The University of Iowa’s Distance and Online Education Instructional Design Team has won a 2019 OLC Effective Practice Award. The Online Learning Consortium (OLC), a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing quality digital teaching and learning experiences, named the UI team for their development and implementation of the Design4Online Faculty Development Program, which launched in fall 2018.

The team members recognized include Amy Oberfoell, Isandra Martinez-Marrero, Dan Dao, Susan Bailey, and Nina Kim, all lead instructional designers for Distance and Online Education.

Design4Online is an eight-week, hybrid training course for instructors of all experience levels in designing and redesigning online courses. The DOE instructional designers address topics related to online learning strategies and challenges. The trainings include face-to-face meetings which are complemented and enhanced by required online modules. The training also includes individualized trainings between the instructor and an instructional designer, as well as the opportunity to join a community of practice that will assist in supporting and sustaining course development. Cooperating instructors also receive a $1,000 program stipend and access to the OLC Conference.

The OLC Effective Practice Awards recognize techniques, strategies, and practices that are demonstrated to work effectively in their institution and program. Design4Online practices were submitted to OLC for consideration and were peer reviewed and evaluated against the following criteria: access, learning effectiveness, faculty satisfaction, student satisfaction, and scalability.

Distance and Online Education will accept applications for the fall 2019 Design4Online course this spring.