91猎奇

QM Certified Courses

San Jose State Quality Matters Certified Courses

Quality Matters promotes a peer review process and provides a database of qualified QM Peer Reviewers eligible for assignment to a peer review team. Courses that successfully meet the QM Rubric Standards in an official (Subscriber-Managed or QM-Managed) course review are eligible for QM recognition. San Jose State University has subscribed to the services offered by Quality Matters.

Certified Courses

Faculty Interviews: QM Certification Process

Gain valuable insights into the Quality Matters (QM) certification process from instructors who have successfully completed it and had their courses QM certified. In these interviews, they share their experiences, challenges, and the impact of QM certification on their course design and student outcomes. Discover firsthand how QM certification can elevate the quality of online and blended courses and improve overall student satisfaction.  Explore the full interviews below:

• Roni Abusaad, Ph.D  

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    Roni Abusaad, Ph.D
    Department of Justice Studies

    What motivated you to seek Quality Matters certification?

    I've been teaching online since 2016 and had taken a number of professional development courses on online pedagogy. I found the Quality Matters approach to be very rigorous and helpful in taking theory to actionable steps that I could use to improve my courses. After making many updates to my courses over the past several years. I was excited to take on the challenge of meeting the standards to have the course be certified.

    Were there any memorable challenges or 鈥渁ha!鈥� moments during the QM certification process?

    What has been most helpful and what I've now implemented in all of my courses is developing a very strong and clear course map matching the readings and videos and activities with the learning outcomes. This is the piece that has done the most to truly improve the student experience and learning.

    The biggest surprise and challenge in this process was the sheer amount of work that it took to make the course fully accessible, including updating about 100 documents and ensuring all of the videos had accurate captions, including external videos that I assign. I'm deeply committed to this, and I'm happy that the course is accessible, including to students who have auditory and visual impairments who have since taken my course. It鈥檚 a lot of time-consuming work and can get technical to make all documents accessible. This is a key area where the university could invest more in support, such as student aides or others who could help with documents.

    Do you have any tips or advice for colleagues considering quality enhancement in their courses?

    Adapting to teaching online requires you to get creative and intentional about your pedagogy. This process has helped me become a better instructor, and not just for my online courses. Their QM certification is a major commitment, but you benefit a lot from it, especially the personal attention and mentorship from the 91猎奇 team.

• Kathleen Normington, M.A.  

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    Kathleen Normington, M.A.
    Associate Chair
    Theatre Arts, Dept. of Film and Theatre

    Watch the Kathleen Normington interview:

     

    What motivated you to seek Quality Matters certification?

    I wanted to challenge myself to create an online theatre class that was engaging but academically rigorous. I hadn't found any online courses that had those qualities and wondered if it was possible for a performing arts course to be fully online and still be creative and collaborative. I also knew that not all students had the same resources, and an equitable online class became extremely important to me. I saw that there were no arts courses in the QM-certified courses here at 91猎奇. I wanted to see if it was possible.

    Were there any memorable challenges or 鈥渁ha!鈥� moments during the QM certification process?

    I saw that just putting up interesting readings or assignments was not sufficient for student success. They needed my presence. I realized that you need to be there in the online environment. I also learned that flexibility is crucial. Both flexibility and choice in assignments and other tasks but flexibility with our students in other ways due to connection issues, etc. I appreciated 91猎奇's guidance, and my reviewers' response was extremely helpful. My course will always be evolving.

    Do you have any tips or advice for colleagues considering quality enhancement in their courses?

    All of us need to realize that creating and teaching online courses requires a different skill set from in-person or synchronous online teaching. It was work, but I felt that by doing this work, I became a stronger, more flexible instructor in any teaching environment.

• Robin L. Whitney, PhD, RN  

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    Robin L. Whitney, PhD, RN
    Associate Professor
    DNP Program Coordinator
    The Valley Foundation School of Nursing

    What motivated you to seek Quality Matters certification?

    I coordinate a fully online and asynchronous graduate program. Staying up to date on best practices for online learning is really important to make sure that our courses are high quality and accessible for students. I have taken several QM courses over the years and made small improvements to my courses over time, so I thought pursuing QM certification was a logical next step.

    
    Were there any memorable challenges or 鈥渁ha!鈥� moments during the QM certification process?

    
    As many improvements and changes as I had made over previous semesters, preparing my course for certification was still quite a bit of work! I think going through the certification process challenges you to look at your course with fresh eyes and consider exactly what each module and assignment contributes to the course.

     
    Do you have any tips or advice for colleagues considering quality enhancement in their courses?

    
    It really helped to take some of the individual QM courses first before pursuing certification, so I would encourage others to do the same. Each course I have taken has introduced me to a new student engagement tool or idea to improve accessibility. Even if you have been teaching online for a while, you can always learn new tips and tricks! 

Interest in Course Certification

If you are interested in having your course certified, please read about , which provides course preparation guidelines and the steps in an Official QM-Managed Course Review. Prior to completing a course review application, please contact 91猎奇 eCampus at ecampus@sjsu.edu for next steps for a 91猎奇 QM Course Review. 

An official course review must meet the following criteria:

• Use of current QM Standards
• Review of online or blended (hybrid) course
• Three-person peer review team
• All reviewers are eligible QM-Certified Peer Reviewers
• At least one reviewer is external to the institution submitting the course
• At least one reviewer is designated as subject matter expert
• Team Chair is a QM Master Reviewer