Online Teaching
Online/Hybrid Instructor Resources
QM Standards
Quality Matters (QM) is an organization dedicated to improving online course quality. The Quality Matters higher education rubric is used to evaluate the design of online and blended courses. Xavier has adopted the Quality Matters higher education rubric as the standards faculty should adhere to for their online and hybrid courses.
Our goal with this resource is to help faculty develop or improve their online and hybrid courses. Resources on this site are intended to assist faculty by showing them ways to setup/organize their Brightspace course to meet each QM standard. Click on the link for each standard to get more information about that standard.
QM Standard 1 – Course Overview and Introduction
QM Standard 2 – Learning Objectives
QM Standard 3 – Assessment and Measurement
QM Standard 4 – Instructional Materials
QM Standard 5 – Course Activities and Learner Interaction
QM Standard 6 – Course Technology
QM Standard 7 – Learner Support
QM Standard 8 – Accessibility and Usability
Resources
Information and resources that you may find helpful as you develop your online/hybrid courses can be found here:
Past CAT FooD blog posts related to online teaching:
- Going from Face-to-face to Online Teaching
- What to Expect When You’re Expecting to Teach Online
- Questions from First-Time Online Instructors
- 7 Deadly Sins of Online Course Design
- Humanize Your Online Courses
- Humanizing Tool Buffet
- Metacognition for Effective Online Learning
- Create a User-Friendly eLearning Course
- Synchronous vs Asynchronous eLearning
- Engage Students Through Online Collaboration
- Alternatives to a Q & A Discussion Forum
- Tips to Improve Online Discussions
- Time Management Strategies for Online Teaching
- Digital Copyrights
- Improve Student Retention in Online Courses
General resources related to online teaching:
- How to Be a Better Online Teacher from the Chronicle of Higher Ed
- Online Teaching Best Practices from Faculty Focus
- Guide to Online Resources for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education
- Teaching Online Pedagogical Repository (TOPR)
- Blended/Hybrid Learning Toolkit
- Engage Your Students in Your Online Course: 20 Proven Ways!
- Four Types of Discussion Forums in Online Courses
- Creative Commons Resources
Brightspace help and support:
- Brightspace How-to Guides
- Brightspace Tips
- Brightspace FAQs
- Brightspace.com Help for Instructors
- CAT+FD Workshops
- Schedule One-on-One Brightspace help
Xavier faculty can find support for online/hybrid teaching from the following departments:
- Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Faculty Development
- Center for Continuing Studies and Distance Education
- Office of Disability Services
- Student Academic Success Office
- Xavier University Library
Tips for Online/Hybrid Instructors
Lastly, this Online Teaching resource is an outgrowth of our Faculty Communities of Teaching Scholars (FaCTS) initiative for AY 2013 - 2014 where the theme was “Engaging Students in Online Courses.” We’ve compiled some tips, words of wisdom, and things I wish I knew when teaching my first online class from some of the 2013 - 2014 cohort.
Dr. Krista Mincey, Assistant Professor Public Health Sciences, on setting up discussion boards to make grading easier:
Dr. Krista Mincey gives advice on setting up DBs for easier grading [01:05]
Dr. Krista Mincey video transcript (PDF)
Dr. Mark Gstohl, Associate Professor Theology, on making better videos for online teaching:
Dr. Mark Gstohl gives advice on making better videos [02:53]
Dr. Mark Gstohl video transcript (PDF)
Dr. Cary Caro, Assistant Professor Division of Business, on the importance of a start here page and checklists:
Dr. Cary Caro gives advice on start here page and checklists [01:42]
Dr. Cary Caro video transcript (PDF)
Dr. Elizabeth Yost Hammer, Director Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Faculty Development and Psychology Professor, gives advice on scheduling due dates and a word of caution about automatic captioning:
Dr. Elizabeth Yost Hammer gives advice on assignment due dates and a word of caution about automatic captioning [02:37]
Dr. Elizabeth Yost Hammer video transcript (PDF)
Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Faculty Development
Xavier University of Louisiana