Kennesaw State faculty members are deliberating on whether to change the process by which online courses are reviewed and approved before being delivered to students.
Currently, online courses must first receive the approval of a trained three-member peer review board before they become available to students seeking to take classes online.
Kenneth White, political science professor and president of the Faculty Senate, said the Faculty Senate Executive Council is considering a proposal to implement an additional way KSU’s online courses are approved by “offering an instructor-only training program as an alternative to the current peer review certification process.”
The proposed method would allow faculty members to become certified to create their own courses without peer review. The proposal has been met with some opposition in the Faculty Senate by those who prefer the current process.
In March, The Burruss Institute of Research and Public Service sent an online survey to all KSU faculty to gauge opinion on the matter. The 665 responses to that survey show that faculty opinion is divided over how the university should review and approve online courses.
Current policy dictates that peer reviewers must be “Quality Matters certified” in order to decide whether a proposed online course meets the criteria to become an actual online course. According to the Quality Matters Program website, the “QM Program is a nationally recognized, faculty- centered, peer review process designed to certify the quality of online courses and online components.” Quality Matters is the current standard used to certify online classes at more than 700 colleges and universities.
White said the issue with the current system is that it invites “non-subject-matter experts to tell subject-matter experts how to teach their course,” something he says “infringes on the autonomy of KSU professors.”
Douglas Moodie, professor of management and assistant director of the Center for International Business, serves on the Faculty Senate Executive Council and works as an online course peer reviewer. Moodie sent an email to faculty outlining his support of the current peer review process and encouraging all faculty to get involved in the discussion.
“I personally believe we should have peer review of all courses at KSU, not just online,” Moodie’s email said. “Peer review as well as student feedback is far better than student feedback alone. There are many types of peer review apart from the existing KSU QM process, which are not considered in the proposal.”
“There should be full consultation with stakeholders involved (including online students) and consideration of all alternatives (not just the 2 alternatives mentioned in proposal), before any detailed process is voted on.”
Moodie said the current peer review process should promote student learning and make it easy for online students to successfully navigate and learn in such courses.
“We currently have 369 approved online courses, many of which are offered through multiple sections each semester,” said Elke Leeds, executive director of the Distance Learning Center and assistant vice president for Technology Enhanced Learning. “There are an additional 99 course sections under development.”
Leeds said 8,438 students are currently enrolled in online courses at KSU and that the number of online degree programs offered has grown from seven in 2010 to 30 in 2013.
“When the online quality program was initiated in 2008, we had 37 online courses. Today we have over 450 developed or currently in development,” she said.
Leeds added that it is important to consider that not all courses or programs are suited for online delivery.
“It is really split down the middle,” White said. “I’m hopeful that a consensus can be reached to satisfy the concerns of all parties involved. “Faculty have shared many different thoughts and opinions about online teaching and the online course review process, Leeds said. “I don’t see it as a divide. I see it as genuine interest and a desire to be part of a discussion on online teaching, learning and quality.”
