Peer Online Course Review (POCR)
“Peer Online Course Review (POCR) was established in 2014 by the CVC [California Virtual Campus] Professional Development Workgroup to ensure that students in the California Community College system have access to high-quality online courses designed to support student learning and success.”
Similar to the process scholars use to vet articles prior to publishing them, the POCR process involves establishing peer groups (typically groups of 3) and offering feedback utilizing the CVC course design rubric, which includes 44 criteria covering course design, interaction, assessment, and accessibility.
Once a course has gone through the peer review process outlined below, the course is awarded a Quality Reviewed course badge, and the course is listed on the statewide CVC Exchange website with that badge designation. Additionally, badged courses are listed higher up in the students’ college course listings than non-badged courses.
Why POCR?
Instructor-Level Benefits
“In addition to improving online student success rates, having a local POCR program on [our] campus will:
- Serve as an exciting and engaging professional development experience for new and experienced online faculty.
- Lead to more engaging and inclusive online experiences for both teachers and students.
- Create a community of practice in which teachers share their challenges, develop new approaches, and support one another.
- Result in more aligned "Quality Reviewed" courses from [our] college in the CVC Exchange.
- Improve the quality of all courses taught by faculty participants. Past participants have shared that the course design principles learned in POCR positively impact other online and on-campus courses they teach!” (@ONE)
Campus-Level Benefits: Enrollment + Joining the Consortium
In addition to the instructor-level benefits of this robust professional development opportunity, bading courses can also help with department- and institution-level enrollment if Cuyamaca were to join the CVC Consortium, a group of colleges that offer high-quality online instructional and student support services and who have been approved by the CVC.
In the first phase, Cuyamaca would become a “Home” college, which means that Cuyamaca students can enroll in any other Consortium college, thus reducing barriers to completion. The next phase would then be to become a “Teaching” College, so that students from across the state could enroll in our online courses.
This second phase offers exciting opportunities for Cuyamaca to increase its enrollment. POCR is a critical component of Cuyamaca’s membership in the Consortium, and there are some POCR “growth requirements” to maintaining our status as a Consortium college. In other words, we need to continue badging courses each year to remain in the Consortium.
To underscore the value of getting our courses badged, below is the hierarchy of course offerings listed on the CVC student-facing site:
- Courses at the student’s home college are listed first, with POCR badged courses ranking higher than those without badges.
- Courses at "teaching colleges" are listed next, with POCR badged courses appearing higher
- Courses at all other colleges are listed after that, with POCR badged courses appearing higher.
The benefits of increasing enrollment, offering quality online instruction and student services, increasing completion rates, and promoting equity align with Cuyamaca’s mission, vision, and values.
POCR Goals:
The goals of the 2021-2022 pilot year are to:
- Utilize our knowledge of POCR
- Review and badge 10 courses and pay reviewers and reviewees stipends
- Refine and solidify our local POCR review process
- Incorporate the Peralta Equity Rubric into the review process so as to promote equity in our online courses
- Brand the POCR process as an innovative, robust, and enriching professional development opportunity
- Celebrate each faculty member who earns a Quality Review Badge
- Promote POCR for the 22-23 academic year when we hope to scale the project