Quality Matters: Research-based Course DesignKathleen Stone

Director of Curriculum and Instructional Design

Quality Matters Coordinator

What is Quality Matters (QM)?

• A non-profit organization dedicated to quality assurance in online education.

• A peer review process that is designed to certify the quality of online and blended courses.

• The QM rubric is a set of standards that can be used to review the design of courses.

• To receive the QM recognition a course must go through the official QM process

Official QM Review• QM-Managed reviews

• Team of three reviewers

• The QM Rubric must be used unmodified

• Must use the online review system

• Follows a strict process

• Application, course worksheet, various forms and reports, pre and post review conferences, timeline

Official QM Review• Subscriber-managed reviews

• Must follow the same process as a QM managed review

• The administrative and financial portions are managed by the QM Coordinator at the institution

Internal Review• Unofficial course reviews managed by the institution

• Does not need to follow the same process as an official review

• Flexible and adaptable to the needs of the institution

• Reviewers do not need to be certified by QM

• It is highly recommended that anyone using the rubric take the “Applying the QM Rubric” workshop

• Courses reviewed in this way are not eligible for QM recognition

QM Subscription Options• Basic Subscription

• All faculty and staff can create a MyQM account

• Provides access to the rubric

• Provides discounts on professional development

• Ability to conduct internal unofficial reviews

• Discounts on formal QM managed reviews

• Full Subscription - all above plus

• Ability to conduct official subscriber-managed reviews

• License to facilitate the Applying the QM Rubric training

The QM Rubric

• Informed by best practices and literature reviews on online course design

• Updated regularly to reflect new research

• There is an in-depth focus on alignment

• Most widely used set of standards for online and blended course design at the college level

• Can be cited in self-studies and reaccreditation as part of the quality standards that informs our instructional design processes

The QM Rubric

• 8 general standards with 43 specific standards

1. Course Overview and Introduction

2. Learning Objectives (Competencies)

3. Assessment and Measurement

4. Instructional Materials

5. Course Activities and Learner Interaction

6. Course Technology

7. Learner Support

8. Accessibility and Usability

• Fully annotated

How are we using QM?

• We have a basic subscription

• We are not participating in official course reviews

• We are using the QM rubric as part of our existing internal processes

• Many of the standards are addressed in our new course template

What is the existing process?

• When a course is developed or undergoes a major revision it is done so through a collaborative process

• Content expert (course developer), area coordinator (AC), and a coordinator of curriculum and instructional design (CID)

• The CID uses a homegrown instructional design and accessibility rubric to help guide their instructional design work during the cycle

What is the existing process?

• Course developers and area coordinators can reference the current rubric, but are not required to.

• The CID uses it to inform design discussions.

• When the course is complete, the CID completes the rubrics to assess if the course is meeting best practices and to ensure it is accessible for all students

• If there are still areas that could use improvement, they are either addressed at that time or noted for future revision.

What has changed?

• CDL CIDs have completed the Applying the QM Rubric course

• The CIDs are replacing the current instructional design rubric with the QM rubric

• The developer training course now references QM rubric instead of our old one

• Alignment discussions

• The course template we use has been updated to incorporate QM rubric standards

• The template fully covers 11 of the standards and provides clear guidance for 17 others

As always….

• At the completion of the course revision or development, CIDs will use the rubric to identify any areas that could still be improved.

• Depending on the results of the review and the time left in the revision/development cycle, faculty can decide if they want to make any changes right away or during a future revision cycle.

• Continuous improvement

New Options

Self-review tool – online fully annotated version of the rubric

• Any faculty or staff member can sign up for a QM account and have access to this tool to review their own course

• No one is required to use it – this is just a new option

Professional development

• Once you have an account you can take professional development offered by QM at discounted rates

• Approach this as any other PD – you can self pay or go through our regular ESC development fund processes

How do I….?

Create a QM account

Log in after I have an account

Use the self-review tool

You can also refer to the handout that is on the CDL conference website.

This presentation and multimedia how-to resources will be posted on our CID blog

http://commons.esc.edu/cdl-course-highlights/

Questions?