OSCQR Award – Honorable Mention

The SUNY Online Teaching OSCQR Honorable Mentions recognize outstanding contributions to online course quality that reflect meaningful, innovative, and sustained engagement with the OSCQR rubric and process. Each year, the OSCQR Awards Review Committee receives a growing number of strong nominations across Institutional Excellence, Program Innovation, Individual Achievement, and Research Impact. The Honorable Mentions designation acknowledges those nominations that demonstrate exceptional merit, creativity, and impact in advancing online course quality within a highly competitive review process.

Honorable Mentions highlight work that reflects key OSCQR values, including learner-centered design, accessibility, alignment with OSCQR standards, Regular and Substantive Interaction (RSI), and the intentional use of course design practices to support meaningful learning experiences. These recognitions celebrate both individual and collective efforts to improve the quality of online education through reflective practice, collaboration, and innovation.

At the individual level, Honorable Mentions recognize educators and instructional designers who have applied OSCQR in their own courses or as reviewers, demonstrating leadership in course design, faculty support, and the integration of inclusive, accessible teaching practices. These individuals often extend their impact beyond their own courses by mentoring colleagues, contributing to faculty development, and participating in communities of practice that promote shared learning and continuous improvement.

At the institutional and program levels, Honorable Mentions recognize systems-level approaches to integrating OSCQR into course design, faculty development, and quality assurance processes. These efforts may include the development of shared templates, structured review processes, collaborative design models, and initiatives that support scalability, sustainability, and alignment across programs. Such work reflects a deep commitment to building institutional capacity for ongoing improvement in online teaching and learning.

At the research level, Honorable Mentions recognize scholars whose work contributes to the growing evidence base surrounding online course quality and the OSCQR rubric. These contributions may include empirical studies, comparative analyses, or conceptual work that examine the role of quality frameworks in course design, accessibility, and learner success. This research advances understanding of how OSCQR functions as a formative, improvement-oriented tool and helps translate evidence into practice, informing instructional design, faculty development, and institutional decision-making.

The Honorable Mentions category underscores the importance of recognizing progress, innovation, and commitment across the spectrum of OSCQR engagement. It highlights the growing impact of the OSCQR rubric as a flexible, formative framework that supports reflective design, fosters collaboration, and advances quality in online education.

Together, these recognitions celebrate a vibrant and expanding community of practitioners who are actively shaping the future of online teaching and learning through thoughtful, research-informed, and learner-centered practices.

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