Understanding Quality Matters: The Organization Behind the Standards
What is Quality Matters?
Quality Matters (QM) is an international, non-profit organization dedicated to promoting and improving the quality of online and blended education across higher education, K-12, and professional development settings. Founded in 2003 through a FIPSE grant, QM provides research-supported standards and processes to help institutions like UAMS deliver on their ‘online promise’ to learners.
QM’s Mission
Helping you deliver on your online promise. (Or, if a more formal statement is preferred: To promote and improve the quality of online education and student learning nationally and internationally through development of current, research-supported quality standards; provision of professional development, course and program review, and certification services; and research on quality assurance practices.)
QM’s Vision
Quality Matters is the global organization leading quality assurance in online and innovative digital teaching and learning environments.
Core Principles of QM
QM’s approach is built on several core principles:
Faculty-Centered
QM processes are designed to be collegial, collaborative, and supportive, empowering faculty with tools and feedback for improvement, rather than being prescriptive or punitive.
Research-Based
The QM Rubrics and review processes are grounded in extensive educational research and established best practices in online and blended learning. QM actively contributes to and utilizes research to ensure standards remain current and effective.
Continuous Improvement
QM fosters a culture of ongoing improvement, focusing on ‘progress, not perfection’. The goal is to help courses achieve a high standard of quality (approximately an 85% level on review scales), signifying a design that is significantly ‘better than good enough’.
Collaborative Community
QM connects a vast network of educators and institutions (over 1,300 members and 100,000 individuals globally) dedicated to sharing knowledge and advancing quality in online education.
What QM is NOT
It’s helpful to understand what Quality Matters is not:
- QM is not about dictating what content you teach; it focuses on the design of your online course to ensure clarity, navigability, and engagement for students.
- A QM review is not an evaluation of your teaching performance or your subject matter expertise. It’s a collaborative, peer-based look at course design elements from a student’s perspective.
- QM is not a rigid, one-size-fits-all mandate. The QM framework is flexible and adaptable to various disciplines, teaching styles, and institutional contexts, including the specialized needs of health sciences education at UAMS.
A Brief History of Quality Matters
QM originated from a practical need identified by MarylandOnline, Inc. (MOL) in 2003: how to ensure quality and equivalency in online courses shared between institutions. A Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE) grant enabled the development of the initial QM Rubric and peer review process. Following the grant period, QM continued within MOL, experiencing significant growth in membership and impact. Recognizing its expanding scope, QM became an independent non-profit organization in 2014, allowing it to broaden its reach and partnerships globally.
Key Offerings of Quality Matters
QM provides a comprehensive system for quality assurance:
Rubrics & Standards
QM offers rigorously developed, research-based rubrics that serve as the ‘gold standard’ for evaluating the design of online and blended courses and programs. UAMS primarily utilizes the QM Higher Education Rubric.
Peer Review Process
QM facilitates a robust peer review process involving trained faculty reviewers who provide objective, constructive feedback to improve course design and potentially lead to QM Certification.
Professional Development
QM offers a wide array of workshops, courses, and certifications designed to strengthen faculty expertise in online course design, teaching, and quality assurance principles. Examples include the foundational ‘Applying the QM Rubric’ workshop and specialized topics like Universal Design for Learning.
QM’s Credibility and Adaptability
QM’s credibility is built on its widespread adoption by diverse institutions worldwide and its unwavering commitment to research-based practices. Importantly, QM is not a rigid, one-size-fits-all solution. It is designed to be flexible and adaptable to the unique context, resources, structure, and disciplinary needs of institutions like UAMS, including our specialized programs in the health sciences.