By Molly Ashline, Staff Writer

Published in print Jan. 28, 2015

According to Wade Maki, a professor in the philosophy department and faculty senator at UNC-Greensboro, online courses have been up to the present, “the Wild West.” And the Wild West includes the good, the bad and the ugly.

While some professors are taking innovative approaches to online courses, others are displaying content in inaccessible ways, and some are simply leaving out necessary materials.

This lack of consistency in the quality of online courses has inspired the Senate Online Learning Committee (SOLC), led by Maki, to consider various options to ensure the excellence of UNCG’s online classes.

One option currently being reviewed by SOLC is the Quality Matters (QM) Standards Rubrics.

QM Rubrics are widely used by universities throughout the country for assessing and certifying the learning value of online classes.

The rubrics focus on several categories like: learning objectives, learner support and course technology.

Points are awarded for the fulfillment of tasks within these categories, and courses that score high enough are given a QM certification.

The appeal of the certification is that it signals to students that the online courses are at the same level as their traditional classes.

The certification also is appealing to members of SOLC because it will address the current lackluster layouts and lacking contents of many online courses.

“It’s like accreditation…accreditation simply says you’re meeting some national standard along with everybody else, and that’s kind of what we’re talking about for online courses,” Maki said about the QM certification.

Professors, according to Maki, can often have a difficult time transitioning teaching styles from a traditional classroom to a virtual classroom.

“It’s not just taking what you do in the class and putting it online. That’s a mistake everybody makes,” says Maki.

But the QM Standards Rubrics are only one option to improving online courses.

For instance, Maki also mentioned the possibility of training sessions for all professors teaching an online course.

“It’s outside of their experience…and so part of this standards idea, is we need to have basic training and support,” Maki said about many professors who have neither taken nor taught online courses.

He also would like more dialogue between faculty and students when examining the best features of online courses.

However, the topic of improving virtual learning at UNCG actually was met with some skepticism from administration.

As a result, SOLC is carefully deliberating various options for how to redeem less than impressive online classes.

One possibility is, of course, the QM Standards Rubrics. However, Maki stressed that, though an option, QM may not even turn into a requirement for faculty if implemented at UNCG.

“We have not voted to do it, but we want to make faculty aware of it,” he explained.

Maki would like faculty, above all else, to consider the innovation and liberation online courses can bring for expanding the learning experience.

“There are things you can do online and in the classroom equally good. There are things you can do in the classroom that you really can’t replicate online, but there’re things you can do online that you couldn’t do in the classroom,” Maki says above the frontier of online learning.

He mentioned interactive activities, embedded videos and the option for more repetitive studying as creative options for online classes.

Maki puts these ideas into practice with his own hybrid and online courses, and he would like to see a weaning off of strictly traditional learning styles and a movement towards more new-age learning.

The QM Standards Rubrics may push professors to reconsider how they translate teaching to a virtual setting.

There is however the same risks that are always involved with implementing standards: some professors may fear the loss of autonomy with a new slew of standards being enforced, and others may not be ready to relearn how to alter their teaching to suit a new learning environment.

Either way, online classes are growing in the number of student participants, and they will likely continue to grow.

With more growth, comes the need to reassess if online learning can remain the Wild West.