Quality Matters (QM) is a faculty-centered, peer review process designed to certify the quality of online courses and online components. Sponsored by MarylandOnline, Inc. Quality Matters has generated widespread interest and received national recognition for its peer-based approach to quality assurance and continuous improvement in online education. Originating from a FIPSE grant, Quality Matters is now a self-supporting organization offering institutional subscriptions and a range of fee-based services including Quality Matters-managed course reviews and an array of trainings. UWF is now a subscribing member of Quality Matters. Visit the QM website at http://www.qualitymatters.org

Watch this 7-minute presentation for a brief overview of Quality Matters.

Benefits of Participation in QM

• Improved student learning outcomes and retention
• Incorporation of new technologies and research findings
• Support to redesign existing online courses
• Ongoing faculty professional development 
• Development of critical assessment skills for examining online courses and materials
• Support the University’s commitment to excellence in teaching
• Opportunity to work with peers with similar interests for support and feedback
• Opportunity to be trained as a QM Peer Reviewer 
• Supporting Resources

Unique characteristics of the QM model:

• a faculty-driven, peer review process with the emphasis on continuous quality improvement
• a collegial review process, not an evaluation process
• a supportive and effective framework to improve the quality of course design for online courses
• a team-based approach consisting of the faculty developer and three faculty peer reviewers
• peer reviewers, experienced in online teaching and trained to be certified Quality Matters Peer Reviewers

The peer review process is guided by the fully annotated QM rubric.  The QM rubric and process are dynamic and reflect national standards of best practice and research literature on online learning.  The rubric consists of eight general standards that measure quality course design in the following areas: 

Standard 1: Course Overview and Introduction

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Standard 2: Learning Objectives
Standard 3: Assessment and Measurement
Standard 4: Resources and Materials
Standard 5: Learner Engagement
Standard 6: Course Technology
Standard 7: Learner Support
Standard 8: Accessibility

Accessing the QM Rubric and Other Resources

You do not have to submit a course for review to gain access to the rubric. The rubric can be used in a number of ways. 

• Faculty are encouraged to use the rubric independently as:
• guidelines for new online course development
• quality assurance of online courses
• checklist for improvement of existing online courses
• preparation for regional and professional accreditation processes
• Peer reviewers use the rubric during the course review process to provide feedback on course design in two ways:
• awarding of points for specific review standards
• providing substantial, constructive and specific comments and suggestions regarding areas for improvement and existing strengths

The rubric is available in three formats:

• A .pdf file version of the rubric. You may print and use for self-checking courses.
• An online demonstration version of the rubric. This is a single-use version of the rubric and has restricted capabilities (i.e. does not save data or compile reports.). This version is useful as a tool for self-checking courses.
• The fully functional, online version of the rubric. This version is used to conduct official Independent (Subscriber-Managed) QM reviews or to conduct internal (unofficial) reviews.

To gain access to the rubric and other resources, contact Cindy Mersereau by email at cmersereau@uwf.edu or by phone (850)833-3989/474-3291 and request login information.

Quality Matters Training

Academic Technology Center

ATC will offer trainings, along with what we have access to through our Sloan-C agreements, QM subscription, New Media Consortium (NMC) and other agreements, and with other faculty experts that can assist with training.  All ATC training will be tied to the aspects of the rubric; much of it will be delivered via Webinar and archived for later viewing.  This will assist faculty who have identified weaknesses in their courses and want to have strategies for bringing it up to ‘standard’. Check the ATC Calendar of Events for upcoming training session. Sign up for these and other ATC trainings by going to the Reservation Desk in ARGUS.

Sloan-C

The Sloan Consortium (Sloan-C) is an institutional and professional leadership organization dedicated to integrating online education into the mainstream of higher education, helping institutions and individual educators improve the quality, scale, and breadth of online education. Sloan-C supports the collaborative sharing of knowledge and effective practices to improve online education in learning effectiveness, access, affordability for learners and providers, and student and faculty satisfaction.

As a member of Sloan-C, UWF faculty may attend online workshops at a discount. If you are interested in attending a Sloan-C workshop, contact Karen Barth at kbarth@uwf.edu.

Training and Workshops Facilitated by Quality Matters

Through our subscription with Quality Matters, you have access to trainings at a discounted price. Based on available funding, ATC may cover the cost of certain QM-facilitated trainings. Contact Cindy Mersereau (cmersereau@uwf.edu or by phone (850)833-3989/474-3291) if you are interested in attending a QM-facilitated training. Check QM schedule of trainings.

The QM Course Review Process @ UWF

UWF online programs continue to grow and we, here at the Academic Technology Center, believe that subscribing to Quality Matters will be a beneficial program that will add to the culture of faculty helping faculty.  There are three types of peer reviews we are able to conduct through our membership in QM:

• internal reviews
• subscriber-managed reviews
• QM-managed reviews (A fee of $900 is charged for the QM-managed reviews.)

For the first year of our subscription, we will conduct internal reviews of fully online courses.  Based on a strategic process within each college, distance learning contacts will work with their deans to submit a list of faculty interested in having their courses peer reviewed by a group of 3 peer reviewers --faculty in the same discipline and instructional designers-- to conduct the review.  Peer reviewers give each course a score based on the rubric standards mentioned above.  Faculty who receive satisfactory internal reviews in Year 1 will be eligible to submit their course for subscriber-managed or QM-managed external reviews in Year 2 of our QM subscription.

Faculty who receive satisfactory external reviews are awarded the nationally recognized QM stamp of Excellence and are entered into a national registry of excellent courses. 
If your course scores below the passing score, you may use the comments from the reviewers to improve the weaker elements in your course and bring the course up to the QM standard and resubmit for approval.

Eligibility for Course Reviews

If you are interested in submitting your course for an internal peer review, please work with the Distance Learning Contact in your college:

• College of Arts & Sciences - Karen Goldschmidt
• College of Business - Dr. Tim O'Keefe
• College of Professional Studies - Dr. Tom Kramer, Dr. Karen Rasmussen

Criteria to Become a QM-certified Peer Reviewer

To become a certified peer reviewer, you must have:

1. Prior training in online teaching: You should have completed training on how to teach in an online setting.
2. Online teaching experience: You should have taught online for more than two academic semesters and have taught within the last 18 months. If you have not taught online within the last 18 months, you must complete the Exemption section of the application documenting your qualifications for being a Peer Reviewer.
3. Personal Commitment: You are encouraged to volunteer; this is a self-nomination process.

Requirements for Peer Course Reviewers

The faculty member agrees to:

1. Attend mandatory training (face-to-face or online) if not already trained as a QM Peer Reviewer.
2. Return a signed Memorandum of Understanding.
3. Review online courses using Quality Matters instruments and rubrics. The estimated time for this review is 7-10 hours.
4. Maintain strict confidentiality about any courses you access during the training or review process, including any student information contained in these courses.
5. Not change, copy, or modify any internal documents within a course.
6. Observe copyright laws and respect intellectual property rights of faculty creator of materials.
7. Allow their name and institution affiliation to be listed on the national Quality Matters website and documents as a selected and/or trained Peer Course Reviewer.

If you are interested in becoming a QM-certified Peer Reviewer or have any questions about Quality Matters at UWF, contact Cindy Mersereau at cmersereau@uwf.edu .

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