Assess Your Online Course with the CHICO Rubic

chico_rubricHere's an award winning resource to use to quickly assess your online course. The Rubric For Online Instruction was developed by California State Univeristy, Chico in 2003, and they have continued to revise it over the years. With it, you can break down you course into 5 different areas and assess each:

  1. Learner Support and Resources
  2. Online Organization and Design
  3. Instructional Design and Delivery
  4. Assessment and Evaluation of Student Learning
  5. Innovative Teaching with Technology
  6. Faculty use of Student Feedback

Tips for Using the Rubric for Online Instruction

1. The title of the rubric is a bit misleading. Most of the rubric assesses online course design, not online instruction. But this is revealing: the foundation of good online instruction is good design. So, the tip here is to use this rubric in between semesters when you have time to make design changes on your course, not mid-semester when you are focused on instruction (for that, get my book :) )

2. This thing can be a bit overwhelming, so focus on one topic at a time. Spend a day or a week on Learner Support and Resources, make one or two specific changes to your course, then move on to the next one.

3. Ask the question, "Where do I need help." Doing a self-assessment can be discouraging because we discover our weaknesses and the gap between the online instructor we are and the one we wish to be. When you find those gaps and weaknesses, enlist a mentor or your institution's support staff to help you improve your course.

How to download the free online course design rubric: You can download the PDF from the California State University, Chico website HERE


Bloom's Taxonomy Resources for Online Course Design

orange bloomDesigning an online course requires us to rethink our learning goals. Bloom taxonomy is both a touchstone and a guide. Andrew Churches has developed a fantastic resource, Blooms Digital Taxonomy, and has a host of resources at his site, Educational Origami. The site can be a bit overwhelming, but I highly recommend checking it out. Here's a list of several useful Blooms related resources.

New Bloom's Taxonomy

Bloom's Digital Taxonomy

Using Bloom's Taxonomy to Create Learning Outcomes

Verbs for creating your learning outcomes based on Bloom's Taxonomy

Rubrics for Assessment based on Bloom's Taxonomy

Writing Objectives Using Bloom's Taxonomy