Quality Matters Rubric for Higher Education

This rubric delineates expectations and standards from the Quality Matters Higher Education Rubric, Sixth Edition.  These standards provide the expectations and guidance for instructors of higher education, in which the audience are students at the college or university level.  It is intended to guide the instructor through the development, evaluation, and improvement of online and blended courses.  The rubric falls into eight categories that cover the following general standards:

• Course overview and introduction
• Learning objectives/competencies
• Assessment and measurement
• Instructional materials
• Learning activities and learner interaction
• Course technology
• Learner support
• Accessibility and usability

The focus of these particular standards serve as a roadmap for instructors who are developing a syllabus for a course they are preparing for.  The standards emphasize the importance of developing strong learning objectives/activities or program competencies that result in measurable outcomes that show the learner’s achievement at the end of the course.  The quality expectation is that these standards are met at or above 85% level, which is essential to certifying the quality of a course.  The use of technology and supportive services is also emphasized to promote engagement and the learner’s success.

OSU Quality Assurance Standards

This rubric serves as best practices for online teaching at The Ohio State University (OSU).  It is developed by the Office of Distance Education and eLearning  and provides instructors with a guide to create online courses for students (audience) at OSU that are based on evidence-based literature and field experiences.  Best practice recommendations fall into nine categories that cover the following teaching strategies:

• Format and pacing
• Academic integrity
• Materials
• Carmen website
• Other required technology
• Instructor presence
• Student peer contact
• Variety of teaching methods
• Student support and metacognition

The recommended strategies assist the instructor to create online courses that are equivalent in quality to an in-person course.  The first part of the standards focus on course format, technology and materials.  Accessibility of the instructor and learning materials is emphasized, with a specific expectation that students participate in learning activities at least once each week.  Since the instruction is done only in an online format, providing clear and consistent directions and creating an organized course template that is easy to navigate is key.  The second part of the standards provide a variety of possible strategies to impact student learning, engagement, and satisfaction.  The emphasis for these teaching strategies revolve around the importance of instructors being accessible, student engagement with their peers, the use of a variety of teaching methods and learning activities, and ensuring that students fully understand the learning goals and expectations of the course.  There is no mention of an expectation to meet these standards at a certain percentage level or how these standards will be evaluated for each course.

OLC OSCQR Course Design Review Scorecard

This scorecard provides a quality rubric for instructors who are developing an online course, with the audience being students at the university level.  It provides a review guide with the emphasis of improving instructional design and accessibility of online, blended, or web-enhanced courses.  There are a total of 50 standards that include the following five categories:

• Course overview and information
• Course technology and tools
• Design and layout
• Content and activities
• Interaction, assessment, and feedback

The scorecard includes its own rubric to evaluate the different standards using a Likert scale: not applicable, major revision, moderate revision, minor revision, and sufficiently present; and includes action planning and an estimated amount of time needed for revisions, when applicable.  The course overview, technology, and design sections emphasize the availability of learner success resources and ensuring accessibility of the course instructor and technology tools.  Course information, including syllabus, objectives/learner outcomes, and student expectations, and the importance of design and layout of course materials are also emphasized in the rubric.  Focus is put in particular to providing activities to develop critical reflection and analysis that emulate real world application of the discipline.  Interactions between the instructor and student and between students themselves is an expectation.  Lastly, frequent feedback opportunities should be provided so that students have an opportunity to review their performance and assess their own learning.

Similarities and Main Emphases Across Standards

The three standards reviewed above have some similarities when you compare them.  All standards apply to guidelines for online instruction at the higher education level and are divided into various categories that address instructional design and delivery.  Since all address online learning, the use of technology is an important aspect that is included in all three standards.  They all generally apply some level of rigor, although some are more specific than others.  The development of meaningful learning objectives and evaluation of learning outcomes is emphasized is also emphasized.  The ease of accessibility of support materials and services is focused on as an expectation.  In addition, the use of a variety of teaching methods is valued, as well as having regular interactions between the instructor and student.

Differences and Reasons for the Differences

The three standards reviewed above also have some differences when you contrast them.  While the OSU standards only address online courses, the Quality Matters (QM) and OLC standards apply to both online and blended courses.  In addition, both QM and OLC have very specific set of expectations and rigor when evaluating if a course meets the standards; QM uses a specific percentage (≥ 85%) that the course must meet in terms of quality, while the OLC standard uses a scorecard (in the form of a Likert scale) to evaluate each specific standard.  OSU standards do not provide that specificity but do have expectations of the learner participating in learning activities at least once a week, with an emphasis on student-to-student interaction.  The OLC standards include a unique standard as they focus on the learner developing higher-order thinking and problem solving skills for real world application.  Lastly, the OSU and OLC standards value the importance of obtaining feedback from the learner regarding the course, while there is no mention of that in the QM standards.