The Hybrid and Online Quality Course Design Institute

Designed by Shoreline Community College’s eLearning Department in Collaboration with SBCTC

Welcome to the overview page for Shoreline Community College’s Hybrid and Online Quality Course Design Institute (The Institute)—a state-recognized training designed to empower faculty, strengthen student success, and ensure high-quality, inclusive online learning experiences. This page offers an overview of The Institute at Shoreline Community College. Here you’ll find details on how it works, what makes it impactful, and how faculty—and ultimately students—benefit from high-quality course design.

What is The Institute?

The Institute is a four-week, asynchronous professional development experience that supports faculty in aligning their online or hybrid courses with the Washington Quality Course Design Checklist. This checklist includes 168 research-based standards that focus on accessibility, equity, inclusion, engagement, and student success.

Faculty work through these standards by self-assessing one of their own courses and receiving individualized support from instructional designers throughout the process. This includes real-time feedback, customizable templates, and optional opportunities to exchange courses with peers for feedback and inspiration.

What makes this institute unique?

  • Collaborative and Customizable
    Faculty receive help in a way that fits their needs, via one-on-one meetings, email, or asynchronous comments. The instructional design team ensures faculty don’t go through this alone.
  • Peer-to-Peer Support
    Faculty can opt to exchange their course design with a colleague to get authentic feedback and ideas from fellow instructors.
  • Equity-Focused Design
    This work centers accessibility, inclusion, and equitable course practices—ensuring all students have the opportunity to succeed.
  • State Collaboration
    The Institute was built in collaboration with the Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges (SBCTC). Once faculty complete the Institute and meet all required benchmarks, Shoreline submits their certification materials to the state, which officially issues the Quality Certification and digital badges. This ensures the recognition is meaningful and consistent across Washington’s higher education institutions.

What does certification mean?

Once a course is certified, it:

  • Meets or exceeds 119 Washington State Standards
  • Implements Universal Design for Learning (UDL)
  • Demonstrates Regular and Substantive Interaction (RSI)
  • Applies the Transparency in Learning and Teaching (TILT) framework
  • Incorporates culturally responsive and equity-minded practices

These design strategies are proven to increase student confidence, improve learning outcomes, and foster a stronger sense of belonging.

Recognition and Certification

Faculty who complete the Institute and align their courses with the Washington Course Design Checklist earn a series of state-issued digital badges through the Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges.

These badges are more than just symbols; they represent your commitment to excellence in online course design and can be proudly displayed on LinkedIn, in digital teaching portfolios, and even on course syllabi to show students your dedication to quality learning.

Here are just a few of the badges faculty can earn through the Institute:

  • Course Recognition
    Awarded to faculty who meet all Essential Standards and at least one Next Step Indicator from each section of the checklist. This badge represents overall excellence in course design, reflective practice, collaboration, and commitment to student-centered learning.
  • Campus Collaboration
    Given to faculty who partner closely with instructional designers to enhance their course. This badge highlights the value of shared expertise and iterative improvement through warm, wise feedback and course review.
  • Self-Reflection
    Recognizes faculty who critically examine their own course design using structured self-reflection aligned with the checklist. This badge signifies a deep commitment to ongoing improvement.
  • Sense of Belonging & Student Engagement
    Awarded to instructors who create inclusive, welcoming online environments and foster student connection and active engagement.
  • Assessment & Feedback
    Recognizes instructors who design clear, aligned assessments and provide thoughtful, constructive feedback that helps students grow and succeed.

Each badge earned represents a meaningful milestone in the course development process and demonstrates a strong commitment to equitable, high-quality online teaching.

Impact and Retention

At Shoreline Community College, we believe in continuous improvement, and we back it up with data. After a course is certified through the Hybrid and Online Quality Course Design Institute, our team conducts a post-certification review to assess the real impact of the redesign on student success.

This process includes analyzing student data to understand how changes to course structure, accessibility, and engagement strategies affect outcomes like student retention and completion.

Early results are promising.
Certified courses are averaging a 96.6% retention rate, indicating that this model supports students in staying enrolled and completing their coursework. These findings demonstrate that quality course design—rooted in equity, clarity, and inclusive practices—makes a measurable difference in student success.

Certified Courses and Instructors

The following Shoreline courses have been certified through the Hybrid and Online Quality Course Design Institute, meeting the standards outlined in the Washington Quality Course Design Checklist. These courses have been intentionally designed to support student success through clear structure, accessibility, and meaningful engagement.

  • HIIM 219 – Health Care Statistics
    Instructor: Melanie Meyer
  • HIIM 240 – Health Data Project
    Instructor: Melanie Meyer
  • HIIM 242 – Spreadsheet Applications
    Instructor: Melanie Meyer
  • STYSK 100 – Academic Success Strategies
    Instructor: Sandra Clark
  • BIO 241 – Anatomy and Physiology 1
    Instructor: Ben Wiggins
  • Nursing 102 – Nursing Assistant (NAC) Theory and Skills Lab I
    Instructor: David Lynch
  • ART 131 – Drawing 1
    Instructor: Gary Georger

If you are a student enrolling in one of these courses, you can trust that the content is structured with your success, access, and engagement in mind.

Who should join?

If you're a Shoreline faculty member teaching an online or hybrid course and want to elevate the quality of your course design, this Institute is for you! Whether you're enhancing an existing course or building one from the ground up, you'll receive tools, guidance, and professional recognition along the way.

Faculty who join the Institute will:

  • Strengthen the overall quality of their course
  • Design with equity, inclusion, and accessibility at the forefront
  • Receive personalized support from instructional designers
  • Join a growing network of faculty committed to quality online teaching

For Other Colleges

The Hybrid and Online Quality Course Design Institute was designed with statewide collaboration in mind and is available for adoption by other Washington State community and technical colleges. If your institution is interested in offering this training to your faculty or adapting it for your campus, we’d be happy to share our materials.

To request a copy of the course or learn more about how to bring the Institute to your college, please contact Brandon Fryman.

Want to learn more or join?

For more information or to enroll in the next session, contact Brandon Fryman.

Let’s design learning that works for all students!