the essential components of online course design.
These findings are centralized in the SHSU Online Course Design Rubric and they center on course components such as assessment strategies, collaboration and communication approaches, academic integrity, learner support, access ability, and making the most of academic technology utilization.
Considering the recent changes brought about post-pandemic, and the increased likelihood for blended instruction, the SHSU Online department has produced a follow-up guide to the fully-online course design rubric. The new rubric for blended course design is now available.
Even though blended courses share much of the same pedagogical and andragogical best practices as fully online courses, their main distinction is that the technological component in blended courses can be viewed and adapted as a compliment to face to face instruction, versus a complete replacement of it.
With this distinction in mind, the rubric for blended course design offers a variety of recommendations and a centralization of effective measures for teaching blended courses
If you are developing a blended course for Spring, Summer of Fall of 2022, please contact us to get started!