Online Program Design Analysis - The Shift to Distanced Learning:


Online Program Design Analysis:  The Shift to Distanced Learning

Cindy Ward

California State University East Bay

Department of Education

OTL 608:  Critical & Contemporary Practice in eLearning Design & Technology

July 18, 2021




Introduction

Quality Matters is a non-profit organization focused on improving the quality of online education.  According to Quality Matters (2021) CHLOE Report 6:  Online Learning Leaders Adapt for a Post-Pandemic World, institutions relied on their chief online officer to coordinate the response to the Covid-19 pandemic, but few were expecting a major acceleration of future online undergraduate enrollment.  The pandemic’s forced shift to fully-distanced learning requires a big investment in online learning technologies, course conversions, faculty training, student preparedness, technology capability, and quality assurance (Quality Matters, 2021).  The Quality Matter’s program offers web-based tools like the Quality Matter’s Rubric to implement better course design, with an aim to increase student learning, engagement, and satisfaction.

Background

The COVID-19 pandemic has created the largest disruption of education systems in human history, affecting nearly 1.6 billion learners in more than 200 countries. Closures of schools, institutions and other learning spaces have impacted more than 94% of the world’s student population. This has brought far-reaching changes in all aspects of our lives. Social distancing and restrictive movement policies have significantly disturbed traditional educational practices. Reopening of schools after relaxation of restriction is another challenge with many new standard operating procedures put in place (Pokhrel & Chhetri, 2021).  Schools that offer online courses need a process to review the quality of the way that the online course is designed and delivered.  Developing an online course with the Quality Matter’s Rubric is one tool for course designers to use to assure high standards are met to support student learning, satisfaction, and student engagement.

Evaluation

Georgia University’s immediate response to COVID-19 was to  to start testing new platforms to quickly transit the learning process from face-to-face to online. The platform must meet the following criteria: 1) Connecting with the lecture and at least 50 other students at the same time, via video interactive conference; 2) In case of online lectures lecturers may need to use discussion to make teaching process more organic and realistic; 3) For students, that don’t have access to high-speed internet connections, the streams have to be recorded and uploaded; 4) The online lectures should be accessible not only by computers but mobile phones; 5) Should have the option to watch recorded lectures that they missed with capability of rewind; 6) The ability for students to complete/hand in online homework, quizzes and tests. 

They analyzed the capabilities of Google’s G Suite for education which could complete the tasks.  For these purposes several available products of google were studied as Business and Technology University, Georgia was already the subscriber of G suite for education for free of charge. Eight products were considered to be used in the new form of education: Gmail – for information exchange, Classroom – for creating learning environment together with materials sharing; Forms – a part of google docs that creates the online forms as a quiz that can be automatically integrated into the classroom’s assignments; Calendar –Scheduling tool for online lectures, Drive – Storage for recorded lectures, Jamboard and Drawings – the online tools for drawing and writing that can replace the whiteboard, and Hangouts Meet – live lecture environment with up to 100 participants and OBS - Open Broadcaster Software for recording the lectures as the G suite for education enterprise is not currently available for Georgia. All of these services were successfully tested and are ready for production, (Basilaia, 2020).

Unlike Georgia University, most colleges and universities in the United States were already using the Blackboard LMS system to deliver online learning, but a few colleges were not and many of them turned to the Google Classroom.  Also, many K-12 classrooms switched from in-person learning to the Google Classroom during the pandemic, too.  It needs to be noted that there is a difference between online learning and the emergency virtual classroom and many students did not stay engaged, motivated, or show up for the virtual classroom.  The Los Angeles Unified School District reported that nearly 15 percent of high school students never logged on to its online learning system in the spring of 2020, and an additional 25 percent logged on only infrequently (Burke 2020).   

Recommendation

The policy level intervention is vital. Education systems across the world need to invest in the professional development of teachers, especially on ICT, and effective pedagogy, considering the present scenario. Making online teaching creative, innovative, and interactive through user-friendly tools is the other area of research and development. This would assist and prepare the education system for such uncertainties in the future (Pokhrel & Chhetri, 2021).  Offering online courses or workshops about the Quality Matter’s Rubric or other pedagogies and methodologies to improve online learning is one way to invest in the professional development of teachers to improve the education system.

One Possible Solution

Professor of Educational Psychology Andrew Martin presents ideas on how to optimize online learning with a five-point guide for educators in the face of Covid-19.  

  1. Instruction:  Following the principles of Load of Reduction Instruction, online lessons must be very clear and well-structured, delivered in manageable chunks, allow good opportunity for students to practice what must be learnt, and enable opportunities for the teacher to see students’ work and provide feedback on time.  When the teacher is satisfied the students have the basics, they can then provide more independent and self-directed online learning activities.

  2. Content:  Is appropriate to the learner's level of knowledge and skills, and delivered in doable chunks so the learner is not overwhelmed or confused.

  3. Motivation:  The area of motivation particularly relevant to online learning is self-regulation, task-management, planning, and persistence.

  4. Relationships:  Interpersonal relationships are integral to learning.

  5. Mental Health:  Good mental health is not only a vital outcome in itself, it is a means to other vital outcomes — such as learning. If mental health suffers, learning usually suffers. During periods of online education, schools will be aware of some students with whom they must maintain closer contact (including students with additional educational needs, such as those with dyslexia, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, etc.). But it is important that all students are clearly informed of who to contact inside or outside the school if they are struggling.

To conclude, the five considerations presented here provide a means by which schools and teachers can develop and deliver online learning to optimize their students’ learning (Martin, 2020).  Also, many students and teachers felt stress during the pandemic and the switch to online learning.  All the stakeholders should be offered extra mental health support, now.

Conclusion

The Quality Matter’s Rubric is a good evaluation tool,  but there is not a one-size fits all approach to evaluation options.  Accountability and assessment initiatives are good, but they need to be balanced with feed-back from all the stakeholders and with care to not burn-out the teacher’s with initiative fatigue.  Provide the teachers with evaluation choices and options that can be based on individual needs.  An investment in the professional development of teachers will improve the whole education system, help to engage students, and increase student learning and satisfaction.



References

 Basilaia, G. “Replacing the classic learning form at universities as an immediate response to the 

COVID-19 virus infection in Georgia,” International Journal for Research in Applied 

Science and Engineering Technology, vol. 8, no. 3, pp. 101–108, 2020.

View at: Publisher Site | Google Scholar

Burke, Michael . 2020. “Thousands of Los Angeles High School Students Are Not Accessing 

Online Learning during School Closures.” EdSource, March 30. Retrieved January 4, 2021. 

https://edsource.org/2020/thousands-of-los-angeles-high-school-students-are-not-accessing-online-learning-during-school-closures/627448#:~:text=About%2015%2C000%20high%20school%20students,Superintendent%20Austin%20Beutner%20said%20Monday.

Martin, A. (2020). How to optimize online learning in the age of coronavirus (COVID-19): A 

5-point guide for educators. UNSW Newsroom, 53(9), 1-30.  Retrieved from

https://newsroom.unsw.edu.au/news/social-affairs/how-optimise-online-learning-age-coronavirus

 Pokhrel, S., & Chhetri, R. (2021). A Literature Review on Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Teaching and Learning. Higher Education for the Future, 8(1), 133–141. https://doi.org/10.1177/2347631120983481

Quality Matters. (2020). The Changing Landscape of Online Education (CHLOE) Project - 2021 CHLOE Report 6. Retrieved from https://www.qualitymatters.org/qa-resources/resource-center/articles-resources/CHLOE-project

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