TEACHING ONLINE FOR NNMC
Faculty Credential
NNMC faculty interested in teaching online or developing classes in the online environment are expected to be credentialed prior to teaching an online or blended course.
Faculty are responsible for providing a quality online learning environment that meets Quality Matters™ (QM) standards. Faculty must demonstrate evidence that they are qualified to teach in an online learning environment.
- Faculty teaching online courses at NNMC must demonstrate evidence that they are qualified
to teach in an online environment. For faculty/instructor credentials required to
teach distance education courses, you may provide:
- evidence of a current Quality Matters (QM) certification in Online Teaching or as a Peer Reviewer; or
- completion of NNMC 101, our self-paced, asynchronous credentialing course.
- In addition, all faculty are encouraged to engage in continuous professional development opportunities to learn best practice standards for teaching in an online learning environment.
Becoming credentialed to teach online/blended online is just the first step. The second step is Course Development.
Course Development
Faculty interested in developing online courses will be supported in the design, development, and delivery of online courses. In order to provide the best support, the Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) has created processes and expectations for course development.
All online courses will be reviewed using the Quality Matters™ (QM) Higher Education Rubric, 7th Edition. Courses may be reviewed and approved every 3-5 years, as determined by the department. Please refer to the complete process below.
- If you already have a course developed, submit a ticket and request the course be copied into the new Canvas template.
- If you do not have a course developed:
- Obtain permission from your Director or Chair to develop an online course.
- Develop a new course for review using an older version of the course, if applicable.
- Once your course has been submitted by your chair for processing by the Registrar via Banner, your course shell will appear in the Canvas LMS.
- After the course is approved, you can request a copy to the course shell for the new semester.
- CTL is prohibited from creating course shells in Canvas before the semester schedules have been approved by the Provost and Registrar. (However, instructors do have access to their own sandbox shell in Canvas.)
- Begin development of the course utilizing the NNMC course template (referenced below). Do not delete the Home page or "Start Here" learning module (which contains the Course Start Guide) as those contain important information and navigation instructions for all students and assist the instructor in meeting certain Quality Matters™ (QM) Standards.
CTL is here to help you as you develop your online course(s). Please reach out for
assistance. Additionally, we are pleased to provide some Resources here to assist with online course development:
NNMC Course Development Matrix
The NNMC Course Development Matrix may be used to assist in developing your course. The matrix is a course planning document aligned to the Quality Matters Higher Education Rubric, 7th Edition and is an important part of the course development process. This matrix allows you to not only build out your course, but also to map it out so that you can ensure alignment is present. Using this matrix gives course representatives and instructional designers a chance to catch any potential issues early on. If you completed the Alignment Quick Self-Check in Module 1 of NNMC 101, you actually already completed a piece of the matrix which you can use moving forward. You may download and save a copy of the matrix template here: NNMC Course Development Matrix
You may watch the video below to help introduce you to the matrix and give you a better
idea of how the information in this document may be used to help your course meet
QM standards.
- NNMC Course Development Matrix Video
- NNMC Course Development Matrix Video - Transcript
- NNMC Course Development Matrix Video - Slideshow Presentation
NNMC Online Course Template
CTL has created a course template in Canvas that you can use to begin developing your online course. You may view the Canvas course template by opening your Sandbox Shell in Canvas, where the template is pre-loaded.
QM Course Design Guide
QM offers a QM Higher Ed Course Design Guide to assist in developing your course. Following the guidance provided by QM can help to increase the likelihood that the design of your course will meet standards when the course is reviewed.
Regular and Substantive Interaction
Regular and Substantive Interaction, also known as RSI, is an important consideration for you to keep in mind as you develop your courses. Some guidelines of RSI include the following:
- There should be at least two forms of substantive interaction in distance education courses, and there must be “scheduled and predictable” opportunities for instructor/student interaction.
- Faculty can demonstrate “regular and substantive interaction” in a variety of ways. At least two of the following must be present and taking place on a regular and predictable schedule in a distance education course to qualify as “regular and substantive interaction”:
- Providing direct instruction
- Assessing or providing feedback on a student’s course work
- Providing information or responding to questions about the content of a course or competency
- Facilitating a group discussion regarding the content of a course or competency
- Other instructional activities approved by the institution’s or program’s accrediting agency
These are important requirements for teaching online, so take note of them. Additionally,
take some time (if you haven't yet) to view the "Regular, Substantive Interaction
Requirements of Distance Education" slideshow below. It gives additional information
on RSI.
DE RSI Requirements
QM Self-Review Tool
Another very helpful resource that will help to meet QM standards is the Quality Matters Self-Review Tool. A tutorial for accessing this resource is available here: QM Self-Review Tool Tutorial. Once you have accessed the site, you may work in the Self-Evaluation Tool. (Note that it is not necessary to submit this to QM, as you are not requesting a formal - paid - review from Quality Matters. You may still use the rubric to evaluate your own course and gain access to the specific annotations for each of the 44 specific review standards.)
To sum up, developing a course is the second step to teaching online/blended online. The third, and final, step is as follows.
Course Review & Approval
NNMC faculty interested in teaching online or developing classes in the online environment are expected to have their courses go through an approval process.
At the conclusion of the teaching of the course, or at the conclusion of the course
being
taught once, the Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) will initiate a course review.
Fully online courses must demonstrate that they meet 85% of Quality Matters™ Rubric
Standards (7th edition), including all 3-point (“Essential”) standards. Quality Matters™
(QM) is a nationally recognized, peer-reviewed process that certifies the quality
of online courses.
- Courses meeting 85% of Quality Matters™ (QM) standards (including all “Essential” standards) will be QM-verified.
- Courses that fail to meet 85% of the standards (or any of the 3-point, “Essential” standards) will be returned to the course developer with suggestions and feedback. Course developers will then have two weeks to revise and resubmit the course for approval.
As you can see from the information above, an approval process is in place to ensure our online courses offer high quality learning experiences.
References:
- Roark, R. and Dvorak, K. (2021, February 24). Regular, Substantive Interaction Requirements of Distance Education [PowerPoint slides]. Adobe Acrobat. https://nnmc.libguides.com/ld.php?content_id=61550928
- QM Higher Education Rubric, Seventh Edition, 2023. Quality Matters. Used under license. All rights reserved. Retrieved from MyQM.