CSU, Chico: Quality Assurance ePortfolio (2020-2021)
2020-2021 — CSU, Chico: QLT Program
Proposal Summary
In 2020-2021, 26 faculty members completed the QLT workshop series, and an additional 10 faculty attended 2 or more workshops in the series: 25 faculty members presented their course design at the end of the Spring 2021 semester, showing evidence of how their design meets the Core 24 standards of the QLT instrument and completing a series of deliverables that helped them meet the Core 24 standards. The QA program continues to involve tenured faculty, tenure track professors, and lecturers, and spans across all Colleges and disciplines and focused primarily on online course design, given the pandemic. The QA program has been successfully adopted in both major and General Education course (re)design, and its benefits have been felt all across campus, according to the testimonials from previous FLC participants. This past year, the QA program at Chico State was offered as a series of five workshops offered in collaboration between Faculty Development and the Technology and Learning Program. More information can be found on the campus QLT workshops page.
Campus QA Goals & RESULTS
Campus Goal for Quality Assurance
For 2020-201, the QA program at Chico State had four major goals:
1. Expand the number of faculty funded to complete the local QA Program from 10 per year to 30 per year. This goal will be accomplished by offering a series of 5 workshops that will cover sections 1-8 of the QLT instrument. The workshops will be open to all faculty on campus, but only 30 will be funded through the QA program.
RESULTS: 26 faculty members completed the QLT workshop series, and an additional 10 faculty attended 2 or more workshops in the series: 25 faculty members presented their course design at the end of the Spring 2021 semester, showing evidence of how their design meets the Core 24 standards of the QLT instrument.
Faculty are asked to use the template below to show evidence of how their course meets the Core 24 standards. Various examples of course reviews are available in the right column.
2. Maintain a threshold of 75% accessibility compliance through the use of Ally.
RESULTS: As part of their deliverables, at the end of the workshops faculty were asked to submit a ticket with the Office of Accessible Technology Services or the Technology & Learning Program to actually reach 100% accessibility compliance. All faculty who completed the workshop series filed tickets with OATS or TLP, and the great majority met the 100% accessibility compliance, everyone meets at least 75% accessibility compliance.
3. Include faculty mentors that will work with cohorts of faculty in one-on-one sessions towards the completion of all deliverables associated to the workshops.
RESULTS: We were able to train and work with 4 faculty mentors who worked closely with the faculty, providing support and helping them complete the deliverables. For 2021-2022 we plan to continue working with faculty mentors and possibly recruit some of the faculty that have just completed the QA program in 2020-2021. The QA Lead will send an open call in early Fall 2021.
4. Continue a close alignment with GI 2025 goals by including significant elements of equity and diversity in online teaching and by utilizing historical equity gaps data for each course design.
RESULTS: Faculty Development was instrumental in developing a website that hosts the newly released grades and equity gaps dashboard. All programs in FDEV are now asked to address the data that faculty can access from the dashboard, and QLT is not an exception. FDEV has also developed a series of resources (a handout, video tutorial, and a teaching guide, on how to property access the dashboard and implement more inclusive pedagogy practices). The QA Lead and Director of Faculty Development was also added to the campus GI2025 steering committee in Fall 2020.
Accessibility/UDL Efforts
Efforts towards EDI goals and accessibility standards You can access the presentation for workshop 5 above, which focuses on Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility. Additional workshop presentations are available below as well:
Workshop 1: Introduction to QLT, Course and Learner Support
Workshop 2: Assessment of Learning Outcomes
Workshop 3: Organization of Course Materials and Resources
Workshop 4: Student Engagement
Workshop 5: Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility
Faculty Development also offered a special forum on UDL in Spring 2021 as part of the weekly Go Virtual Community meetings. The video recording is available here and the corresponding slides are embedded below.
Faculty Development has also created a teaching guide dedicated to UDL.
Sample Course Reviews
Training Completions
In addition to the 26 faculty who have completed the campus QLT raining, 20 faculty have completed the Introduction to Teaching Online Using the QLT Instrument (QLT1) course and 4 faculty completed the Advanced QLT Course in Teaching Online (Q3) course during 2020-2021. Information is available at this link.
Course Peer Review and Course Certifications
In collaboration with the Academic Technology Officer, the QA lead has created a document that provides information about the QLT course review and course certification process. The document is available below. The QA lead will create a webpage in the Chico State QLT website dedicated to providing information about course review and certification, especially in light of the College of Business' interest in certifying their courses as a consequence of the launch of their Online MBA program. Instructional designer Christine Sharrio, from TLP, has been working exclusively with the College of Business to provide support for online course design, following the QLT standards.
Campus QA SUPPORT & EFFORTS
Quality Assurance Lead(s)
Chiara Ferrari (QA Lead, FDEV Director)
Kathy Fernandes (Academic Technology Officer)
Supporting Campus Partners
Campus Commitment Toward Sustainability of QA Efforts
Commitment 1: the QA lead is in conversation with Regional & Continuing Education and individual Colleges to discuss plans for supporting additional QLT training and fund formal course certifications, as the University explores the possibility to expand its online offerings.
Commitment 2: The Academic Senate approved a new Policy for the Use of Digital Technologies in Teaching and Learning that encourages faculty to be trained before teaching online courses and renews the University's commitment towards providing resources and support for faculty training. The policy is waiting for President's approval, and we expect it to be in place by the beginning of the Fall 2021 semester.
Commitment 3: Faculty Development and the Technology and Learning Program continue to operate under a strong synergy that merges innovative and inclusive pedagogy with a dynamic and engaging use of technology. The additional partnership with OATS ensures that QLT-designed courses also meet the 100% threshold of accessibility.
Dissemination of QA Efforts
Due to Covid-19, and the additional pressures put on Faculty Development and Academic Technologies for faculty training, no formal conference presentations were completed during 2020-2021.
The Go Virtual training that happened in summer 2020 and in winter intersession 2020-2021 was based primarily on the QLT standards. Through Go Virtual, approximately 350 faculty were trained in best practices for online course design, following QLT standards.
In 2021-2022 the QA lead plans to attend the CSU symposium on teaching & learning to present the QLT model offered at Chico State.
Next Steps for QA Efforts
Step 1: EQUITY, DIVERSITY, INCLUSION & ACCESSIBILITY: Faculty Development and the QA lead are committed to continuing equity work into 2021-2022 after a number of significant initiatives focused on equity that were completed in 2020-2021 (a Closing the Equity Gaps FLC and course design program, a Teaching Racial and Social Justice Series, and the addition to anti-racist practices in the QLT workshops offered this year). The goal is to increase elements of equity, diversity, accessibility, and inclusion (and specific anti-racist practices) in the QLT training, while also asking faculty to intentionally address equity gaps in the courses they redesign by accessing our local grades and equity gaps dashboard.
Step 2: INCREASE REACH FOR FACULTY SUPPORT & TRAINING: Given the funding awarded and matching efforts from the campus partners, the QA lead plans to expand the number of faculty funded to complete the local QA Program from approximately 10 per year (up to 2019-2020) to approximately 30 per year (in 2020-2021) to 50 per year in 2021-2022. This goal will be accomplished by offering a series of 5 workshops that will cover section 1-8 of the QLT instrument, both during the academic year and during summer 2022. The workshops will be open to all faculty on campus, and will meet the needs for the increasing demand for online programs that are being planned at Chico State.