Online Learning

The Five Es and Lesson Plans to Inspire Learner Voice

Samantha Abarca & Dr. Leena Bakshi facilitated a session at the CAST UDL symposium entitled “Inspiring Learner Voice through Racial and Social Justice in UDL.” They shared their slides and a lesson planning document. The session had participants from Canada and all throughout the country based on the chat. Bakshi is a member of an […]
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A Study on Flexible Deadlines

Melissa Hills, Kim Peacock & Brittany Wiseman presented at the CAST USL Symposium this month about “Replacing Power with Flexible Structure: Learner Centered Deadline Policies in Post-secondary.” They acknowledged the lands in Canada that they inhabit. One attendee in the chat mentioned during their introduction that they were interested in flexible deadlines and wanted to […]
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Making Connections through QM Course Design Elements

Karen May, Adjunct, New Mexico State University; Sherrell Wheeler, Director of Online Quality Assurance, New Mexico State University Alamogordo and Christine Trapp, Professor of Nutrition and Chemistry, New Mexico State University Alamogordo, presented the QM session “Building Connections: Making a Difference One Lesson at a Time!” Karen May has had 21 courses reviewed and led […]
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AGILE and Inclusion in Education

The QM webinar “Inclusivity, Engagement, Differentiation – Have It all Using AGILE” was presented by Kat Biacindo, Associate Professor, California State University, Fresno. Biacindo spoke about connectivism theory citing Siemens 2007: “through a network, web, or internet, learners can (a) acquire new content that is continually updated, (b) identify credible resources, and (c) draw distinctions […]
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Micro-Credentials

Dr. Valerie Morphew, Professor, Fairmont State University, presented a session for Quality Matters on “Trends in Micro-Credentials for Professional Development.” They defined micro-credentials using the NEA 2021 definition: “A micro-credential is a short, competency-based recognition that allows an educator to demonstrate mastery in a particular area.” Recognition may be a digital badge upon demonstration of […]
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Positive Feedback in Online Courses

Patrick Dempsey, Director of the Office of Digital Teaching & Learning, Loyola University Maryland, presented a Quality Matters session last November entitled “Feedback Strategies: 5 Practices to Increase Student Success and Decrease Instructor Workload.” Dempsey asked: explain how anyone gets “good at anything.” This was followed by Dempsey sharing research that to improve performance it […]
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ReadSpeaker and Accessibility in QM Courses

On February 2, 2022, Kathy Wood, ReadSpeaker; Jim Snyder, Quality Matters; Beatriz Flores-Martinez, Laredo College; and Candice McPherson, Virtual Arkansas, presented “Addressing Accessibility in Course Design and Practice with QM and ReadSpeaker TTS. Flores-Martinez from Laredo College spoke about how they are constantly searching for instructional technologies to incorporate into their online courses. McPherson is […]
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Consistency and Structure

Online course design is a topic that I am interested in. I watched the QM session entitled “Online Course Design: Focus on Structure and Interface” today. Penny Ralston-Berg from Penn State and Heather Braatz from Worsham College of Mortuary Science presented this session. They discussed the benefits of supportive structure and shared examples. Ralston-Berg spoke […]
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The Research on Quality Online Experiences

The 2022 QM Online Research Conference session entitled “Beyond Assumptions: putting Research into Practice to Document Quality Learning Experiences” was the second session from this conference that I watched. Dr. Andrea Schwegler is an Associate Professor of Psychology at Texas A&M Central University. Schwegler has been in education for thirty years, starting in K-12. The […]
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Quality in Action Recap

The closing session of the Quality in Action conference of Quality Matters wrapped up the sessions and shared key takeaways. Several speakers shared their most memorable ideas from the day. One person talked about the changing definitions of “face-to-face” and the importance of learning about what works and pedagogy. They also talked about staggering the […]
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