I’m pleased to announce a forthcoming article in Information and Learning Sciences‘ special issue on “Evidence-based and Pragmatic Online Teaching and Learning Approaches.”
The paper’s abstract follows:
Quality Matters is one of the most widely regarded standards for online course design. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many instructors have needed to quickly convert face-to-face classes into an online environment.
However, many instructors do not have online education expertise. Standards such as Quality Matters can help guide the creation of quality online course environments. This paper provides a research-based and pragmatic approach for creating QM-informed online courses.
The Quality Matters Standards Rubric consists of eight General and 42 Specific Review Standards. Each standard was analyzed to determine the ease of implementation and implementation approach for a Quality Matters-informed online course template.
Of the 42 specific review standards, 16 (38%) are easily achievable, 20 (48%) are achievable, but required some intervention, and six (14%) are difficult to achieve through a course template.
This study provides guidance for implementing Quality Matters-informed online course design. As many instructors without an instructional design or online education background now need to conduct online classes, Quality Matters provides structure and guidance to assist with creating high-quality learning environments. As receiving formal Quality Matters certification is time-consuming and requires peer-review, this research provides guidance to create Quality Matters-informed online courses in a timely manner.
This study is particularly timely due to the COVID-19 pandemic and will help prepare instructors for any second-wave scenarios. Furthermore, through providing guidance on the creation of Quality Matters-informed online course design, this paper will help instructors have a greater chance of instructional success for online course delivery.
Work on this paper was first initiated as part of my department’s grant-funded investigation into Quality Matters, a project for which I was the PI. However, this paper was masterfully shepherded by Angela Murillo, who is a colleague of mine. I am thankful for her efforts on the grant project and this publication.
A preprint of the article is accessible in my OSF repository (NOTE: OSF has marked my respository as spam as of June 5th, 2020; it should be fixed shortly) as well as in my SSRN repository. We expect the published version to go live this summer.
