Online Course Development and Teaching Academy
Updated March 6, 2024
OIT's Instructional Design and Technology (IDT) team is pleased to announce the replacement of UHCL's long-standing Online Course Development Calendar and mandatory Minimum Standards Review with a new procedure for online course development. Please download and review the IDT document Online Course Design Guide: Requesting, Designing, Developing, and Launching Your New Online Course to learn more about the information presented on this web page. When you're ready to submit a request, please complete and submit the online New Online Course Request form.
NEW! Our Instructional Design and Technology Newsletter for the week of March 4, 2024 focused exclusively on UHCL’s Quality Matters initiative, the revised Online Course Development process, and our new Online Teaching Academy (OTA). Featured interactive articles include the following from our team!
- UHCL's Online Teaching Academy (OTA) and Course Development 2024 (H. Newkirk)
- The Impact of Quality Matters (QM) Certified Courses on Student Learning and Engagement (S. Houston)
- UH EIT Presentation on AI: The Takeaway and QM's Relevancy (N. Noman)
2024 Online Course Development Process
For an overview of the new process, please watch the IDT team's video presentation Online Course Development and Training Academy Overview [11:30]. Below are a few highlights from the new process for all newly requested fully online courses:
- Course reviews and "pass/fail" decisions are discontinued.
- Course request deadlines are discontinued.
- Instead of certifying individual courses, faculty will be trained and certified to develop their courses on a schedule that best suits their need.
- Faculty will complete two training courses before developing a new online course: (1) Online Canvas Training, and (2) Applying the Quality Matters Rubric (APPQMR) course. NOTE: Faculty need only complete these courses one time - not every time they want to request a new online course.
- Responsibility for ensuring the quality of new online courses appropriately rests with the faculty members, their department/program chairs, and Deans.
Online Teaching Academy (OTA)
In addition to the two training courses needed to request new online courses, faculty now have the option to enroll in the IDT team's new Online Teaching Academy (OTA), a four-component curriculum consisting of the following courses:
- Introduction to the OTA (Hybrid)
- Applying the Quality Matters Rubric (Online or In Person)
- Designing Your Online Course (Online)
- Teaching Online: An Introduction to Online Delivery (Online)
Faculty who successfully complete the OTA will be awarded UHCL-issued certification as an Online Teaching Expert Practitioner (OTEP) via the Badgr digital badging system.
Quality Matters-Related Options
As faculty at a fully licensed Quality Matters institution, instructors have several other options for professional development and certification:
- Submit fully online courses for external Quality Matters evaluation to be recognized as QM-certified online offerings.
- Become a QM-certified Peer Reviewer to serve as an external reviewer of online courses from other QM participating institutions.
- Become a QM-certified facilitator of the APPQMR (online or face-to-face).
As we continue to launch this new online course development and training academy initiative, the IDT team will update this page and we'll share information via our weekly online newsletter. To opt into the newsletter, please send us an email at IDT@uhcl.edu.
If you have any questions about the information or resources provided on this page, please contact the designated Instructional Designer for your college. If you aren't sure how to reach your designated Instructional Designer, you may contact the Support Center either by email at SupportCenter@uhcl.edu or by telephone at 281-283-2828. The Support Center staff will create a help ticket for your inquiry and it will be routed to the appropriate member of our team.