Alternate Delivery Program

Overview

Hybrid and online courses offer delivery alternatives to the traditional “face to face” classroom experience. The condensed and highly focused summer and winter sessions are particularly well-suited to hybrid and online course options. To help faculty redesign their current courses for online or hybrid delivery, the Office of Summer, Winter and Special Programs (OSWSP) sponsors the Alternate Delivery Program.

Preference will be given to courses which are:

• Typically in high demand during the fall/spring semesters or special sessions (as evidenced by past enrollments and student “hold lists”).
• General education courses, upper level courses or those required for a major.
• Particularly well suited to the hybrid or online delivery format.
• Faculty selected should have previous experience using Blackboard and a basic understanding of the various features it provides.

COMPENSATION

REQUIREMENTS

DELIVERABLES

SUPPORT

PROPOSAL FORM

RESOURCES

EVALUATION PROCESS 

DEFINITION OF COURSE DELIVERY FORMATS

FOR MORE INFORMATION

PROGRAM COMPENSATION

Alternate Delivery Program recipients will receive:

•  $1,500 to redesign a course using an alternate delivery format.
  
• Salary to teach the course (based on rank and number of credits) – See FY 07 salary information from the Office of Summer, Winter and Special Programs.
  
• NEW: An additional $1,000 "peer mentor" award is available for UMBC faculty who have taught effective online or hybrid courses in the past and are willing to support another UMBC instructor through the initial redesign of his or her course for alternate delivery in summer 2007 (see requirements below).

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PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS

For $1,500 ADP "Redesign" Awards . . .

• Submit a proposal and letter of support from your department chair, which will be reviewed by the ADP selection committee (those selected for ADP support will be notified by December 18). An optional "form letter" for chairs is available here.

• Redesign an existing Undergraudate Council (UGC) approved course to meet the format guidelines of a hybrid or online course. A two-day course development workshop focusing on course redesign is planned for Thur., January 18, and Fri., January 19, 2007 to assist faculty with course redesign.

• Require students to participate in an online course evaluation at the end of the special session to evaluate the redesigned course's student learning outcomes.

• Complete the QualityMatters "self review" rubric for evaluating the instructional design of an online or hybrid course.

FYI: The University System of Maryland (USM) is sponsoring a Nov. 17 half-day "Overview" workshop on the "QualityMatters" rubric (or "checklist") of best practices for evaluating online/hybrid course design (register online by Nov. 16). This will be followed by "Hands-on" workshops in January and March on how to use the peer review rubric or how to become a peer reviewer. More information.

• Participate in an online “learning community” – a cohort of faculty interested in developing and promoting alternate delivery methods at UMBC.

• Prepare and present the "Deliverables" described below.

• Meet two times with the learning community during the spring 2007 semester to present course “deliverables” by dates below.

For $1,000 "Peer Mentor" ADP Awards . . .

• AFTER teaching an Undergraduate Council (UGC) approved course twice as an online or hybrid course, instructors would be eligible to receive $1,000 for doing the following:

• Complete the "Quality Matters" online learning “peer review" rubric (or "checklist") of best practices (http://www.qualitymatters.org) based on how the course has been taught to date, and submit it to the ADP proposal review committee as an application for continued $1,000 support for "Peer Mentoring” of another faculty member just starting to redesign his or her course for “alternate delivery” in summer 2007.

• FYI: The University System of Maryland (USM) is sponsoring a Nov. 17 half-day "Overview" workshop on the "QualityMatters" rubric (or "checklist") of best practices for evaluating online/hybrid course design (register online by Nov. 16). This will be followed by "Hands-on" workshops in January and March on how to use the peer review rubric or how to become a peer reviewer. More information.
  
  
• Request to give a 10-minute “lessons learned’ departmental presentation about the process and results of redesigning a face-to-face (F2F) course for online or hybrid delivery. The presentation should include sharing the peer mentor’s “Quality Matters” rubric with other faculty in his or her department. Applicants should also include a Chair's letter of support for this presentation, indicating a willingness to give faculty time on a departmental meeting agenda or other “ad-hoc” departmental forum for other faculty to learn about the colleague’s alternate delivery experience (see sample Chair’s form letter).

• Help recruit and/or mentor a departmental or university faculty colleague to apply for the initial $1,500 hybrid course redesign RFP. The mentor would meet with the selected mentee to review learning goals and applied technology solutions introduced in ADP workshops and deliverable requirements, including completing his or her own QM rubric after the first offering of the online or hybrid course.

• At a minimum, the ADP “Peer Mentor” would meet with a colleague twice to help brainstorm and/or review what the colleague was planning to do to meet the two required learning object deliverables. The mentor would attend all deliverable presentations of mentees (two per semester).

• Participate in related online discussions via the hybrid-courses@lists.umbc.edu listserve and/or “Hybrid Course Redesign” Blackboard community site. Example: All peer mentors will be asked to post a summary of the departmental respoonse to or discussion of his or her 10-minute "lessons learned" presentation.

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DELIVERABLES (Note: it is assumed that faculty selected as "peer mentors" will help a "redesign" colleague meet these deliverables):

February 8  - Submit a draft revised summer course syllabus reflecting the alternate delivery format.

March 1  – Present a learning object, module, assignment, activity or exercise that you plan to use in your course (10-20 minute presentation).  It should specifically address the pedagogical problems (or implications) that a hybrid or online course solves (or creates).  The learning object must include a student review to gauge its potential effectiveness.  (Note: If you cannot present to the group in person, the deliverable must be posted on Blackboard by this date.)

April 5   - Present to the cohort a second learning object, assignment, activity or exercise that you plan to use in your course (10-20 minute presentation). It should specifically address the pedagogical problems (or implications) that a hybrid or online course solves (or creates). The learning object must include a student review to gauge its potential effectiveness. (Note: If you cannot present to the group in person, the deliverable must be posted on Blackboard by this date.)

By May 1  – Conduct an in-depth “peer review” of another cohort member’s presentation to provide feedback regarding their learning object.

Summer 2007 - Offer a hybrid or online course during the 2007 summer session.

• FYI: The University System of Maryland (USM) is sponsoring a Nov. 17 half-day "Overview" workshop on the "QualityMatters" rubric (or "checklist") of best practices for evaluating online/hybrid course design (register online by Nov. 16). This will be followed by "Hands-on" workshops in January and March on how to use the peer review rubric or how to become a peer reviewer. More information.

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PROGRAM SUPPORT FOR PARTICIPANTS

A course redesign workshop will be held on-campus in January 2007 and online throughout the spring 2007 semester. Participants will meet as a group for a two-day workshop (Jan. 18 & 19, from 9 a.m. – 3 p.m.). The first day will provide an overview of pedagogical approaches using principles and activities participants may wish to incorporate in their own hybrid or online course. The second day will focus on technology solutions to pedagogical problems or opportunities participants identify on the first day and in their ADP application. 

Before the face-to-face workshop, each participant will be encouraged to meet with Jack Prostko (Director, Faculty Development Center) and John Fritz (Director, Instructional Technology & New Media) for a one-on-one interview to better understand and support each course's learning goals. Taken together, the workshop and personal interviews are designed to help participants meet the "deliverable" requirements of the Alternate Delivery Program throughout the remainder of the spring 2007 semester. 

FYI: A sample "syllabus" from the January 2006 "Hybrid Training Workshop" is available here.

Jack Prostko, John Fritz, and Bob Armstrong (Instructional Designer, and a UMBC Blackboard System Administrator) will be available throughout the spring '07 semester to provide additional pedagogical or technical support.

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PROPOSAL FORM

Submit an alternate delivery course proposal in the "UMBC Hybrid Course Design Workshop" Blackboard Community.  Enrollment is required to submit your proposal, but you can "self enroll" using the "organization search" box on the Blackboard "Community" tab.

For " Peer Mentor" proposals:

Submit the QualityMatters rubric for evaulting the instructional design of an online or hybrid course (note: use the "peer course review rubric" MS Word version as a "self review" and submit this document on the "UMBC Hybrid Course Design Workshop" Blackboard site).

FYI: The University System of Maryland (USM) is sponsoring a Nov. 17 half-day "Overview" workshop on "QualityMatters" (register online by Nov. 16), followed by "Hands-on" workshops in January and March on how to use the peer review rubric or how to become a peer reviewer. More information.

Show me the "Hybrid Course Design" Blackboard Site : where to go | what to do

Deadline for all "redesign" and "peer mentor" ADP proposals is December 8 , 2007.

PRE-PROPOSAL RESOURCES & USEFUL LINKS

• Past Alternate Delivery Program Faculty Participants
• FYI: 11/17 USM Overview of "QualityMatters" Online Learning "Checklist" of Best Practices (to be used in SU2007 ADP)
• FYI: 11/28 SU2007 ADP RFP "Information Session"
• “Technology/Hybrid Learning Offers Flexibility,” The Baltimore Sun, February 19, 2006
• “Learning: The next generation: Hybrid courses provide new learning experiences,” The UMBC Retriever Weekly, March 14, 2006
• "Improving Student Learning in a Hybrid Delivery Course," 10/10/05 ADP Presentation (Chris Swan)
•  “How (and Why) to Teach A Hybrid Course,” 10/21/03 TLT Brown Bag Workshop
• University of Wisconsin Hybrid Courses Site
• Maryland Online's "QualityMatters" Rubric & Self Assessment

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PROPOSAL REVIEW COMMITTEE & EVALUATION PROCESS

Beth Snyder Jones, Director, Summer, Winter & Special Programs
Jack Prostko, Director, Faculty Development Center
John Fritz, Director, Instructional Technology & New Media, OIT
A member of the Faculty Senate Computer Policy Committee
A member of the Special Sessions Policy Committee

Each member of the review committee will tentatively "score" all submitted materials submitted online, then meet as a group to determine a final evaulation.

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DEFINITION OF COURSE DELIVERY FORMATS

The following definitions are offered as a guide for responses to this proposal:

Face-to-Face: A "traditional" class that conducts all of its meetings or activities during a fixed date, time and location. The pedagogical focus is usually instructor led.

Web Enhanced or Online Supported: A class that makes use of the Web to enhance or supplement its face-to-face meetings. Typically Web use is asynchronous (not real-time). The pedagogical focus is still typically instructor led, but students may do more self-paced learning (e.g., use of links, PowerPoints, courseware, announcements, discussion boards, etc.).

ALTERNATE DELIVERY FORMATS (THE FOCUS OF THIS PROGRAM):

Hybrid (part online, part face-to-face): A class that replaces one or more of its face-to-face sessions with online activities that may or may not occur during a fixed date or time. The pedagogical focus shifts more responsibility to students, who do work online, either in self-paced activities (e.g., use of courseware for announcements, quizzes, asynchronous discussion boards) or small groups (e.g., discussions, chats/forums, projects/assignments).

Online: A class that only meets online, typically in an asynchronous mode (not in real time). The pedagogical focus is more on self-paced student learning using many or all of the hybrid activities above. Since the format is totally online, the student shoulders most of the responsibility for learning.

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 QUESTIONS?

For assistance or more information contact: