How do you develop and implement online and blended learning policies and standards?

When defining goals for online learning, make active learning, authentic engagement, deep inquiry, and real-world assessment part of the core design and instructional standards of every course, from the outset. Students will rapidly disengage from content that is boring, disconnected from their lives, and passive. Include diverse learner types (including neurodivergent learners) in your policy and scope discussions, and insist that full accessibility options be implemented not only in the LMS but also for individual learning resources (as much as possible).

My online higher education institution serves a high number of students from demographic categories often viewed as "high risk" for dropping out of college because they may lack robust support from their local network to persevere through challenges. We address this by building a "360-degree community of care" to help students build life-management skills, good study habits, and coping strategies. Institutions cannot serve only the "minds" of their students online; a student's life bleeds into their educational space, especially in online settings. Consider carefully the needs of your student population and invest in support services. Good online programs see students as whole persons and support them holistically when strategic planning.

We should also consider if those learning outcomes or goals can be achieved in an online or blended environment. That means we must determine which activities should we plan for online interactions and which ones for in person encounters.

We should also consider if those learning outcomes are better achieved by online or in person interactions and to plan accordingly.

Two other resources for standards: National Standards for Quality (online teaching and course development) https://www.nsqol.org Quality Framework from the Online Learning Consortium https://onlinelearningconsortium.org/about/quality-framework-five-pillars/ *This resource also offers guidance on how to gather data to evaluate program effectiveness. CAPA Standards for Online Teaching & Learning https://www.capa.org/for-institutions/online-standards

The thing I found is there are to many gray areas in policies. They haven't be updated to meet the needs of teachers or students. In these gray areas teaching can be formed both negatively and positively. Depending on the district one works in policies and standards are different and they changes from state to state. Knowing the policies and standards can help you. However, implementing these things in the classroom can be challenging. Why because in the United States the policies and standards can be changed base on men feelings, opinions and mindsets. Also who is welling to support a person in their beliefs. If the policies and standards would apply across the board for all staff and students education would be equal and fulfilled.

Any project creating standards or policy development should be accompanied by a robust discussion of how to keep humans at the center of design decisions. A developing field of Digital Pedagogy combined with insights from critical pedagogy (see Paolo Freire) can help teams stay focused on prioritizing people over policies. One resource for this discussion: Hybrid Pedagogy, an online journal for critical instructional design studies https://hybridpedagogy.org

It is important to include the voices in front of and behind the process in order to have a well-rounded program. Making sure the students have a way to be actively involved, in any manner, will help with the longevity and growth of the program.

"Traditional ID often seems consumed with a militaristic and industrial ethos—and linear, mechanistic ways of describing learning (and, by extension, learners). It is demarcated by structures, rubrics, tools, and checklists. It fusses over design rules in which objectives are tidily mapped to activities that are neatly measured by assessments. In all this fussiness and tidiness, mechanics and measurements, it loses sight of the complex and messy humans that sit at its center—human teachers, students, and instructional designers. ... Critical instructional design demands we find a way to center humans in the design of education." https://hybridpedagogy.org/an-introduction-to-designing-for-care-and-toward-a-critical-instructional-design/

Evaluating the online and blended policies and standards on a regular and consistent basis is necessary to insuring the program is adhering to the goals initially set forth. Make sure those that are charged with the task are adequately trained so they can do their job more effectively. This allows for consistent implementation of the policies and standards across the board.

Research on supporting instructional change in higher education may be helpful ahead of designing training programs. These focus on undergraduate STEM departments but apply to broader contexts. Recommended: -Henderson, Beach, & Finkelstein (2011) - Facilitating Change in Undergraduate STEM Instructional Practices: An Analytic Review of the Literature https://doi.org/10.1002/tea.20439 *Overviews core theories of change in higher education, detailing ineffective and effective methods Reinholz and Apkarian (2018) - Four frames for systemic change in STEM departments https://doi.org/10.1186/s40594-018-0103-x *Pay attention to structures, symbols, people, and power when attempting to make significant changes within an organizational setting.

I have taught in every setting from a university to a prison,with Learners/Students having a wide range of abilities. I have always used two basic guiding principles that have never failed me. 1) Every days a school day. Tell students that they will allow me to add something new to my understanding of the topic, simply by being prepared to share ideas with the group and interact positively. 2) When you create the right environment, students will learn from and with each other. Using theses criteria, we can set rules/guidelines that all, will buy into, and their shared experiences will facilitate learning and development.

This is vital to helping your policies and standards have a holistic and humanistic touch. BY collaborating with those from a diverse background from your own you get a new perspective. Many of the students vary in diversity. Connecting with partners that are serving those communities will help elevate your program, your frame of mind and the student's experiences.

All policies and standards are good points and everything sounds good,, but seeing them from the parent’s perspective is a different story ,, all can be useless if students and families do not understand them or they are not presented clear and simple and the most important see the results of these mentioned policies and standards,,