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Terrific Online Class Evaluation Resources

This summer, I offered a course to our Online Teachers called "Best Practices in Online Teaching" (BPiOT). During the class, we explored program standards for excellence in online teaching. While Cuesta is still in the process of developing a recommendation for standards, many colleges and universities establish training and courses that instructors must take prior to being approved for teaching online, and rubrics or evaluations for those courses. The benefit, for for those of us who want to improve our online mojo, is a treasure trove of documents that list requirements, qualifying skills, areas of expertise, etc.

The following is a list of documents I've found over the years outlining essential areas of online teaching. I find the course rubrics to be particularly helpful as a road map for solid instructional design. There are also documents for peer evaluations for online teaching. You'll find some great inspiration and standards to aim for here.

Chico State was one of the first to institute a comprehensive peer review system. This is their evaluation form for reviewing Innovative Teaching with Technology. Notice how much emphasis is placed on communication objects!

Kent School district This rubric for online instruction is being implemented at the K-12 level in Washington, and is similar to a wave of standards being implemented at K-12 schools in many states.

Online Course Evaluation from Houston Community College - a fill-able and print-able form evaluating the effectiveness of instruction of online courses (distance education, hybrid, and web-enhanced). This rubric is based on the Quality Matters program, which grew out of a grant-funded initiative in Maryland.

Bemidji State University is located in Minnesota, and this is their rubric for online courses, and it's a nice, basic rubric. The document also has a few still-active resources at the end (although some links are now defunct).


As you develop an online course, use the above resources as a personal checklist for quality. If you've found other fantastic rubrics or checklists online, let us know by posting a link in a comment!

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