SUNY Effective Online Practices Award Program

Instructional Design and Distance Learning (IDDL) paired up with the School of Education to pilot the Peer Review Process within the Course Design Review Process using OSCQR prior to the Instructional Designer Review. Faculty peer reviewers completed a Peer Reviewer Orientation that included sessions on utilizing and understanding OSCQR standards, and accessibility in addition to participating in a course design review for their course with a peer and instructional designer.

The message we hear from the SUNY college administration, in their strategic plan, is to improve enrollment and retention. How can we improve enrollment and retention? Well, the answer is pretty clear: if SUNY colleges can offer solutions that benefit both traditional and nontraditional students, we will be ahead of the game. SUNY was proactive in the delivery of beneficial solutions to student engagement in the classroom. Through an IITG grant in 2022, SUNY faculty were encouraged to participate and implement the Hyflex modality in their classrooms in a Course Resiliency and IITG grant. The Hyflex modality has its pros and cons. This modality fosters Student Empowerment. However, it comes with a cost. Faculty need additional resources to implement this modality, such as teaching assistants. Having a teaching assistant for each faculty member would most definitely eat up the budget resources that SUNY administers. But what is most important? We need the students to boost our enrollment and retention numbers. How can we boost these numbers? By empowering students in their learning. It is a double-edged sword. There is a tight balance whose outcome we are yet to see.

HyFlex teaching is different from traditional face to face interaction. In the HyFlex modality a student can join in the class in-person, online (synchronous) or can go through lecture notes and video in their convenient time schedule to meet the course goals and objectives. For online participants most of the communication involved is through nonverbal methods like discussion forum, power point presentation, email and recorded video lecture. Adequate digital literacy knowledge is mandatory for students and faculty. Students should be self-motivated to be a successful learner. Through online discussion forums students will get more opportunity to discuss and will get more time to think/research about a topic. It is obvious students will expect that they will receive at least the same or equivalent knowledge through online compared to face to face interaction. The purpose of this study is to addressed the issues related with HyFlex teaching such as i) Technologies requirement to teach HyFlex course effectively ii) Benefit and challenges involved in a HyFlex modality iii) How online students can get equal learning environment like traditional in-person students.

The Affective Filter Hypothesis (Dulay and Burt) (Krashen) of Second Language Acquisition acknowledges that negative emotional responses to a language learning environment can impact the ability to acquire language. In other words, when we are nervous or stressed, it is difficult to think, write or speak in a new language. Adults learning a new language are particularly aware, and perhaps self-conscious of, errors in pronunciation. The Affective Filter may cause adult students to shy away from taking on pronunciation challenges. In 2021 I developed an online curriculum for ESL 139 Pronunciation at Monroe Community College. Using VoiceThread I have been able to minimize the stressful and intimidating situations of students attempting to produce new words in front of their peers, while at the same time maintaining the integrity of a community of learners who benefit from interaction. Additionally, through individual audio and video submissions I can provide targeted feedback to each student. In the broader discussion of the pros and cons of online learning, I have found that teaching ESL 139 Pronunciation online has more advantages than disadvantages. Each student in the course contributes and receives feedback equally, minimizing the Affective Filter that might keep some students quiet.

To equip new faculty with the skills and knowledge necessary to excel in modalities such as online, hybrid, blended and hyflex courses we found the need to create a course that would provide faculty the tools to meet compliance and quality standards. The standards include Middle States, OSCQR, and accessibility, diversity, equity, and inclusion (ADEI) principles.
To meet these needs we created a course that is facilitated through a blended format and held over six weeks. Each week includes a one-hour live Zoom session that is recorded and posted to the course for those who cannot attend. There are online activities for each weekly topic.
This course follows the course development and design model through a foundation of principles outlined in A Faculty Playbook created and distributed by the Online Learning Consortium. The course covers best practices and instructional design tips, templates, courses for observation, and strategies to create an engaging course to meet these standards.