Phase 4 - Revise

Phase 4 - REVISE

Pre-Phase Checklist:

Revise Phase Objectives:

In the Revise phase you will:

  • approach assessment from a holistic view of the course, including a variety of approaches to evaluating student learning, as well as several other sources of assessment data; and
  • utilize assessment data to make adjustments to the course environment in order to improve student learning

The Revise phase objectives address Quality Course Element #6.

Rationale:

In addition to designing, building and teaching the online course, instructors should have an assessment plan in place that will help them evaluate the overall online learning environment. The assessment of learning outcomes will be measured through the actual assignments designed in the course by the instructor and completed by the students. However, there are many other potential sources of information that can aid in evaluating the overall quality and effectiveness of the course. It is recommended that instructors gather information from several different sources in order to increase the validity of the assessment results and to ensure that decisions about revisions to the course are evidence-based.

Process

Step 1 - Identify, select and apply course evaluation tools and services

Evidence of student performance, participation, and satisfaction:

  • Measures of student learning progress across the course in both formative and summative formats (e.g., practice tests, self-assessments, peer assessments, non-graded assignments, assignments, exams and tests)
  • Analysis of student reflections on learning
  • Comparison of online student learning results with that of traditional face-to-face classes
  • Analysis of student participation via course management system tracking tool 
  • Measures of student engagement through analysis of quantity and quality of student contributions to course discussion forums
  • Review of student feedback, including but not limited to, midterm surveys Links to an external site. and end-of-term Student Course Feedback Links to an external site.. Student feedback could also be collected via USET Links to an external site. (Undergraduate Student Experts in Teaching) observations, focus groups, long-term follow-up surveys with students (pre- or post-graduation), unsolicited feedback, etc.

Other strategies to assess course quality and effectiveness:

  • Peer review by colleagues from within and/or outside the discipline
  • Review by pedagogical experts (e.g., CTLE Links to an external site. consultants)
  • Review by educational technology experts (e.g., TLT Links to an external site. consultants)
  • Consultation with CTLE Links to an external site. to aid in interpreting student feedback results
  • Course materials review (e.g., syllabus, exams, recorded lectures, discussion questions, grading rubrics, etc.)  conducted by peers and/or CTLE Links to an external site. consultants 
  • Self-review and reflection on personal teaching experience (e.g., teaching journal, revision of teaching philosophy statement) 

Step 2 - Identify the areas to improve

After selecting and applying several approaches to evaluating course quality effectiveness, either on your own or in consultation with CTLE Links to an external site. and/or TLT Links to an external site., you may have a list of areas that you would like to improve upon in the course. If the course had originally been designed with the Quality Course Elements in mind, rather than undertake a complete overhaul of the course, it is strongly recommended that you choose to focus on making 2-3 modifications that will address the most important issues identified through the review of the assessment data. 

After identifying the areas you wish to improve, return to the appropriate phase (i.e., Phase 1: Design, Phase 2: Build, or potentially Phase 3: Teach if the main issues concern the management of the course when in-session) to begin your revisions.

 

Step 3 - Begin developing your long-term revision plan

So far, your course has been designed, developed, taught, evaluated, and revised incorporating the essential elements of a quality course.  This does not conclude the mission of your course, however.  Instead, the journey of your course barely started with a very promising beginning.  In order for your course to stay viable and live up to the expectations of helping students learn effectively and efficiently across time, it needs to be evaluated and revised on a regular base down the road.  For this purpose, instructors are recommended to create and keep a long term revision plan (LTRP) for their courses they developed.  

The mission of LTRP is to have a plan for collecting feedback of the course and provide input for necessary course design/teaching adjustment or revision. LTRP can include, but not exclusively, the following information:

  • What methods are you going to utilize to evaluate the quality of your course? Please select at least three different types of methods for data triangulation to get a big picture. If you want to use a method you don't know yet, when are you going to learn it?
  • How often or when are you planning to evaluate the course using the methods you selected?
  • What resources or services are you planning to use for interpreting the course evaluation results? 
  • What are you going to do with the course quality indicators? 

International Society for the Scholarship of Teaching & Learning Links to an external site. (SoTL) has great resources for scholarship of teaching and learning, including engagement in assessing student learning and evaluating course quality.  

If you have any further questions regarding course evaluation, please contact CTLE Links to an external site..


By the end of this phase you should have:

  • Collected and reviewed assessment data from a variety of sources
  • Identified the areas for improvement, ready to enter the appropriate phase for revision
  • Begun working on your long term revision plan