What is Quality Matters+ at Ball State?

As Quality Matters certified-peer reviewers, our instructional consultants offer Quality Matters+ (QM+) internal reviews at no cost. Courses that pass a rigorous, internal QM+ review receive a digital Ball State QM+ badge to display in their online course. An internal review is a planned, ongoing, and collaborative process to inform improvement of course design.

Learn more about the Quality Matters organization, including their vision and commitment to maintaining quality assurance in online learning.

The Quality Matters+ Internal Review Process

A Quality Matters+ (QM+) review of a mature course typically takes 6 to 8 weeks, considering the back-and-forth communications and revisions between the course instructor and our instructional consultant team. The QM+ Rubric assesses the following eight areas of a course:

  • Course Overview and Introduction
  • Learning Objectives
  • Assessment and Measurement
  • Instructional Materials
  • Learner Activities and Learner Interaction
  • Course Technology
  • Learner Support
  • Accessibility and Usability

Instructors can access a 1-page, abbreviated Quality Matters Rubric (PDF) from the Quality Matters website. We have also created a Ball State QM+ Rubric (PDF) that includes relevant examples of how instructors can achieve these standards. Courses must earn 85 points or higher to earn their digital Ball State QM+ badge.

The ‘+’ in Quality Matters: A Customized Review

What is the “+” in QM+? A custom, internal Ball State QM+ review assesses quality in course design and online course delivery. One way we help put the “+” into Quality Matters is by inviting instructors to meet with our director of faculty development to dive deeper into your teaching practice.

We provide opportunities to reflect on the outcomes of new teaching strategies in a variety of ways:

  • Participate in our Midterm Feedback Service, which gives students in the instructor’s course an opportunity to share their reflections, such as suggestions for the instructor as well as what they can do to improve their own learning to achieve the learning objectives—before the end of the course.
  • Join a Peer Review of Teaching cohort and gain feedback from fellow educators
  • Take advantage of highly personalized consultation time dedicated to active learning and engagement at large.

Comprehensive Program or Departmental Review

Program directors and department chairs can coordinate a comprehensive program review with our QM+ Rubric, especially if a program has recently been approved as an online, asynchronous or hybrid/mixed modality program. To coordinate a program or departmental review, contact our instructional consultant team at strategiclrn@bsu.edu.

Where to Begin: The Course Development Process

We invite instructors to begin the course development process in collaboration with our review team. We recommend completing a revision or new development of a course to meet the QM+ Standards via stages, as small changes can spur significant impact on student learning. Breaking up the development in stages incorporates multiple points of feedback, revisions, and reflection until the course design is complete, which can take three months to a year, depending on the state of the course. Once an instructor develops and then teaches a course online for at least one semester, we invite the instructor to submit a request for a QM+ internal course review.

Recommended Stages

  • Stage I: Modify or develop course and module-level objectives
  • Stage II: Modify or create assessments, learning activities, and content with accessibility in mind
  • Stage III: Modify or develop a welcome module, including a syllabus, course schedule, and welcome video

Contact our instructional consultant team at strategiclrn@bsu.edu to facilitate a QM+ review, or to jumpstart your course development plan.