Meeting Online Course Quality Standards

This week we learned how to view and incorporate Quality Standards for online course design.  There are many different ways to approach this requirement.  I was particularly impressed with peer reviews from the institution your may be teaching in.  At some future date, I hope to enter into a one-on-one independent study with someone familiar with online course design.  I want to develop my course from beginning to end with the help of the instructor.   Whether I will be given this opportunity remains to be seen.  However, I think it is an important component of this certification process.   

One reason I would want this to be my last component of the eLearning Certificate, is the need for critical feedback from an online instructor or instructors.  I am including a video at the end of this blog post that shows how well this feedback has worked for course designing instructors.  I don’t believe you can teach online without knowing how your course meets state and even federal guidelines.  If I am going to take the time to construct an online course, I want to know it is giving my learners their monies worth.  I want to know it is a quality incorporated design.

Students in community and technical colleges are often given a set of skills to apply to the outside work world.  For example, my husband went to a local technical college to learn CNC (Computer Numeric Control) skills.  He was interested in making parts by programming and designing parts using the computer.  He received very high marks for completing the course and had years of experience at Boeing, in experimental aircraft as a flight test sheet metal mechanic.  During the years he worked for Boeing he had to read blueprints and often craft parts that would work, from the engineers design.

The sad part of this experience was he was unable to find a job in that field because he did not have the experience required at the time, in the CNC field.  So, instead of using these new skills, at which he excelled (even to the point of correcting the mistakes in his textbook), he never worked in that the CNC field and lost the edge on his skills.  In fact, needing to work he accepted a job driving a truck for a tent manufacturer.  When they finally put him in to a fabric cutting position, five years later, using the computer, the military withdrew their contract and he was laid off.  He was doing that job for only six months and was excelling.  Today one year later, he is working in a warehouse as a temporary worker.

My point is this, giving my student the skills to do the job they hope to do in the future is not the end of the learning process.  Not only do I want the students to learn the skills, understand the concepts; but I hope they will learn how to get the job they are being educated to do.  If this means they may have to accept an internship in that area, so be it.  This should be available to them.  Lack of experience is the biggest hurdle many students face, once out of the learning program.

Designing the learning program is critical.  So is building into the design a way to help learners get the job they want.   Anything less is a waste of the federal, state and local community’s money, not to mention the learner’s money!  The big question for the instructor or designer is: How can my class help this learner secure the position they are seeking?  What skills do they need and how can I help them get these skills?  It may be we as designers may need to re-educate the colleges and institutions that hire us.  No learner or student should, after spending thousands of dollars at an institution, be left with an eduation that doesn't help them secure the employment they have trained or been educated for.

The Video is from Chemeteka Community College in Salem, Oregon.

This video has been added for terminology and fun!