Quality Matters©️
What is Quality Matters (QM)?
The University of Maine System has a System-wide license to Quality Matters, which means that all UMPI faculty and staff have access to individual memberships, tools, and resources. Quality Matters is a faculty-created, peer-review process with a mission to give individuals and institutions the resources they need to create quality online and blended programming. The Quality Matters Rubrics and Standards represent the cumulation of over a decade of collaboration and research on how to support online learners (and how online students learn). As members, we are able to access and use the Quality Matters Rubrics & guides, conduct self-reviews, access member-only pricing on professional development courses, and eventually, we will be able to apply for QM certification on courses and/or programs (an industry-standard in excellence in online course design and delivery).
The Quality Matters Self-Review
The Quality Matters Self Review process, available to all faculty, allows you a chance to self-assess your course against the QM Standards prior to requesting a more formal internal or QM-hosted review. It can be used to ensure that your online course is providing the highest quality learning experience for your students (even if you do not intend to do a formal review). When you engage in a self-review you are able to walk through each of the standards–with complete annotation of each standard and helpful recommendations for meeting those standards.
Some important points to note:
- The QM Higher Education Rubric consists of 48 individual standards divided into 8 standards categories (this is one of the tools that informed our UMPI course evaluation tool–so some concepts may look familiar)
- Throughout the self-review, you will notice that each standard will have point values ranging from 1 to 3
- As you work through the self-review and determine whether or not your course meets each standard, points are assigned accordingly
- Any standard that is not “Met”, generates an annotated list of resources, to help you make adjustments to your course.
- In order to pass a QM review, you must:
- Score 85% or higher of the total points, and
- Meet all of the 3-point (“critical”) standards
Ready to get started? Give your local QM Coordinator a ring, to help with the account set-up process. At UMPI, the QM Coordinator is Heather Nunez-Olmstead, of the Center for Teaching and Learning.
- Learn more about the Quality Matters™ Higher Education program.
The Underlying Principles of Quality Matters
The QM Rubric and evaluation process were created based on the following principles–which inform the self-review process, as well as the official certification review:
Continuous
- The Quality Matters processes are designed with the idea that all courses will eventually be able to meet the standards.
- The review process to dependant on a commitment to ongoing improvement.
Centered
- On research – the development of the rubric and the annotations that accompany it are based on national standards, based on research literature, and instructional current design principles.
- On student learning – the rubric criteria and recommendations are all anchored in improving the student experience.
- On quality – the review sets a rigorous quality goal at the 85% level or better.
Collegial
- An ‘official’ Quality Matters review is part of a faculty-driven, peer review process.
- The review process is designed to be diagnostic and collegial, not evaluative and judgmental.
Collaborative
- The official review is based on collaboratively identified evidence found in the course rather than the personal preference of an individual reviewer.
- The official review is flexible and not prescriptive (there are many ways to meet each standard).
- The official review team consists of experienced, trained online instructors in partnership with the faculty.
How To Get Started
There are a number of reasons why you may be interested in a self-review of your online or hybrid course, utilizing the Quality Matters rubric, including:
- You are looking for ways to increase accessibility in your online course
- You or your department are looking for research-backed ways to structure your content to enhance the student experience
- You are already considering a re-design and would like to self-evaluate first
- You think that you may want to prepare a course for QM certification in the future
Once you have created your account on Quality Matters, you can quickly and easily start the self-review process:
Add QM Training to Your PD Wishlist
As Quality Matters System members, we can also receive the member’s price for any Quality Matters-based training, which gives us a substantial discount. These online trainings cover a wide range of online teaching topics, from utilizing the QM Rubrics to learning to design blended courses, to creating a presence in an online course, and more! They also have a host of freely available webinars on their YouTube channel, like this Inclusive Design workshop from last year: