Organization Interaction Facilitation Materials Instructional
Strategies Assessment

Quality of Online Education (QOE) framework

The College of Education’s QOE framework represents the interrelated actions among three main agencies (i.e., faculty, students, and content) in online education environments to facilitate faculty’s implementation of quality online courses.

Features

It focuses on inter-relations among three agencies (i.e., faculty, students, and content) that play important roles in online education.
It provides a systematic approach to the interdependent nature of online environments with a graphical representation.
Agency –Action –Component (What-is) –Method (How-to)
It provides various practice examples for our college’s instructors.
It emphasizes the importance of context (e.g., discipline, students, setting, or system) that affects learning goals and activities in online courses.

DEFINITION

ORGANIZATION (Faculty – Content)

refers to faculty’s effort to organize an online course for effective communication of learning expectation, content, and learning process.

Organize an online course in a consistent and structured manner to minimize cognitive overload in navigating the course site.
Design an online course compliant with ADA guidelines to provide easy access to all learners.
Design an online course that explicitly aligns course objectives, learning activities, and assessments to clarify learning process and expectations.

APPLICATION

COMPONENT (WHAT-IS) METHOD (HOW-TO)

Course home page	Provide basic course information (e.g., title, instructor, course description, course purpose, course expectation) Insert a representative image
Course orientation	Provide instruction on where to get started (e.g., "Start Here", "Get started", “Read Me First”) Provide start up information (e.g., course navigation instruction, what to do first) Provide information on course design strategies or approaches
Menus (navigation)	Group similar menu items together (e.g. use a sub header, a divider) Delete (Hide) unnecessary menus items Employ consistent layout and design
Syllabus	Create a separate menu for syllabus Follow the college guidelines Create a syllabus quiz and add the quiz link below the syllabus
Schedule page	Create a separate schedule page Provide course schedule (start & end date), topics, tasks, and due dates Create a link to each module page
Module page	Create a separate menu for learning modules Create a separate folder for each module page Provide module introduction/objectives Present learning contents/activities in order of learning Embed or link learning materials into the module page Made links open in a new tab Provide a direct link to related assignments/assessments
ADA compliance	Provide consistent organization throughout course Provides alternative means to all non-text content (e.g., caption, text transcripts) Provide description for visual information including images, graphs, and tables Provide Alt text for uploaded files Format titles and headings using 'styles' feature when creating a blackboard page/item Provide ADA statement in the syllabus

DEFINITION

INTERACTION (Faculty – Students)

refers to faculty’s effort to build a community for students to share perspectives and interests and collaborate on tasks.

Help students have a sense of community to support each other’s learning process.
Build a safe learning environment for open discussions with the instructor and peers.
Sequence learning content in an increasing order of difficulty to help students deepen their interactions with content.

APPLICATION

COMPONENT (WHAT-IS) METHOD (HOW-TO)

Welcome message & Self-introduction	Provide a welcome message including instructor's introduction when/before the class starts Use multimedia for the welcome message (e.g., photograph and/or audio/video of instructor) Ask students to introduce themselves and respond to each other Provide guiding questions for student self introduction (e.g., why they are taking the course, what they expect to learn, etc.)
Student-Instructor interaction	Explain the role of the instructor and expectations for interactions with the instructor Provide diverse ways to communicate with instructor (e.g., email, synchronous meetings, discussion feedback posts) Define the preferred communication methods and channels Provide response time for each communication method
Student-Student interaction	Specify the nature of required participation, frequency and quality of students' interactions Provide diverse ways to communicate with other students (e.g., group discussions, small-group projects, peer review/feedback/critique/assessment, student facilitator/moderator)
Student-Content interaction	Provide a learning guidance for assigned readings (e.g., textbook, article, or online resource) Provide a clear guidance to complete assigned tasks Release weekly contents timely

DEFINITION

FACILITATION (Content – Students)

refers to faculty’s continuous monitoring and scaffolding to improve student learning.

Monitor students’ learning progress to keep them on track.
Provide constructive feedback in a timely manner to improve student performance.
Design routines to support students’ proactive self-regulated learning.

APPLICATION

COMPONENT (WHAT-IS) METHOD (HOW-TO)

Scaffolding	Post announcement for guidelines or review Provide review notes or slides Embed prompts/questions in learning activities or materials Pose challenging questions requiring in-depth exploration of content Provide worked examples or samples
Feedback	Provide specific feedback (descriptive) Provide a summary of how well performed on a particular task (evaluative) Connect to criteria Provide just-in-time feedback Require students to review the feedback and take action Provide opportunities of peer feedback
Monitoring	Provide revision opportunity Make grade book sub total columns available Guide students to self-monitor their progress (e.g., self reflection checklist, assignment checklist) Provide information on approximate time required for activities in advance to help students time management Provided opportunities for students to reflect on course activities (e.g., reflection journal) Provided opportunities to share learning/assignment progress with the class (e.g., show and tell, student presentation)
Institutional support	Provide separate menus for institutional supports (e.g., technical support, disability support services, student services, library resources)

DEFINITION

MATERIALS (Faculty – Students - Content)

refers to faculty’s creation and presentation of accurate, current, and relevant contents to increase students’ interest in learning new knowledge.

Provide up-to-date course contents to introduce current trends and issues in the field.
Use various forms of media to effectively deliver important messages.
Provide relevant learning materials to increase student motivation.

APPLICATION

COMPONENT (WHAT-IS) METHOD (HOW-TO)

Learing contents	Provide various types (modes) of materials Apply instructional message design principles (e.g., alignment, consistency) Provide up-to-date materials Provide opportunities for students to share their own learning materials with class
Assignment material	Provide materials to assist/aid assignments (e.g., template, job aid, worksheet) Provide worked examples
Supplementary material	Provide a variety of relevant/additional materials Provide opportunity for students to find their own learning materials Identify the distinction between required and optional materials
Copyright and fair use	Identify and cite sources for materials
ADA compliance	Provide alternative means to all non-text content (e.g., caption, text transcripts) Provide description for visual information including images, graphs, and tables Format titles and headings using 'styles' feature

DEFINITION

INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES (Faculty – Students - Content)

refers to faculty’s approaches and means to engage students for deeper learning.

Apply effective strategies to promote students’ content mastery.
Assign authentic tasks to foster active participation in the learning process.
Incorporate guided practice to help students apply and transfer knowledge and skills.

APPLICATION

COMPONENT (WHAT-IS) METHOD (HOW-TO)

Instruction

Provide instruction/guidelines for each activity
Explain the purpose of each activity
Provide technologies that help students complete activities

Activities

Determine instructional approaches based on learning objectives, students' level, instructor experience
Individual approaches (e.g., reading article, watching lecture, discussion post)
Collaborative approaches (e.g., group discussion, peer feedback, group projects)
Teacher-directed approaches (e.g., direct instruction such as lecture video, presentation materials, sequence of learning, etc.)
Learner-centered approaches (e.g., project-based learning, problem-based learning, case-based learning, issue-based learning, etc.)

DEFINITION

ASSESSMENT (Faculty – Students - Content)

refers to faculty’s design and use of various methods for assessment to ensure students’ achievement of learning objectives.

Assess regularly student performance to ensure students meet the intended learning outcomes.
Use of various types of methods to effectively assess learning progress.
Provide clear instructions, evaluation criteria, and constructive feedback to foster improvements in learning.

APPLICATION

COMPONENT (WHAT-IS) METHOD (HOW-TO)

Formative assessment	Conduct pop quizzes and spontaneous writing Embed questions into learning materials to check understanding Provide opportunities to check learning progress (e.g. regular check-up, module quiz, survey)
Summative assessment	Provide various types of assessments (e.g., multiple-choice tests, essay, portfolio) Design assessments aligned to learning objectives. Provide sequenced assessments according to the learning process Allow multiple attempts
Guidelines	State due date and the grading policy (e.g., point distribution, late submissions) Explain where and how to submit Highlight the most important components required Provide self reflection checklist Provide questions to exceed minimum requirements Provide worked examples Provide information on plagiarism
Criteria	Provide instructor’s expectations Specify graded items Provide a rubric with specific items and scores (e.g. points, percentages and weights for each item) Provide a scoring sheet based on the rubric