The document summarizes the development of a program to recognize excellence in online course design through a peer review process. It describes the goals of improving online courses and helping institutions achieve recognition. Details include establishing submission guidelines, assembling review teams, providing feedback to applicants, and recognizing the benefits to instructors and students. In the first two years, the program reviewed 13 courses total and recognized 4 as exemplary.

1. Building Bridges
to Better Online Education
Developing a Program to Achieve and Recognize
Excellence in Online Education
Sue Burris Nita Copeland
Director of Distance Learning Health Sciences Faculty
National Park Community College University of Arkansas at Little Rock
Mark Burris Terry Patterson
STaR Founding President, ARBUG
University of Arkansas at Little Rock University of Missouri - Columbia

2. Session at a Glance
• Idea and Goals
• Planning and Implementation
• Feedback
• Outcomes
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3. Ideals and Goals
The How and Why

4. Idea & Goals
• Create a way to improve online course
design
• Implement a “best practices” mentoring
program
• Help improve institutions’ chances to be
recognized for excellent course design /
development
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5. Idea & Goals
• Miss America Pageant for
Course Development
• Make sure courses
measured up to
Exemplary Courses
Program (ECP)
• Give instructors and Daniel Hulshizer/Associated Press
developers a place to go
before making it to the big
leagues!
• Create a Diamond Award
for Excellence in Online
Course Development
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6. Planning and Implementation
Establishing the Review Process

7. •A Blackboard course from an Arkansas college or
university that meets “Exemplary” status as
detailed in Blackboard’s Exemplary Course Rubric
•Courses submitted for review must have ended
by January 1, 2012 to comply with privacy
standards (FERPA).
•Submit the completed Submission form at
arbug.org no later than February 15, 2012.
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8. Diamond Award Submission Timeline
Submission window: January 15, 2012 – March 1, 2012
Reviews Reviews Anonymous
Conducted: Finalized: Reviews
March March 20- Sent:
5 – 16 23 Late April
Review Winners
Deadline: Notified:
March 19 March 30
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9. Submission Guidelines
• Courses must be delivered in one of
Blackboard’s Learning Management Systems
(e.g., Learn, Academic Suite, CE/Vista, ANGEL).
• Candidates must provide access to a copy of
the course with designer, builder, or editor
access for the Review Team.
• Courses in which students are currently
enrolled will not be reviewed in order to
comply with privacy standards.
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10. Submission Guidelines
• Only courses with a completed Submission
Form will be reviewed.
• All supplementary materials must be converted
to electronic format, (PDF, Flash, PowerPoint,
Camtasia, Captivate, etc.) and uploaded to the
course to be reviewed.
10

11. Self-evaluation Instructions
• Print a copy of the Rubric
• Review each section of the rubric:
• Course Design
• Interaction and collaboration
• Assessment
• Learner support
• Evaluate your course as:
• Exemplary
• Accomplished
• Promising
• Incomplete 11

12. Team Development
• Identify volunteer reviewers
• Group by experience and role
• Ensure institutional distribution
• Email training guidelines and submission
resources
• Provide access to BB Collaborate for reviewer
collaboration
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13. Submission Conclusion
• Gather results of team review
• Notify ARBUG officers and candidates with
results
• Collect the reviewer comments
• Edit for review anonymity
• Provide the candidate with review feedback
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14. Planning and Implementation
Participating in the Review Process

15. What Makes a Review Successful?
Completeness:
• Thoroughly complete Parts 1 and 2 of the Reviewer Form.
Validation:
• Carefully review the comments and examples of exemplary
practices presented in the narrative.
• Base your review on the detailed criteria of the ECP Rubric.
Constructive Feedback:
• The ECP program is based on a premise that participation in
the program as a reviewer or a submitter will enable
individuals in both groups to become better at creating and
delivering effective online instruction.
• This positive theme should be foremost in the minds of
reviewers and should be evident in the feedback you
prepare for course submitters. 15

16. Examples of Feedback
Feedback that isn’t very constructive:
Too much text on the page. I didn’t like to scroll.
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17. Examples of Feedback
Positive, constructive feedback:
It is great that you provide supplementary reading materials
within the course itself! This is a real time-saver for students.
The materials may be easier for students to read and recall if
the items were organized by theme or in chronological order
and placed into dedicated folders or subfolders rather than
listed on one page. While having all of the information on one
page makes it easy for people to print out, it makes for an
awfully long page to scroll through. In addition, because of
some of the large images, the page takes a long time to load.
This might be a problem for students with slow internet/dial-up
connections.
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18. Examples of Feedback
Feedback that isn’t very constructive:
Learning objectives are not placed in
appropriate places.
Your learning objectives are not good.
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19. Examples of Feedback
Positive, constructive feedback:
Although your learning objectives (LO’s) are included in the
course syllabus, it would be helpful to students to relate specific
LO’s to course activities and assignments.
The learning objectives (LO’s) could be improved if written in
measureable terms. For example, in the LO’s below, the word
“know” is vague and isn’t measureable. However, the action verb
“write” is measureable.
Not measureable: The student will know the Spanish alphabet.
Measureable: The student will be able to write the Spanish
alphabet.
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20. Feedback
Instructor & Student Benefits

21. Benefits to Instructors and Students
• Provides incentive to go through the rubric
• Verifies best practice usage
• Validates teaching online to colleagues who
do not teach online
• Confirms scholarship for annual evaluations
• Prioritizes and focuses on the components of
course design
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22. Benefits to Instructors and Students
• Recognizes helpfulness of reviewer
comments (Welcome video, learning styles
emphasis)
• Provides opportunities for course design
assistance with colleagues
• Focuses on specific learning strategies to
create a student learning centered course
• Influences overall teaching
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23. OUTCOMES
2011 & 2012 Review Outcomes

24. Review Outcomes
• 2011 – Reviewed 2 courses
• 1 Exemplary, 1 Accomplished
• Exemplary course recognized by QM and
Blackboard as Exemplary.
• 2012 – Reviewed 11 courses
• 3 Exemplary, 3 Accomplished
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25. Questions?
www.arbug.org
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26. We Value Your Feedback!
Please fill out the session evaluation.
Sue Burris Nita Copeland
sburris@npcc.edu njcopeland@ualr.edu
Mark Burris Terry Patterson
mfburris@ualr.edu pattersontl@missouri.edu