Grant Funding Ideas For Improving Online Courses
Faculty members have completed online course training at different times over the
past decade. “Best practices” in online education have evolved over this time.
Unfortunately, not all of this information has been effectively communicated and
adopted by faculty teaching online courses. The DEAC is proposing an online grant
program be implemented to assist in the training and implementation of recent
“best practices” in online education as they apply to the Online MBA and Online BBA
courses.
The Benchmarks for Online Education document and Quality Matters document
contain the majority of older “best practices” for developing online courses. The
grant program will review the application of these older “best practices” and apply
appropriate new ideas to the specific online course. A preliminary list of ideas to be
applied for qualified online grant funding includes:
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Case Study – predominant in course
Video of Guest Speaker and/or on site visit
“You attitude” with a student – round table discussion that turns to student
Multiple media recordings per module, keep them short -15 minutes
followed by a specific action assignments
Demonstration or use of props in video
Use a visual image on a slide with little or no wording for media recording.
Deviate from standard text powerpoint slides.
One on One contact between student/instructor (check up phone
calls/emails)
Small group WebEx for case reviews
Media studio recording of online discussion wrap-up
Meet a pre-determined % of Discussion posts and/or use of WebEx
Media with pause and Pop-up Quiz
Engaging discussions ground rules – Introduce yourself discussion that
covers instructor/student expectations for discussions throughout the
semester
Provide audio summary of discussion at conclusion
Timeliness in responding to students questions, those sent via email or
posted in Raise Your Hand. Subscribing to Raise Your Hand discussion
forum.
Appropriate ratio of individual vs. group assignments (this applies to
assignments other than discussions)
Apply grading tools to improve feedback (quantity, quality, and timeliness)
Some of the ideas are new and some are listed because DEAC members noted
several online classes did not include a current “best practice.” We are researching
current best practices to identify innovative teaching methods for online courses.
We know that as current practitioners, our faculty may have the most innovative
ideas. Faculty are encouraged to develop new innovative ideas that can be applied
to multiple online courses in our curriculum. Please let Bob Schramm, Peggy
Kuchan, or any DEAC representative know if you have further ideas for improving
online instruction. We all benefit from sharing your creative thoughts!!!
The grant procedures will include the following steps:
1. Applicants should review online course benchmarks for online instructors document
(http://www.uww.edu/cobe/cobefacultystaff/onlineteaching) and identify innovative
ways in which their online course can be improved.
2. Applicants are encouraged to talk with Bob Schramm or any DEAC member
concerning the grant application prior to submission. Additional reference material
can be located on the CoBE web site at
http://www.uww.edu/cobe/cobefacultystaff/onlineteaching.
3. Applications should be emailed to Bob Schramm.
4. DEAC members review and select qualified applications
5. Selected pre-proposal applicants meet with Bob Schramm and Peggy Kuchan
to finalize the grant proposal and define the course development/revision
process and timeline.
6. Selected applicants will submit a finalized grant document to Bob Schramm.
7. Applicants will implement the course development/revision plan in a timely
manner.
8. Applicants will teach the improved course when scheduled.
9. Grant payment will be completed as soon as possible after the course is
taught.