Faculty and instructors from across the University of Arkansas campus participated in a workshop earlier in April to explore national quality standards for online course design and to learn how they can validate the quality of courses through a peer-review process.

Mary Wells, a Quality Matters Program consultant from Reno, Nev., conducted the workshop. She was a co-director of the project team that submitted the original grant to create Quality Matters in 2003.

Wells spent a day describing a nationally recognized rubric of standards for online course design and an evaluation system that institutions can use to gain Quality Matters certification for courses. Course certification via peer review provides validation to faculty and instructors whose courses reflect their commitment to quality.

“The reason we do all of this is we hope it will lead to better student outcomes,” Wells said.

Quality Matters, a non-profit program of Maryland Online Inc., is a leader in quality assurance for online education in the United States. This faculty-centered program is nationally recognized for its continuous contributions to the improvement of online education. Quality Matters develops and disseminates rubrics for the effective design of online and blended courses, based on research findings on effective online learning and best practices advocated by leading distance learning organizations.

Providing workshops like this reaffirms the university’s commitment to meeting the high-quality academic expectations for online courses that exist for face-to-face courses, said Javier Reyes, vice provost for distance education.

Wells talked with 16 University of Arkansas faculty and instructors at the day-long session at the Global Campus. After the workshop, she also met with co-directors of the Wally Cordes Teaching and Faculty Support Center - Jeannie Whayne, professor of history in the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences; Paul Cronan, professor of information systems in the Sam M. Walton College of Business ; and Inza Fort, professor of kinesiology-exercise science in the College of Education and Health Professions.

Workshop participants included representatives from the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences; Fulbright College; Walton College; the College of Education and Health Professions; and the College of Engineering.

“For the past 10 months, I have heard faculty say over and over that providing quality online courses is their top priority during the U of A’s expansion and enhancement of online programs and courses,” said Javier Reyes, who began his role as vice provost for distance education July 1. “The Global Campus is working to support this goal on a number of fronts, including connecting faculty with nationally recognized distance education organizations like Quality Matters.”

The workshop examined course objectives, assessments, and the step-by-step process of presenting learning materials and assignments to students in a methodical way. Quality Matters focuses more on strategies and objectives for delivering courses online, but not necessarily the individual technology tools and software used to do it.

Jeannie Whayne, professor of history and co-director of the center, said she found the workshop useful.

“It confirmed that I was on the right track with my objectives,” Whayne said. Whayne is redesigning her Web-based correspondence course HIST 3383, Arkansas History. The course is especially popular with teachers seeking licensure in Arkansas.

The Quality Matters Program began as a review tool, providing third-party validation of quality course design based on detailed standards described in the Quality Matters rubric, Wells said.

 “Very quickly we learned it is a very powerful development tool,” Wells said. ”It can guide you on the right path, and it works for face to face, too. It’s just good, solid design.”

The Quality Matters rubric guides instructors to align the activities and assessments with the learning objectives and to promote student-student, student-content, and student-faculty interactions.  It also helps faculty organize the course in a way that enables students to spend more time learning the material and less time trying to navigate the course pages. Designing quality courses ensures that online students will receive learning opportunities and interactions that can engage students as effectively as face-to-face classes on campus.

Gay Stewart, a physics professor in Fulbright College, said she plans to use the Quality Matters rubric in further development of an online version of PHYS 2054, University Physics I, a core undergraduate course. She said she feels applying the design standards will help ensure students in the online section achieve the same level of success as those in the face-to-face sections.

Course evaluations for certification were never meant to be punitive or judgmental, Wells said. The process is a way for peer reviewers to help faculty achieve their goals. Courses submitted for review can be revised during the process to bring them up to the standards required for certification. Some institutions use their participation in the Quality Matters Program during accreditation visits as proof that they are committed to providing quality courses.

Dennis Beck, assistant professor of educational technology in the College of Education and Health Professions, said he would like to submit courses to Quality Matters for review and gain certification for educational technology courses.

“(Prospective students) need a way to distinguish our courses from the rest,” Beck said, adding that gaining certification would do that. “The goal is to have a nationally recognized Ed Tech program.”

U of A faculty who completed last week’s workshop are now eligible to enroll in another Quality Matters program that would allow them to become peer reviewers in the certification process. Peer reviewers must have experience teaching online and complete a two-week online program from Quality Matters. For more information about becoming a peer reviewer, contact Miran Kang, director of instructional design and support services at the Global Campus, at kang@uark.edu or 479-575-6733.

Kang and five Global Campus instructional designers – Ken Muessig, Sean Orme, Liz Stover, Elaine Terrell and Shelly Walters – completed the Quality Matters Program peer reviewer course this year and are certified to review online courses nationwide.

The Global Campus supports the academic colleges and schools across campus that develop and deliver online degree programs and courses. It provides instructional design services, access to national distance education organizations, and assistance with strategic academic program development.