Online Course Peer Review

Online faculty volunteering to havea course reviewed, commonly request specific feedback on how they might make their courses more easily navigable or organized. Let’s face it, putting the entire content of a course into an emptyD2L content feature is a huge undertaking. The end result may seem intuitive to the course creator, but mayappearsomewhat confusing to students–especially considering many students take several online courses each semester and every instructor is likely to organize course information differently. A peer review provides the instructor with an outsider’s perspective on just how navigable the course is—that’s valuable info!

A couple of years ago now,one of my courses went through the peer review process.When I met with thereview team to discussmy results, I wasanxious but also somewhatconfident. I had been teaching online for years and felt that my “system” was pretty well developed. Much to my surprise, the reviewers recommended I combine bits and pieces of my course content (and information I had in the discussion area)into a course overview, of sorts. Of course, the recommendation made perfect sense and left me wondering “why hadn’t I thought of that?”. It can be easy to miss the obvious when you see things from only one perspective.

The syllabus, of course, is the main document in the content area. Depending on the individual, the syllabus might be a virtual carbon copy of the school’s official course outline or it might also include information such as explanations of evaluative techniques, etc. A course overview should include any important information not found on the syllabus. Some examples mightinclude: an explanation of course communication andhow quickly to expect a response from the instructor(pager, email, discussions), policies on late work and working ahead, grading information including how to find feedback and how quickly grades will be posted, tips for studying using the textbook and other course materials, and perhaps even a more in-depth instructor introduction. When putting all of these items into a course overview, be sure to label each separate section clearly so that students can easily find the information they seek.

I’m all for less clutter in an already jam-packed course content area. A course overviewworks!