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Quality Assurance

Quality courses are essential to our mission. Therefore, our courses are developed and built with best practices and quality standards in mind. We use the Quality Matters (QM) Higher Education Rubric to guide the development of our courses and measure our success. 

Quality Matters is a faculty-centered, peer review process that is designed to certify the quality of online and blended courses. QM is a leader in quality assurance for online education and has received national recognition for its scalable, peer-based approach and continuous improvement in online education and student learning. (Shattuck, Zimmerman and Adair, 2014)

QM began with a small group of colleagues who were trying to determine how to measure and guarantee the quality of an online course. Their work evolved into a set of nationally recognized standards for the development and evaluation of of online courses, and a group that now includes over 60,000 members. 

The QM Rubric comprises Eight General Standards and 43 Specific Review Standards considered to be essential to the design of online and blended courses. 

The Eight General Standards are as follows:

  1. Course Overview and Introduction
  2. Learning Objectives
  3. Assessment and Measurement
  4. Instructional Materials
  5. Course Activities and Learner Interaction
  6. Course Technology
  7. Learner Support
  8. Accessibility and Usability

As part of our quality assurance process, we review each course to ensure that they meet the standards noted in the QM Higher Education Rubric. The Subject Matter Expert (SME), Instructional Designer and Technology Specialist (IDTS) along with an additional IDTS reviewer review each course. 

Click here to download the Self-Check Online Course Quality at Doane, you will need to log into your Doane account.