Online learning is a foundation of the modern classroom. And as higher education embraces teaching in the digital age, the focus has turned to making sure online/distance classes are robust, engaging, accessible and streamlined in both content and assignments.

North Carolina State University and the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences are dedicated to ensuring faculty have the tools and resources to make their hybrid and online classes the best they can be. 

One source of expertise and funding support for review, development and redesign online classes is the DELTA (Digital Education and Learning Technology Applications) program, which offers assistance with course design, technology integration, instructional media services and workshops. DELTA also provides 12-month and semester-long EXPRESS grants to help faculty with curriculum redesign for online courses. The application period for spring 2024 DELTA Express Grants is from Nov. 27-Dec. 6.

Express grant recipients get a $2,000 award and DELTA grant recipients get a $6,000 award. CALS faculty are able to use the funds to purchase instructional tools to support their courses, hire instructional support, or use a portion of the funds as compensation.

Related to the DELTA program, the Course Quality Program at NC State University helps faculty members earn recognition or certification from Quality Matters, a nationally recognized, standards-based program that guides online course curriculum and pedagogy using research-based methods and rubrics.

“After a while, you develop good habits. You avoid taking short cuts and think ‘I’m going to do it the right way from the beginning.’”

As a member of the first DELTA cohort in 2019, Clinton Stevenson, associate professor and distance education coordinator in the Department of Food, Bioprocessing and Nutrition Sciences, was among the first CALS’ faculty to earn a QM certification for his course, Food Safety Management Systems. He then earned a certification for a second course, Quality Control in Food and Bioprocessing, and has recently submitted a third online course for certification. 

“As soon as DELTA started embracing and creating a Quality Matters program at NC State, I wanted to be the first to sign up,” Stevenson says. “I wanted to make sure that for my asynchronous courses, that anytime a student sits down to work on the course, it’s clear, hopefully fun and straightforward so students know what to do to successfully complete assignments and earn the grade that they want.”

Quality Matters focuses on rubrics of eight standards. The Course Design Rubric Standards range from learning objectives to learner activities and learner interaction to course technology. Stevenson says the criteria has helped him streamline and balance his online courses, which in turn helps his students better learn the material.

“It helped me to break down the topics in the course and how they align with the course objectives,” he says. “Then you start organizing your course and realize ‘Oh, I don’t need to include this information or that information just because I thought it was interesting.’ It helps you tidy up the learning experience and it was the best thing that happened to me.”

Other course design elements Stevenson has adopted through the Quality Matters program include:

• Clarifying expectations for students about what you expect in each assignment and how they’re going to be graded.
• Enhancing accessibility of online courses, not just for students with learning disabilities, but for all populations. For example, many students appreciate closed captions on videos in situations when they would rather read than listen.  
• Designing assignments specifically for online courses using online platforms and formats such as multiple choice.

Stevenson says DELTA instructional designers, like Jessica White with the Department of Food, Bioprocessing and Nutrition Sciences, help faculty refine their online courses and design those courses with Quality Matters certification in mind.

“After a while, you develop good habits,” says Stevenson. “You avoid taking short cuts and think ‘I’m going to do it the right way from the beginning.’”