Sarah had already had one of the PG Cert team “observe” this module and he had provided a useful framework use by eCampus Alberta for the evaluation of on-line material/teaching (you can read about my “teaching observation” of my her on-line module here). Sarah shared this framework with me and having read it and used it to assess her module framework it struck me that this would be really very useful for not just classes/modules taught on-line but also in assessing your virtual learning environment (VLE)
As I said the assessment tool comes from the Alberta e-campus. They offer over 900 on-line further/higher education courses and in doing so their offering appears to be more inclusive and allows for greater access to higher education – at least in terms of geography ceasing to be a barrier (not sure about cost). As an aside….I think is a great idea – your physical remoteness and therefore the potential cost of travel and accommodation should not be a barrier to education.
Perhaps unsurprisingly there are a number of quality standards associated with running an on-line course for the institution. You can find these here. But the one that I looked at was the eRubric which can be used to assess eLearning projects. It assesses the course briefing, the quality of the writing, resource provision, technology use and a range of pedagogic issues such as inclusivity. Some of the criteria are basic requirements of teaching, learning & assessment such as marking schemes provision or clarity of learning outcomes, others relate to the way information is presented and how accessible it is. The rubric also gives a framework or set of standards for what eCampus Alberta considers to be essential (i.e. the minimum requirement), excellent and exemplary.
You can log in as a guest and work your way though the rubric and apply it to your online teaching or just your VLE pages. With the latter there will be a number of the items that don’t apply but the rubric and its various levels provide some great ideas for consideration in the set up of course documentation and VLE.
Areas that I need to work on, using this rubric include:
- Navigation – too much information (a bit like the three clicks rule e-Campus Alberta recommends that the info only spans 2 pages worth of scrolling) and while it is easy to see what is relevant to which topics if you click out it may not be easy to get back.
- Inclusivity/accessibility – none of my documents have been checked for compatibility with screen readers and I’ve provided no options for the format in which the information is presented. I provide a number of videos, but I don’t provide alternatives for learners with visual impairment.
- One overall bibliography – my reading is scattered throughout the module guide and each sessions slides/info.
- Clarity of language and provision of things like plain language versions or glossaries.
- I have actually doe this for new topics in this year’s modules
- Lack of clarity over what resources are critical and which are supplementary.
- Clarity over marking schemes, and provision of online examples with the facility for students to comment on past work and link it to the marking scheme.
- No spelling, punctuation and grammar errors – I know that given that we hold students to this standard that we should be meeting that standard, but I also know that my own typing leads to spelling errors and I’ve never been great with commas and apostrophes
- Use of bridging statements to clearly show how the different segments of the course link together – students need to attend class and look at the material presented in each class to understand how each topic links to the next.
- Encouraging and supporting learner produced content and allowing for the VLE to have students add material that they think is valuable. Again this should encourage engagement and deeper learning.
- Use of forums for discussion – I tell students that this is how they should ask questions, but don’t stick to it and will happily take the same question several times, from several students via email. As a result I waste time and the forums never get used. I just need to stick to my own rules!!!
- Further to this exemplary is considered to be encouraging students to support one another though on-line discussion and answering each others questions. However in a true online course this would be absolutely vital. I encourage my students to support and engage with each other through in-class activity. But support outside of class could definitely be improved.
You can see my e-rubric self assessment of my 2nd year module on renewable energy here:eLearning Rubric
There area few areas where get exemplary scores, but often have missed out some of the more basic or excellent stuff. But this gives me a great starting point to improve the quality.
The fact that a criteria cannot be ticked as N/A is a bit of a downfall, but then this rubric was set up for a different reason. I think this has value, but if I wanted to apply it to the VLE’s in my programme I would need to adapt it. But I like the different levels of quality and in carrying it out I have a range of different ideas of how I can improve my VLE in order to improve student experience, hopefully engagement and therefore performance. There is a lot of stuff in here that could be used to support teaching observations and module delivery as a whole, not just the admin of the VLE (i.e. student cooperation, marking schemes and student created resources)
The website also provides some examples of best practice from a range of disciplines that give some good examples of how to provide clear language, for example. I personally find this really useful as it gives me a starter for 10. I know what I should do, I know it is based upon good academic practice but I’m often not quite sure how to do it or how to implement it. So having someone else’s examples to work off is a good starting point.
We do a basic check of all of our VLE’s but using this or a variant of it could really add value both to the teacher and to the teaching team as a whole. A challenge with applying the e-rubric is that self assessment can be overcritical or can be under critical. But if a colleague assesses your VLE that could be taken very negatively. Although that said academics are the one group of people who really should be used to receiving feedback, negative or otherwise (wasn’t that what the viva voce was all about??).
Getting engagement in quality (or any management system for that matter) and increasingly greater levels of what can be perceived as bureaucratic form filling, needless checks and interference can often be challenging. It has to be sold properly and the benefits clear for the time input.
For me this e-rubric provides ideas and guidance and it took me about 15 mins to complete (although more than that to come up with ideas on what else I could d0). How it is pitched if it were to be implemented would be key. In the first instance using it as voluntary self assessment tool before mandating self assessment or peer assessment would be beneficial.
dremmah 