Online learning at Texas State honored with national award from OLC

Posted by Jayme Blaschke
University News Service
January 30, 2015

For the second time in two years, Texas State University has been honored with the 2014 Effective Practices Award from the Online Learning Consortium (OLC).

Texas State received the national award for the project, "Self-certification of Online Courses by Faculty from Narrative to Checklist--A Simpler Route." In 2013, the university received the same award for the project, "Using the Quality Scorecard to Meet Accreditation Standards at Texas State University."

"Through these projects, the university has forged and followed an intentional pathway for improving its online education system," said Debbie Thorne, associate vice president for academic affairs and professor of marketing. "It is a great honor for the university to be recognized a second time by leaders in the field of online education." 

Texas State’s Distance and Extended Learning Steering Committee assessed the university’s online education system against OLC’s Quality Scorecard and accreditation standards of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges, the regional body for the accreditation of degree-granting higher education institutions in the southern states. Based on the results of the assessment, the committee then developed a new rubric for faculty to evaluate and certify the quality of their online courses. The result, the award-winning "Best Practices Checklist," was recently implemented on campus and received the 2014 award. 

The OLC is the leading professional organization devoted to advancing the quality of online learning worldwide.

"Members of the OLC community continually strive to make quality online education accessible and affordable for anyone, anywhere, at any time,” said Sandra Coswatte, director of the OLC Institute. "The OLC Effective Practice Awards recognize this commitment and provide a way for members to demonstrate what's working in online education and share best practices their peers can apply in their own programs."

For more information on online initiatives at Texas State, please contact Josh Book in the Office of Distance and Extended Learning at (512) 245-2322.
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