Quality Matters™ Implementation Plan
Institution-Level Recognition
3-Year Plan
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Introduction
About Excelsior College
Excelsior College was founded in 1971 as the external degree program of the New York
State Board of Regents. In 1998, the Board of Regents granted the College (then known
as Regents College) an absolute charter to operate as a private, nonprofit, independent
college. As are all accredited colleges in the state, Excelsior College is a member of The
University of the State of New York. Today, the College is governed by a board of
trustees comprised of individuals from across the United States who are prominent in the
fields of business, education, government, and the professions.
A leader in online and distance learning, Excelsior College awards degrees at the
associate and baccalaureate levels in liberal arts, nursing, business, technology, and
health sciences, and at the master’s level in business, cybersecurity, liberal studies, and
nursing. Certificate programs are also offered by the School of Business & Technology,
School of Health Sciences, School of Liberal Arts, and School of Nursing. More than
140,000 persons have earned degrees from Excelsior College.
Excelsior College offers approximately 450 online courses for college credit through the
following schools: School of Business & Technology: 150 courses; School of Health
Sciences: 50 courses; School of Liberal Arts: 200 courses; and School of Nursing: 25
courses. Each year Online Education and Learning Services (OELS) has the capacity to
develop and design approximately 120 courses.
Excelsior College’s Mission Statement
The mission of Excelsior College is to provide educational opportunity to adult learners
with an emphasis on those historically underrepresented in higher education. The College
meets students where they are - academically and geographically, offering quality
instruction and the assessment of learning.
Goals and Objectives
Incorporating Quality Matters™
Excelsior College is committed to quality in online instruction. Excelsior College
became a Quality MattersTM subscriber in June 2011 and has worked diligently to
incorporate Quality MattersTM into all phases of its course design processes.
The goal of Excelsior College is to establish uniformity and standardization in online
course design across all online courses. Excelsior College will use the Quality MattersTM
rubric as the basis of decisions regarding standardization and uniformity in course design.
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The Plan
Excelsior College has established a single plan that outlines Quality MattersTM
implementation for the institution consisting of four schools: School of Business &
Technology, School of Health Sciences, School of Liberal Arts, and School of Nursing.
Excelsior College has developed a three-year institution-level plan that outlines the
Quality MattersTM implementation for all of Excelsior College. The college has allocated
funds to support each aspect of the plan.
The elements of the plan include:
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Quality MattersTM infrastructure
Training Plan
Integration of Quality MattersTM Standards into Course Development
Course Reviews
Quality MattersTM Oversight
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Appointed two Institutional Representatives responsible for managing the Excelsior
College Quality MattersTM program.
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Established a Quality MattersTM Committee with 18 representatives from across the
college charged with utilizing the Quality MattersTM rubric to facilitate standardization
and uniformity in course design across the college in order to obtain Quality MattersTM
recognition.
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Members of the Quality MattersTM Committee are:
 Program Director, Liberal Arts
 Director of Online Course Management, Business and Technology
 Assistant Director for Liberal Arts Courses
 Assistant Dean-School of Nursing
 Graduate Nursing Online Coordinator
 Instructional Designer, OELS
 Dean of Online Education and Learning Services
 Assistant Dean and Director-Online Courses, Liberal Arts
 Dean of the School of Business and Technology
 Director of Faculty Development and Support
 Faculty Program Director, Health Sciences
 Instructional Designer, OELS
 Director of Outcomes Assessment
 Nursing Faculty-Masters
 Instructional Designer, OELS
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Program Director, Liberal Arts
Instructional Designer, OELS
Administrative Assistant, OELS
Training Plan
Required Training
Applying the Rubric Training:
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Goal: All Excelsior College Deans, Associate Deans, Assistant Deans, Faculty Program
Directors, and Instructional Designers will be required to attend the Applying the Rubric
Training
Peer Reviewer Certification Training:
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Goal: To have 16 certified peer reviewers on staff at Excelsior College
o Each of the four Excelsior College schools will train two FPDs to become
Quality MattersTM Peer Reviewers (eight total)
o IDs in the Online Education and Learning Services area will become Quality
MattersTM Peer Reviewers (eight total)
Master Reviewer Training:
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Goal: To have five Master Reviewers at Excelsior College
o Each of the four Excelsior College schools will select one Peer Reviewer to
become a Master Reviewer
o One Instructional Designer from Online Education and Learning Services will be
selected to become a Master Reviewer
Train the Trainer Certification:
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Goal: To have a certified Quality MattersTM trainer at Excelsior College to conduct the
Applying the Quality MattersTM Rubric Training on-site for new employees
o The Director of Faculty Development and Support will be selected to become the
institution’s trainer for the Applying the Rubric training
Supplemental Training
Training beyond the basic Applying the Rubric training will be made available to Faculty
Program Directors and Instructional Designers as needed to expand knowledge of Quality
MattersTM principles.
Although the below training is not scheduled in years one-three of the implementation
plan, Faculty Program Directors and Instructional Designers are encouraged to attend the
following courses, as needed:
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Build Your Online Course
Improve Your Online Course
Individual Standards Training
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Standard 1: Design that Welcomes Your Students
Standard 2: Create Measureable Learning Objectives
Standard 4/5: Link Instructional Materials & Learner Engagement
Standard 6: Chose and Use Media Effectively
o Standard 8: Addressing Accessibility
Integration of Quality Matters TM standards into Course
Development
Excelsior College has taken steps to integrate Quality MattersTM standards into all aspects
of the course development process. The college has standardized all course development
using three templates that incorporate elements of the Quality Matters TM rubric. Faculty
Program Directors and Subject Matter Experts are required to outline and structure their
courses based on the parameters set forth in the templates. Courses are built by an
Instructional Designer who works with the Faculty Program Directors and Subject Matter
Experts to ensure that all template requirements have been satisfied and are executed
appropriately.
The three course development templates that have been modified to meet the Quality
MattersTM standards are:
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Blackboard 9 Course Development Shell
Syllabus Template
Module Development Template
A detailed guide outlining the requirements for course development has been created to
accompany each of the three templates.
All Excelsior College online courses will utilize the same format which has been
designed to meet the instructional design standards of Quality MattersTM. All course
elements are the same from course-to-course, with limited exceptions.
Blackboard 9 Course Development Shell
The Blackboard 9 Course Development Shell is the Excelsior College standardized
course shell used to develop online courses in the Blackboard course management
system.
As part of the course management system transition from WebCT Vista to Blackboard 9,
Excelsior College has redesigned its Course Development Shell to meet the Quality
MattersTM standards. Upon college-wide implementation of Blackboard 9, all newly
created courses and courses that require major revision/redesign will use the “Quality
Matters TM version” of the Course Development shell.
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The Blackboard 9 Course Development Shell contains the following standardization:
 Navigation
o Homepage (contains the Modules -see below)
o Attendance
o Course information (linked to Start Here Area-see below)
o Announcements
o Course Tools
 Assessments
 Assignments
 Discussions
 My Messages
 My Grades
 Calendar
 Chat
 Groups
o Learning Resources
 Excelsior College Library
 Video Tutorials
 Free Tutoring
 Support and Help
 Start Here Area
o Start Here document (contains first steps, module elements)
o Syllabi (see Syllabus Template)
o Introductions (Discussion area)
o Excelsior College Policies
 ADA Policy/Statement
o Student Services
o Where do I go from here?
Syllabus Template
The Syllabus Template is the Excelsior College standardized template used to develop
course syllabi for all online courses. As a companion to the Syllabus Template, an
instruction document, “Instructions for Subject Matter Experts on the Excelsior College
Syllabus Template”, was created to provide instructions for syllabus creation.
All course syllabi will be developed to include the following elements of the Syllabus
Template:
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Course ID and Title
Instructor Information
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Course Information
o Description
o Prerequisites
o Outline
Course Outcomes
Materials
Course Schedule
Grading
o Policy
o Grade Weights
o Rubrics
Course Requirements
o Activities
o Assignment Requirements
o Attendance and Participation
o Formatting and Style for Written Assignments
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Instructor Participation
 Response times for grading, email, etc.
Policies
 ADA Policy/Statement
Academic Unit Policies
Module Development Template
The Module Development Template is the Excelsior College standardized module shell
used to develop course modules for all online courses.
All course modules are developed based on the parameters of the Module Development
Template. Each course will be designed, with limited deviation, based on a standard 8module design. Each course module will include the following elements of the Module
Development Template:
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Module Information
o Module title and number
o Overview
o Module Outcomes
 Aligned with Course Outcomes
o Learning Assessment and Activities
Module Notes
o Title
o Introduction
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o Notes
o Segue to Next Learning Activity
Activity Areas (includes Instructional Materials)
o Introduction to Activity
o Introduction to Learner
o Evaluation
o Course programming section for course builders
o Segue to Next Learning Activity
Module Wrap-up
Course Reviews
Excelsior College has endorsed the use of Quality Matters TM -managed, informal and
independent Quality Matters TM course reviews. The training plan will position the
college to conduct both informal and independent course reviews.
Quality MattersTM Managed Course Reviews
The institution will identify one model course from each school that represents the
Excelsior College course design standard (four total). Each model course will be
submitted for a Quality MattersTM-managed course review.
Feedback from the course review will be used to update the Excelsior College design
templates to ensure all future courses are designed to meet the Quality Matters TM
standards.
Informal Course Reviews
The informal course review process will also apply to any course that deviates from the
standard Excelsior College templates. This represents a small number of courses, for
example, the capstone.
All newly created courses and courses that require major redesign will undergo an
informal course review by an experienced Excelsior College peer reviewer prior to
offering the course. All newly created courses or courses undergoing major revision
must meet the 21 essential standards prior to delivery. Informal course reviews will be
conducted by one Faculty Program Director or Instructional Designer who did not
previously do work on the course.
Independent Course Reviews
Excelsior College will begin its official, independent Quality MattersTM course review
process in year two. Each school will identify a collection of courses to undergo an
independent course review managed by the Excelsior College Quality Matters TM
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Institutional Representative. The course review schedule will be developed at the
beginning of each year by the dean of the school.
Publicizing Quality MattersTM Recognition
Publicity Statement
Upon Quality Matters TM recognition of the Excelsior College Implementation Plan at the
Institutional-Level, this statement will be used for publicity purposes:
Excelsior College is committed to implementing the Quality MattersTM standards
for the design of online courses. Excelsior College is systematically developing
and evaluating its online courses based on these rigorous, research-based
standards. The Quality MattersTM standards ensure that the online components of
these courses promote learner engagement and provide students with the tools
and information they require to be successful learners. Further information
regarding Quality MattersTM may be found at www.qmprogram.org.
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