Superior Course Program

Put your best course forward.

The Superior Course Program (SCP) began in 2020 with the goal of identifying and disseminating best practices for designing high-quality courses at South Plains College. The core of the program is the Superior Course Rubric, which defines key characteristics of high-quality courses within the framework of Course Design, Interaction and Collaboration, Assessment, and Learner Support. 

Instructors can submit their courses any time throughout the year for review. 

 

Are Your Courses "Superior"?

What does it take to create an engaging, effective course? The Superior Course Program, with its self and peer review processes, can provide you with valuable insights.

 

The South Plains College Superior Course Program (SCP) began in 2000 with the goal of identifying and disseminating best practices for designing high-quality courses. Utilizing the ECP Rubric, developed by leaders in instructional design, based on years of their collective practice and expertise, key characteristics of high-quality courses are defined and measured. 

 

Benefits of Participating

Through the Superior Course Program, you have the opportunity to:

- Reflect on your own course design through self-review of your course(s)

- Complete course design professional development via the SCP Cohorts, peer reviews, and self review

- Gain new perspectives and insights on your course through a structured peer review process

- Receive detailed feedback on your course, including best practices and areas for improvement, from peer reviewers

- Apply lessons learned from the program and the SCP Rubric to courses you develop

- Learn from and network with your peers

Course Review Process

Two types of review:

All members of the South Plains College community are welcome to use the SCP process for review of Blackboard Learn. 

Self Review

1. Read the Superior Course Program Rubric.
2. If you want to learn more about applying the criteria in the Rubric, explore the learning resources available under “Course Design,” “Interaction and Engagement,” “Assessment,” and “Learner Support.”
3. To start your self-review form, login or create an account in the Superior Course Program review system. If multiple people want to work together on the same review, it will still need to be created under a single account (for example if a department wants to self-review a course they created together).
4. Use the review system to enter your own evaluation for each criterion in the Rubric. Your total score will add up automatically.
5. Writing the descriptions of key strengths and weaknesses will help you be explicit as you articulate to yourself the quality of your course and how to improve it.
6. You can save a draft of your self-review and come back to it later. You can also save a draft, improve your course, and come back to revise and continue your self-review. There are no time constraints. Your self-review will remain in the system for future reference and revision. At any point you can export a PDF of your self-review.

Peer Review

1. Follow the steps under Self-Review.
2. Complete the course access and other general information in the submission form.
3. Read through your self-review to make sure it is complete and describes your course’s strengths and weaknesses as accurately as possible.
4. Select the option for Peer Review at the bottom of the Self-Review form.
5. You will receive an email when the peer reviews are completed. This part of the process is dependent on the availability of peer reviewers and seasonal events such as finals, breaks, graduations, etc. but it typically takes 6-8 weeks.
6. Use the feedback to improve your course. You are welcome to make changes to the course and repeat the process.

 

Professional Services

Volunteer to Review Courses

1. Read the Superior Course Program Rubric and familiarize yourself with the criteria.
2. When you are confident that you understand the Rubric well enough to be an effective reviewer, sign up here. If you have questions about becoming a reviewer, email hmedley@southplainscollege.edu
3. As courses are submitted for peer review, they will be assigned to peer reviewers on a rotating basis. You will receive an email when a review is assigned to you, and you can either accept or decline this assignment. If you accept the review, you should complete it within 3 weeks.
4. Complete a fair and thorough review of the course that has been assigned to you.
5. At the end of the review, when you select “Submit,” your review and feedback will be sent to the person who requested peer review.