Waubonsee Community College history professor designs model online course

Just a few years ago, online learning was a novel concept to many students and teachers. But during the pandemic, online classes became the norm for students of all ages.

Enrolling in online classes now is commonplace for many college students as community colleges and universities have increased their virtual course offerings.

Online learning certainly has challenges, but Amy Powers, a history professor at Waubonsee Community College, has mastered the art of virtual teaching.

Powers’ class, American History to 1865, has been selected as a model online course by Quality Matters, an organization whose mission is to “promote and improve the quality of online education and student learning.”

Eamon Newman, assistant dean for online learning and flexible delivery, said a certification by Quality Matters means a course was “intentionally and successfully designed to support student learning and success.”

“Certification is awarded by way of a thorough external review process, which examines a course’s accessibility, alignment, engagement, transparency and other student supports,” he said. “A certification is an assurance to students, colleges and the community that a design contains these qualities. The American History to 1865 course recently was selected by QM to serve as the quality course example when training new QM subscribers and course reviewers. We are very excited to be sharing the course with QM and hope exposure to it will help raise the overall quality of course designs nationwide.”

In the online course, Powers is careful to always be transparent with students, explaining in detail the reasons behind each assignment. She said she not only tells students what she wants them to learn within the content of assignments, but also to interpret and critically evaluate the content.

She knows how important it is to keep her online students engaged not only with the material, but also to her and their peers, which she said can be a challenge in an online course.

“I’ve put a lot of work into forming connections with students online by creating many videos where I even share information about what interests me or why I’m creating such an assignment,” she said. “It gives them some background, and I try to create videos to make that connection so they know more about me as a teacher and historian and not just a faceless name behind the texts. And then, I’ve been working hard so students can form discussions with each other. They don’t peer review or grade each other, but they share their projects at the end of the semester. They post them online and they see what others did. They are required to comment on each other’s assignments. I think they learn better when they feel that sense of community.”

Despite some of the difficulties, Powers said there are a lot of good things for students in taking online courses, including the convenience for many students who work or have family commitments.

“I really like seeing students in the classroom. But that being said, online is really necessary, especially for students who work and have tight schedules,” she said. “I find that many students thrive in an online environment. They come up with thoughtful ideas, they turn in beautifully written assignments, they’re able to put more time into it and think about things. Some students are more comfortable to share their thoughts in an online discussion board. They may not be comfortable sharing in person. I like it because it gives more people an opportunity to take courses to get a degree.”

Not only is Powers being recognized for her course design, she is a finalist for the American Association of Community College’s Faculty of the Year award. She was nominated by former Waubonsee President Christine Sobek. Powers said the nonprofit organization, based in Washington, D.C., selects nominees for their commitment to student success and how they promote student success.

Powers pointed to her work with the nonprofit American Historical Association and other groups to examine issues of equity and inclusiveness in history courses. She said there are “alarming gaps” among students from lower-income backgrounds and the idea is to find ways to address them so students can “overcome barriers.”

“We want to make sure introductory history courses are designed to promote equity in learning and to have an inclusive curriculum where students can see their own history and their own stories in the historical narrative,” she said. “I’ve made some changes to the curriculum and pedagogy, to have more discussion and active learning as a way to keep students engaged.”