In collaboration with the Technology and Learning Program, Faculty Development offered a QLT Canvas fully online training in Fall 2023 and Spring 2024, and 21 faculty completed the training and course review. The QA Lead at the time of its creation designed the QLT training in Canvas in collaboration with the Technology and Learning Program and three faculty facilitators based on the in-person workshops run prior to Fall 2023. This year was the first time we ran QLT fully online and asynchronous.
QA Team
QA Lead: Zach Justus in Fall 2023 and Allison McConnell in Spring 2024
Academic Technology Officer: Kathy Fernandes
Instructional Technology Consultants: Claudine Franquet, Christine Sharrio, Jim Aird, Marjorie Shepard, josh whittinghill, Allison McConnell.
Faculty Facilitators: Ben Seipel and Angela Alger
Faculty Mentor: Angela Alger
Administrative Staff: Rebecca Nelson
For 2023-2024, the QA program at Chico State had three major goals:
GOAL 1: CONTINUE IMPLEMENTATION OF QLT IN CANVAS AND RUN ASSESSMENT OF FACULTY PERFORMANCE
As Chico State prepares for a full transition from BlackBoard to Canvas (by Fall 2023), the QA Team has revised the workshops to include examples of course design that reference Canvas, as opposed to Blackboard and has launched an asynchronous QLT training in Canvas. The QA Team has administered a mid-semester survey and will also ask faculty to complete a final survey. The results of both surveys will be shared in the 2022-2023 portfolio, and will inform any modifications and changes in curriculum that will happen in Summer 2023 before we make the QLT Canvas training available in Fall 2023. The plan is to continue offering QLT in this format, and to assess faculty performances as they implement QLT in their courses.
GOAL 2: EMBEDDING QLT IN A NEW FACULTY DEVELOPMENT TEACHING CERTIFICATE UTILIZING CANVAS CREDENTIALS
In order to create more opportunities for faculty to complete training in quality course design, Faculty Development and the READI hub are completing a teaching certificate that will allow faculty to count completing QLT as one of the tiers in the certificate. Our plan is to incorporate Canvas Credentials as the method to certify completion of the various levels of the certificate, in addition to CSU Learn. We currently do not have access to Canvas Credentials and our hope is that the Chancellor’s Office will possibly offer additional funding to utilize Canvas Credentials, or that an agreement can be developed at the CSU level, instead of individual campuses.
GOAL 3: PARTNER STRATEGICALLY WITH DEPARTMENTS OFFERING ONLINE PROGRAMS TO OFFER TAILORED QLT TRAINING IN CANVAS
The QA Team is working in collaboration with the Multicultural and Gender Studies Department to train faculty in QLT. Specifically, a QLT Canvas training was created in Spring 2023 tailored to the needs of the MCGS department as they prepare to launch their new online program in Fall 2023. We plan to replicate this model for other departments that will develop online programs in the future, to ensure faculty can complete QLT as a cohort and share common goals and resources in relation to the online program being developed while being supported by TLP to launch their online program.
Faculty Development originally offered the QLT course as a series of five synchronous Zoom workshops and has now successfully transitioned to a fully online asynchronous format delivered in Canvas. The QA Lead at the time created a QLT Course in Canvas to launch in spring of 2023. The course was designed in collaboration with the Academic Technology Officer, Information Technology Consultants, and two faculty members.
As of fall 2023, we have fully transitioned to online asynchronous format. In spring 2024, based on results from the prior semester, we started offering optional synchronous Zoom meetings two days prior to the due date of each module for discussion, support, and to create a productive sense of urgency. The QA Lead scheduled the synchronous meetings in tandem with the Technology and Learning Program, and distributed the Core 24 standards of the QLT instrument around the whole series.
Summer 2022: the QA lead started mapping an outline for the asynchronous QLT course, with the goal of implementing and expanding elements from the 5 synchronous workshops.
Fall 2022: The QA Lead collaborated with the Academic Technology Officer to finalize the outline for the asynchronous Canvas course. While the outline originally included 7 modules, the finalized courses ended up including 8 (shown below).
January 2023: The QA completed the design of the QLT Canvas course, with input from the Academic Technology Officer, TLP technology consultants, and two faculty facilitators. The course launched in late January 2023.
Fall 2023: All QLT participants now complete the online asynchronous course in Canvas with the support of module facilitators composed of the QA Lead, TLP technology consultants, and two faculty facilitators.
Spring 2024: The QA Lead adds optional synchronous Zoom meetings to support participants in meeting benchmarks. The module facilitators also attend the meetings corresponding to their modules to contribute to the discussion and answer questions.
Canvas QLT Course Navigation Video
Module 1: Introduction to QLT (Video)
A final survey was administered August 2024 among the faculty who completed the QLT Canvas course in fall 2023 or spring 2024. 10/21 faculty responded to the to the final survey.
The main takeaways from the survey are included below:
Almost all faculty stated it took between one and five hours to complete each module with three hours being the most common. One faculty stated it took them ten hours.
All faculty in the final survey appreciated the many resources provided in the QLT course and found all topics relevant and useful (in particular the modules about learning objectives; tools of engagement; and accessibility and inclusion).
Half the faculty stated QLT took more time than expected to complete but also made comments that that the results were "robust" and "worth the time spent."
One salient recommendation was for module instructors to be more involved with their feedback in a way that corresponds with the amount of time participants devoted to their deliverables. Based on this recommendation, the QA Lead will check in with each module facilitator at each module deadline to support and remind as well as verify feedback has appropriate level of depth. We will also explore opportunities for sharing work and getting live feedback during the optional synchronous Zoom sessions.
Canvas QLT Course Survey
GOAL 1: CONTINUE IMPLEMENTATION OF QLT IN CANVAS AND RUN ASSESSMENT OF FACULTY PERFORMANCE
Fall 2023 marked our transition to Canvas as a campus. After a successful pilot in spring 2023, we continued with an online asynchronous Canvas course. In fall 2023, we noticed that many faculty crammed most of their work into a very short timeline or discontinued their work altogether. In response, we adjusted our spring 2024 to include reminder announcements prior to each module due date for each module and included optional synchronous check-ins via Zoom two days prior to the modules’ due dates for questions and discussion with participants. We have not run an assessment of faculty performance yet and will analyze the results at the conclusion.
GOAL 2: EMBEDDING QLT IN A NEW FACULTY DEVELOPMENT TEACHING CERTIFICATE UTILIZING CANVAS CREDENTIALS
The teaching certificate is set to launch later this Spring. Principles of QLT will be embedded in it.
GOAL 3: PARTNER STRATEGICALLY WITH DEPARTMENTS OFFERING ONLINE PROGRAMS TO OFFER TAILORED QLT TRAINING IN CANVAS
As of fall 2024, we have partnered with the Computer Science Department related to their upcoming start of their online Master of Science in Computer Science program.