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Course Certification Process

Course Certification Process by UL Lafayette Online

Course Selection

Courses are selected for the QM Subscriber-Managed course review process based on the following priorities:

  1. Course is part of a major/program curriculum for a fully-online (or fully-hybrid) degree program.

    or

  2. Course supports a fully-online (or fully-hybrid) degree program (such as a general education course, or an elective).

    and

  3. Course must have been taught at least twice.

Review Teams

Course review teams for the QM Subscriber-Managed course review process are coordinated by the QM Coordinator or QM Course Revew Manager for the university. These teams consist of three members with the following qualifications:

  1. Peer Reviewer: Completed APPQMR and Peer Reviewer course. Taught a for-credit online or hybrid course within the last 18 months.
  2. External Reviewer and Subject Matter Expert: Complete APPQMR and Peer Reviewer course. Taught a for-credit online or hybrid course within the last 18 months. A subject-matter expert appropriate for the course under review.
  3. Team Chair: Completed APPQMR, Peer Reviewer course, and Master Reviewer course. Served as reviewer on two official Higher Education QM-Managed or Subscriber-Managed course reviews. Taught a for-credit online or hybrid course within the last 18 months.

Members of review teams have access to the Quality Matters Course Review Management System (CRMS) and the cloned copy of the course in Moodle.

Review Process & Timeline

There are several review cycles throughout the calendar year. Once courses have been identified for a given review cycle, the following process begins:

  • Course Representative is enrolled in ODL 400 as part of a cohort of instructors for the semester review cycle
  • Course Representative supplies link to the Moodle course to be reviewed
  • Course Review Manager clones the course and removes student data
  • Course Review Manager or the Course Representative submit the review application
  • Course Representative completes the Course Worksheet
  • Pre-Review call for Course Representative and Team Chair (reviewers are encouraged to attend)
  • Reviewers begin simultaneous reviews (3 weeks)
  • Post Review Call (Team Chair, Peer Reviewer, SME)
  • Course Review Manager meets with Course Representative about recommendations
  • Course Representative makes course revisions (14 weeks)
  • Team Chair reviews and approves revisions
  • QM closes the review and provides course certification. Course certification is valid for up to 5 years.

Faculty Incentives

  1. A department may award a $1,000 Course Improvement Stipend for completing improvements needed to earn the QM course certification.
  2. The course receives a QM Certification Mark indicating that the course has met Quality Matters Standards.