Course peer reviews are to be completed on all online and hybrid courses using the institution supported course management system (currently WebCT Vista) prior to or within the first semester of offering the course; reviews must be successfully completed in order for the course to be offered a second time. During our migration from the WSU Online platform to WebCT Vista, the course peer review process will be coordinated by the chair of the course  review panel, who is responsible for creating peer review teams for each course.

The review process occurs in 3 levels. The first level begins with each instructor completing a self-evaluation of her/his course using the Standards of Good Practice document. These standards were developed and approved by the Faculty Senate through its Ad Hoc Committee on Online Instruction and Distance Learning, and have been subsequently adapted by the Vista Implementation Project (VIP) E-Learning Workstream and approved by the VIP steering committee.

Once the instructor completes level one, self-evaluation, the second level of review, departmental review, occurs. Here the instructor will have the course reviewed by their department chair (or the program director or another faculty member in the department per the department chair’s approval). The instructor may provide a demo of the course and show how the course meets the standards of good practice for this second review. It may also be appropriate to share a statement of teaching philosophy, objectives, and how the course meets the objectives. This is information similar to what is included in a promotion and tenure teaching portfolio.

Next, the course undergoes the third level of review, peer review. Here the course will be assigned to and reviewed by a course peer review team who will also use the Standards of Good Practice as a guide. Course peer review teams, established by the chair of the course review panel, will consist of one online technical support staff from Continuing Education and two faculty members experienced in teaching online and/or hybrid courses. Course peer review team assignments will be made in ways that minimize conflicts of interest. Department chairs and deans, or their representatives will also be invited to review courses in their department/college, but they will not be members of the course peer review team. Hybrid courses will only be required to complete a self-evaluation. The self-evaluation will be sent to the online support staff.

Each course peer review team will be assigned multiple courses to review; these courses may come from within one or across many departments. Review of each course will be completed asynchronously by members of the course peer review team, who will be given temporary auditor access to the course(s) they are reviewing. It is anticipated that each course review will require 2 to 4 weeks to complete. Members of the course peer review teams will send the results of their course review to the chair of the course review panel.

The course must receive full recommendation by all three peer reviewers as meeting the Standards of Good Practice in order to be taught/published or continue to be taught in an online/hybrid format. It is expected that all courses developed with the Standards of Good Practice in mind would receive full recommendation by peer reviewers. When the course is unanimously recommended for online/hybrid publication and teaching implementation, notification will be sent to the following:

• Instructor
• Department chair
• College dean
• WSU Online staff
• CE liaison

In cases where peer reviewers believe a course does not yet meet the Standards of Good Practice, specific areas needing improvement will be identified. The instructor would then be expected to address these concerns in order to teach or continue to teach this course in an online/hybrid format. Instructors may discuss review findings with the chair of the course review panel or members of the course peer review team to gain greater clarify on needed modifications.