Refresh Revise and Comply - A New Approach to Course Quality

1. Donna Simiele| eLearning Technology Support Coordinator
dsimiele@niagaracc.suny.edu
SUNY –Niagara County Community College, Sanborn, NY
www.niagaracc.suny.edu

2.  eLearning Technology Support
Coordinator/Instructional Designer for 3 years
 Teaching undergraduate on campus and online
courses for 14 years
 Quality Matters / OSCQR Reviewer
 Open SUNY Center for Online Teaching
Excellence (COTE) Expert Instructional
Designer Fellow
ncccelearning.com

3. About SUNY & NCCC
• 64 Campuses
• 459,550 students
• University Centers
• University
Colleges
• Technology
Colleges
• Community
Colleges

5.  NCCC has been
online for 16 years:
 8 online programs,
 2 online
certifications,
 180 online &
blended
courses/semester.

6. Open SUNY is a SUNY-wide
collaboration that opens the door to
world-class online-enabled learning
opportunities. Open SUNY is not a
new degree program or a new
school; it’s a seamless way for you
to access the courses, degrees,
professors, and rich academics of
all 64 SUNY campuses flexibly—
wherever and whenever you want.
For the first time, SUNY is
delivering its renowned high-quality
education with an unprecedented
breadth of tools, services, and
supports designed to help you be
successful. With Open SUNY, you
can look forward to:
 Flexibility
 Support
 Experience
 Simplicity
 Excellence Access

7. Open SUNY - Center for Online
Teaching Excellence
SUNY has launched a new center
that celebrates, connects, and grows
effective online education practitioners
across the SUNY system while also furthering
our knowledge of the most effective teaching
and learning practices in online education.
Questions about COTE can be sent to
contactcote@suny.edu

9.  Time of registration
 Poor advising
 Age
 Engagement and Course
Design
 Development Needs
 Gender
 Technical Factors/Business
Processes
 First-time e-Learning student
 Previous College Success-
GPA
 Learning Styles
SUNY Directors of Distance Learning Environments

10. 1. New Quality Review Project Using
OSCQR
2. eLearning Student Support Specialist
3. Creation of eLearning student success
orientation (Blackboard Course)
4. LMS and technology workshops for
students
5. IITG Grant – Building Accessible Content
in online courses using Universal Design
methods

12. OSCQR
Chico
Rubric
SLN Best
Practices
SUNY
Office of
General
Counsel
Quality
Matters
iNACOL
Blackboard
Community
of Inquiry
Seven
Principles
for Good
Practice
The Adult
Learner
Bloom’s
Taxonomy
How People
Learn
Open SUNY
COTE

13.  About the NCCC Quality Review Project
 The NCCC Quality Review process is a faculty-driven, collegial
course design review process. The rubric does not evaluate the
faculty member or the faculty member’s content expertise.
 The review makes use of the Open SUNY COTE Quality Review
Rubric known as “OSCQR.”
 This project will help NCCC maintain and enhance the quality of its
online courses through a process of continuous improvement.
 This review process is not a part of NCCC’s faculty evaluation
process. It evaluates the online course itself. The reviewers evaluate
the course before it goes live so that the focus is on the course
design, not the faculty member or how the course is run.
 The review process is completely voluntary.

14.  OSCQR
 NCCC (Modified) Version of OSCQR
 Video about OSCQR
 Meet the OSCQR Rubric (Alexandra
Pickett)

15.  Accessibility Issues
 Open SUNY OSCQR included an Accessibility
Component
 NCCC Required Materials
 Course Interaction

16.  Received a SUNY Innovative Instruction
Technology Grant (IITG)
 With Grant Funding:
▪ Built a compliance checklist (based on Middle
States, Higher Education Opportunity Act, and
OSCQR Accessibility standards)
▪ Checked online courses for compliance issues
▪ Sent findings to faculty
▪ Provided professional development sessions based
on findings

17.  Required:
 Course Interaction
▪ Student-to-Student, Faculty-to-Student, & Student-to-
Faculty
 NCCC Disability Disclosure
 NCCC Academic Integrity Policy
 Content Accessibility:
 Documents (Word, Blackboard, & PDF)
 Tables
 PowerPoints
 Non-Text Elements (images, tables, charts, etc.)
 Videos

18.  Checked
66 Courses
52 Faculty
3 Reviewers
Approx. 400 hours

20. 0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
Documents PowerPoints Tables Non-Text
Elements
Links Videos 3rd Party
Content
67
15
62 61
64
38
44

21.  Documents
 Font type, font size, colors
 Blackboard did not have a print function
 Documents were only offered in Word not PDF
 PDF
 Some PDF files were hand written and scanned
 Tables
 Blackboard does not have the ability to make
tables accessible – All docs with tables needed to
be created in Word
 Hyperlinks
 Showed URL not text, Alt Text was not provided

22.  PowerPoint
 If narrated, they did not contain
captions/transcripts
 Layouts were often not used
 Images
 Did not contain Alt Text
 Videos
 Were not CC or transcribed

23.  Provided Individual Results to Each
Faculty
 One-on-One Sessions
 30 Minute Mentor Monday’s (Recorded)
 Open Compliance Sessions
 Accessibility Resources
 Progress Survey Sent (End of the Fall
semester)

24.  13 Open Sessions
 12 One-on-One Meetings
 6 30 Minute Mentor Sessions
(Recorded)

25.  Accessibility Training –
Atomic Learning Videos
(Total Watching Time 20
min.)
 Self Evaluation (20 question
Quiz)
 Accessibility Resources
 Student Testimonials
 Tools and Techniques for
Improving Course
Accessibility (Magna
Commons)

26. Donna Simiele
eLearning Technology
Support Coordinator
dsimiele@niagaracc.suny.edu
Project Materials:
 Resources:
 NCCC eLearning Faculty Support Center (Blog)
 NCCC (Modified) OSCQR
 Compliance Checklist, Form, and Checklist with
Resources/Descriptions
 SUNY Resources:
 Open SUNY
 Center for Online Teaching Excellence (COTE)
Open SUNY COTE Quality Review Rubric (OSCQR)
 Questions about OSCQR