Quality Matters
Quality Matters (QM) is a faculty-centered, peer review process designed to certify the quality of online courses and online components. Quality Matters has generated widespread interest and has become a national standard in its peer-based approach to quality assurance and continuous improvement in online education.
Colleges are responsible for covering the costs of QM national training sessions that faculty and staff sign up for through their QM dashboard. However, BGSU Online will cover the cost of all training that is part of the Quality Matters Ohio Consortium.
BGSU is a member of The Quality Matters Ohio Consortium which provides numerous opportunities and a huge discount for professional development to its member institutions. QM Ohio offers Quality Matter’s flagship workshop, Applying the Quality Matters Rubric (APPQMR), as well as their primary workshop for faculty development, Improving Your Online Course (IYOC).
Step 1 -Set up a Free MyQM Account
- Go to the Quality Matters sign-in page at MyQM
- Input email address
- Select “No, I am new here”
- Select Sign In
Step 2 - Search and find out if the Quality Matters Ohio Consortium is offering any upcoming training sessions, whether face to face or online. These sessions are much cheaper than national training sessions.
- The "Applying the Quantity Matters Rubric" (APPQMR) workshop will introduce you to the standards that are used to evaluate courses when they are reviewed. It's also a pre-requisite to becoming a peer reviewer.
- The “Improving Your Online Course” (IYOC) workshop explores the QM Rubric and provides a framework to improve the quality of online courses. Participants use the QM Rubric to review their own online courses and develop a course improvement plan.
Quality Matters™ for Online Courses and Programs at BGSU
What is Quality Matters?
Quality Matters (QM) is a faculty-centered, peer review process designed to certify the quality of online courses and online components. Quality Matters has generated widespread interest and has become a national standard in its peer-based approach to quality assurance and continuous improvement in online education.
- You can submit your course for review
- Become a peer reviewer
- Gain access to lots of great training resources
Quality Matters (QM) provides a means of establishing and implementing peer reviews for online and blended courses. Course reviews, conducted by a team of Quality Matters trained peer reviewers, highlight good design elements and provide feedback on areas of improvement. A course that meets Quality Matters standards is awarded a nationally recognized Quality Matters official recognition.
The QM rubric:
The QM rubric consists of a set of forty specific elements based on research and established standards, by which to evaluate the design of online and blended courses. The web-based, fully interactive rubric is complete with annotations that explain the application of the standards and relationship between them.
Peer reviewing training:
Peer reviewers undergo training to utilize the rubric and review courses. After training, peer reviewers receive a listing in Quality Matters national database of course reviewers. Peer reviewers from the database can participate in QM course reviews state-wide and nationally.
Quality Matters at BGSU and the Ohio Consortium:
BGSU is a founding partner of a state wide consortium of 35 institutions including the Ohio Learning Network, who are implementing Quality Matters for the state of Ohio. BGSU is a peer reviewer training site and hosted the first Ohio Quality Matters training session.
Benefits to Quality Matters:
- Rigorous online and blended course design review helps to ensure the development and delivery of quality courses and programs.
- National recognition for BGSU courses which meet Quality Matters standards.
- Peer reviewer faculty training provides professional development and a national certification for faculty teaching online.
- Peer reviewers can participate with other institutions in Ohio and nationally in online course reviews.
Benefits to being a consortium member:
- Discounted rate on the annual Quality Matters subscription.
- Discounted (or eliminated) rate for a Quality Matters course review.
The Ohio QM consortium has agreed that members of the consortium who become peer reviewers will forgo payment for their services, which will greatly reduce the cost of having a QM course review. - Peer reviewer training in Ohio (typically peer reviewers need to travel to Maryland for training).
Quality Matters Web Sites
Quality Matters training at BGSU
Contact the Office of Online and Summer Academic Programs (OSAP) at osap@bgsu.edu or phone (419) 372-6843 for information.
Updated: 09/12/2023 01:57PM