27
Understanding the Quality Matters Rubric In Depth
The Quality Matters Rubric consists of 43 standards for the design of high-quality online courses. We have already introduced some standards that are directly associated with topics in the seminar; now we invite you to spend some time reviewing all of the standards and consider how to implement them completely into your course.
The Quality Matters program is a national benchmark for gauging the quality of online course design. Many accrediting bodies have endorsed the use of the Quality Matters standards as demonstrating an institution’s commitment to the design of quality online courses. By meeting the 43 research-based standards, faculty can be confident that their online courses will meet a standard of quality that is recognized by faculty at many universities throughout the United States of America. That is why we have tried to guide you towards meeting these standards as you have designed your course/module objectives, course assessments, and learning activities. We have also provided a number of practical explanations of the Quality Matters standards in each module to ensure your course has a good chance of meeting all of these standards. These standards will continue to be important as you develop the instructional materials, tools, and media in your course.
To help assist faculty in meeting these online course design standards, the eCampus Center facilitates a peer review process in which three trained faculty reviewers from Boise State evaluate the design of an online course to see if it meets all of the Quality Matters Standards. The full review will occur after you have taught the course for a semester, you have made any revisions to the course that you want, and after you have let us know that you think the course is ready for a review. The outcome of that peer review is a document in which the faculty peer reviewers identify all of the standards that you have or have not met. They also provide helpful suggestions for actions you might take to incorporate any unmet standards into your course design.
Since we want your course to meet all of the essential course standards during the peer review, we would like to have you review all of the Quality Matters Standards now. The value in providing this document to you before you begin development is to help you plan ahead for issues and questions that your students bring to the course: What should I do first? Why am I doing this? How is this assignment graded? These are just some of the questions that Quality Matters Standards prepare you for when designing your course. But before we can give you access to the document with the standards, we first must provide the following notice in order to comply with our agreement with the Quality Matters program to use their copyrighted materials.
Notice of Confidentiality of the Quality Matters Rubric Standards
The Quality Matters Rubric is a proprietary document and contains information that is treated as confidential. You agree that you will not copy, duplicate, distribute or disclose this QM material to others . Further, you agree that you will not remove copyright information from QM Rubric documents. The printed Quality Matters Rubric Workbook is available for those who prefer working with a physical copy of the QM Rubric.
If you agree with the terms of this notice of confidentiality, please select the link below to access and read the PDF copy of the Quality Matters Rubric Standards. If you do not agree, please contact your instructional design consultant and discuss your concerns.
Quality Matters Rubric Standards (Fifth Edition, 2014)
As you read the Quality Matters Rubric Standards, you may have noticed it contains a column listing the “Points” assigned to each standard. We do not use a points system in our Boise State internal Quality Matters Peer Reviews, so you do not have to worry about having points assigned to your course. However, it may be helpful for you to know that the national Quality Matters Program determines the number of points assigned to a standard based on whether or not the standard has been identified as being Essential (3 points), Very Important (2 points), or Important (1 point). An Essential standard is one that must be met in order for a course to be certified by the national Quality Matters Program. The program considers these standards to be so crucial to course quality that if even one Essential standard is not met then the course cannot receive certification. Since we currently do not pursue such certification with Boise State online courses, meeting every single Essential standard is not something that you are required to do. However, we do encourage you to pay special attention to each of the 21 Essential standards, as these standards are your best indicators of overall course quality. This is not to say that you do not need to attend to the standards listed as Very Important or Important. You should strive to meet ALL of the standards in the design of your course.
If you have ideas about what you could do to help meet these standards, please write them down and share them with your instructional design consultant. If you have questions about what any of these standards mean, you may work with your instructional design consultant to get further information on the standards, as well as suggestions on how to meet them. If you believe that your course design is almost complete, then in your next meeting with your consultant you may conduct a preliminary progress check by reviewing all of the essential standards together and determining if you have or have not met them yet in the design of your course.