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The core solution, Quality Matters (QM), is described as a rubric of course design standards developed from research and best practices, implemented through an inter-institutional peer review process. Background is provided on quality in distance education, including definitions, historical findings about distance formats, and recent evidence on online and blended learning effectiveness that informs course-quality discussions.",{"@graph":69,"@context":122},[70,84,105],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":40,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/quality-matters-a-faculty-centred-program-to-assure-quality-in-online-course-design/598636/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/quality-matters-a-faculty-centred-program-to-assure-quality-in-online-course-design/598636.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"awa","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-11-04","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":24},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108,114,118],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"What dilemma does the article focus on for faculty teaching online courses?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"It focuses on how faculty can assure quality when designing and teaching online courses, especially given limited experience with distance formats.","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"How does Quality Matters (QM) aim to improve online course quality?",{"text":117,"@type":113},"QM uses a rubric of design standards informed by research and best practices, applied through a faculty-centred peer review process.",{"name":119,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":120},"What evidence does the article cite regarding online learning effectiveness?",{"text":121,"@type":113},"It cites a US Department of Education meta-analysis reporting that, on average, students in online learning performed better than those in face-to-face conditions, and that blended conditions benefited the most due to additional learning time and instructional elements.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":124,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":126,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":128,"site_id":62},598636,1793150107,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":131},{"doc_id":128,"user_id":132,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":39,"category_name":40,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":24,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":24,"language":139,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":140,"faqs":141,"seo_title":142,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":143,"read_time":144},3985747858093,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_3d24733baf745e90a7e4bdd5f77d97b2","9  \nQuality Matters: A Faculty-Centred Program to Assure Quality in Online Course Design  \nKay Shattuck  \nQuality Matters Programs, USA  \nOne of the dilemmas faced by today’s faculty is assuring quality in online courses. As one solution to that dilemma, Quality Matters (QM), a program of MarylandOnline, built a rubric of design standards informed by existing research literature and best practices. The rubric was implemented within a faculty-centred, peer review process in which colleagues share their expertise to facilitate course design improvements and to achieve an established level of quality in online course design. This article will describe the basic tenets and processes of QM as an inter-institutional quality assurance program for online learning.  \nIntroduction  \nuality in online courses need not be caught  \ntQinuining the riwavesptoidef esdthatucaticanonalrerseuflotcfursmng .the cWohnile  \nonline learning might appear to be a new wave, it is not. It has become the most accepted form of distance education, bringing along with it legions of faculty inexperienced in designing and teaching in distance formats. That was the dilemma faced in the early 2000s by members of MarylandOnline ([www.marylandonline.org](www.marylandonline.org)), a voluntary consortium of community colleges and universities in Maryland.  \nA definition of distance education seems in order. Moore and Kearsley’s (1996, 2005) widely cited definition points out that distance education is  \nmuch more than piping traditional classroom courses through a communication conduit, such as the Internet. In fact, they define distance education as“planned learning that normally occurs in a different place from teaching, requiring special course design and instruction techniques, communication through various technologies, and special organizational and administrative arrangements” (2005, p. 2) . It is a system of education focused on enabling and supporting selected learner-teacher, learner-content, and learner-learner interactions via a communication technology (Moore, 1989) .  \nAttempts to assure and record quality in distance education have a long history. Distance education has been documented by Russell (2001) as  \nfar back as 1928 as not being significantly different than education delivered in traditional classroombased settings. Russell assembled and continues to post research findings on the [http://nosignificantdif](http://nosignificantdif)[ference.org](ference.org), website, including no significant differences in performance on graded assignments, final course grades, and other assessments of learning. It can be noted that some studies indicated significance in favor of either face-to-face or at a distance, but most indicated similar results when the two delivery formats were compared.  \nRecently, the US Department of Education (2009) conducted a meta-analysis of existing research on the effectiveness of online learning. The final report noted that, “on average, students in online learning conditions performed better than those receiving face-to-face instruction.” It was further noted that students in “blended conditions” (combining online and face-to-face) benefitted the most because of “additional learning time and instructional elements”(p. ix) . The meta-analysis methodology used was limited to studies using random-assignment or controlled quasi-experimental design in web-based instruction. Only studies that examined “objective measures of student learning” were included in the final meta-analysis. Studies which focused “on student or teacher perceptions of learning or course quality” for example, were not included in the analysis (p. xii) . The report cautioned “in generalizing to the K-12 population” since the 44 studies that met the study criteria came from adult learning settings, such as higher education or medical training (p. xii) .  \nQuality Matters  \nAs online formats were beginning their meteoric rise in popularity at the turn of the mill","cbCaivcRuPR9E7Jx","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaivcRuPR9E7Jx","pdf",457544,"English","# Introduction\n# Quality Matters\n# The Quality Matters Rubric","[{\"question\":\"What dilemma does the article focus on for faculty teaching online courses?\",\"answer\":\"It focuses on how faculty can assure quality when designing and teaching online courses, especially given limited experience with distance formats.\"},{\"question\":\"How does Quality Matters (QM) aim to improve online course quality?\",\"answer\":\"QM uses a rubric of design standards informed by research and best practices, applied through a faculty-centred peer review process.\"},{\"question\":\"What evidence does the article cite regarding online learning effectiveness?\",\"answer\":\"It cites a US Department of Education meta-analysis reporting that, on average, students in online learning performed better than those in face-to-face conditions, and that blended conditions benefited the most due to additional learning time and instructional elements.\"}]","Quality Matters: A Faculty-Centred Program to Assure Quality in Online Course Design | PDF",1792087297,13]