Grace College and Seminary’s Department of Online Education participated in a conference for online education on June 26-27, hosted by Learning House, Grace’s online education solutions partner. The Learning House Connect Conference showcased current and relevant best practices in the online educational field. At the conference, Tim Ziebarth, director of online education at Grace, co-presented a session titled “Building an Online Course with Best Practices: How Research and Rubrics Can Improve the Student Experience.” The presentation centered on the strategies Grace College has recently implemented in the realm of online education.
The Department of Online Education was invited to present at the conference because of the strides it has been taking towards offering the highest quality of online education over the last several months. This past March, Professor Ziebarth and his team of collaborators achieved an astounding 100 percent on an online quality review of Grace’s Principles of Management class, which occurred only two months after receiving a top-quality “5” rating (scoring 90 percent or more) on a quality review hosted through Learning House.
To determine the quality of course design, The Learning House uses a five-level scale with intricate standards of quality that each online class must meet in more than 40 distinct areas. This is the first time a school has ever achieved a 100 percent rating, making Grace College an unmistakable leader in offering quality online education.
“We are excited about the continued growth opportunities for extending our institutional mission through online education,” said Dr. Bill Katip, president of Grace. “Having a department committed to this medium of education and a disposition to be actively involved in the profession is the key for our strategic initiatives as we move forward.”