Purpose
The Quality Assurance e-Learning Design Standards are intended to provide a measure of quality assurance for online courses in order to serve the needs of Penn State students. These standards are directed to departments and colleges that wish to share online courses with other campuses or with students external to a Penn State geographic location via Penn State’s World Campus or the Digital Learning Cooperative. The standards reflect the research-based Quality Matters Rubric of known indicators of quality.
Acknowledgements: This resource was created by Penn Ralston-Berg, Amy Kuntz, Donna Bayer, Danielle Harris, Brett Bixler, and Renee Ford.
Summary
This document specifies 8 quality assurance standards for Penn State online courses.
Standard 1: Course Overview and Introduction
Students have access to a course overview, foundational course information, and requirements they need to know about the course as they get started.
Standard 2: Learning Objectives
The course contains course and module-level learning objectives that describe what learners will know or be able to do by the end of the course. These objectives align with the assessments, materials, activities, and tools used in the course.
Standard 3: Assessment and Measurement
A variety of course assessments measure how well students have achieved the learning objectives and allow learners to track their progress.
Standard 4: Instructional Materials
The instructional materials support learners in completing learning activities and in achieving the learning objectives.
Standard 5: Learning Activities and Learner Interaction
The learning activities are supported with clear instructions, facilitate regular and substantive learner interaction with the course instructor and peers, and promote active learning and engagement. Penn State has also created a more detailed resource on Regular and Substantive Interaction to supplement this standard.
Standard 6: Course Technology
Selected technologies enable learners in achieving the learning objectives and completing learning activities.
Standard 7: Learner Support
Support services including course support, technical support, accessibility services, academic support, and student services are prominently located in the course.
Standard 8: Accessibility and Usability
The course is easily navigated and accessible through the availability of alternative materials and media to facilitate use by all learners.
Suggested best practices and resources for additional information are also included with each standard.
Assumptions
The standards outlined in this document were designed for those courses that have a WEB classification. These standards may also apply to courses delivered via face-to-face format with online components or other modalities.
Although students may connect to the online course via a variety of bandwidths, the minimum technology connection considered for these standards is a high-speed connection.
Students participating in online courses may be geographically dispersed and may not have access to a local Penn State campus.
Procedures
At a minimum, the Penn State Quality Assurance e-Learning Design Standards are to be used to review online courses that are to be delivered via Penn State World Campus or the Digital Learning Cooperative. The academic unit providing each course will be responsible for assuring that their online course meets all eight standards. It is up to that academic unit to determine how they wish to implement these standards for their online courses.
These standards will be reviewed and adjusted with the release of the revised Quality Matters Rubric which occurs approximately every three years.
These standards are adapted from the research-based Quality Matters Higher Education Rubric of Standards for Course Design for Online & Blended Courses.
Penn State has a full subscription to Quality Matters. Visit the QM@PSU website for more detailed strategies for QM-based course design and the use of Quality Matters at Penn State.
Page Contact: Penny Ralston-Berg