Fanshawe College has adopted Quality Matters™ (QM) Standards to improve and maintain quality and consistency in our online and blended courses.
Quality Matters™ (QM) as an overarching quality assurance framework for e-Learning and has been adopted by Fanshawe as well as post-secondary institutions across North America. In practice, QM is a set of quality standards for online and blended course design, a faculty-centered peer review process for online and blended courses, a tool used by instructional design staff in their work with faculty, and a professional development opportunity for both faculty and staff.
Many of the elements of the QM framework can also be applied to the measurement of quality for traditional face-to-face (web-enhanced) courses. QM is a companion to Fanshawe’s set of core teaching competencies that guide the opportunities to support faculty member, and which reflect quality standards that adhere to the Ministry of Advanced Education and Skills Development (MAESD) standards for measuring effective teaching.
QM's Mission is to:
- Promote and improve the quality of online education and student learning nationally and internationally through:
- Development of current, research-supported, and practice-based quality standards and appropriate evaluation tools and procedures.
- Recognition of expertise in online education quality assurance and evaluation.
- Fostering a culture of continuous improvement by integrating QM standards and processes into organizational plans to improve the quality of online education.
- Providing professional development in the use of rubrics, tools and practices to improve the quality of online education.
- Peer review and certification of quality in online education.