Preparing for a Quality Matters Publisher Course Review
Quality Matters Publisher course reviews are designed to evaluate online and blended publisher courses that
have been created to serve as core courses as well as supplements to the classroom instruction. Publishers
committed to the continuous improvement of their online courses would benefit from the feedback on these
courses from a QM review.
How do I prepare a course for review?
Preparation is the key to a successful and smooth course review. The following checklist can help you
determine if a course is ready to be submitted for review.
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Has the course developer had time to review the Quality Matters Publisher Rubric and make
modifications before the review?
Developers that are prepared for a Quality Matters review have better outcomes and get more
out of the review process.
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Does the publisher course developer need to submit a completed course for review?
QM prefers to review fully developed courses.
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Are the course-level outcomes specified and are there module/unit objectives for each of the course
module/units?
Course and module/unit objectives for the course set the standards and conditions for student
learning and are critical to a successful review outcome. If these are not listed in the course,
please include the objectives that guided the course design on the online Publisher Course
Worksheet.
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Are the course-level and module/unit-level objectives measurable?
The lack of measurable objectives is among the most frequently missed standards. Please
reference the "Helpful Hundred" and Bloom's Taxonomy of Intellectual Behaviors, as these are
very helpful in constructing and analyzing your learning objectives.
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Does the course provide a rich array of assessment instruments from which the instructor may select?
Publisher courses should have authoritative content, sophisticated multi-media, and tools to aid
the instructor as well as the student.
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Is there a flexible gradebook provided?
While the publisher cannot determine the standards for assigning specific grades, the instructor
should be able to customize the gradebook to reflect the grading standards and policies of his or
her institution.
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Can instructors customize publisher content and do students' have the ability to manage their learning
process?
The instructor should have the ability to customize or modify the provided content. Students
should have the capability to manage their own process as this could potentially improve student
learning.
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Does the course provide opportunities for students to interact with the content, other students, and the
instructor?
Provide tools to implement features for student-to-content, student-to-instructor, and studentto-student interaction.
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Can the review team see and experience the course as a student, as well as an instructor, would?
Because the review team will be reviewing the course from the student perspective and
instructor perspective, they should be provided student-level and teacher-level or design-level
access in a course clone or shell.
What kind of course access does the review team need?
Because the review team will be reviewing the course from the student perspective and instructor perspective,
they should be provided student-level and teacher-level or design-level access in a course clone or shell.
Reviewers should not be provided access to a live course with student activity and information. The most
recent archive of the course under review, with steps taken to ensure student privacy rights, is a common way
to provide access to the review team.
How do I submit a course for review?
After ensuring the course is ready, submit a Publisher Course Review Application. To submit an application for
a review:
1. Access QM’s Course Review Management System (CRMS)
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Go to https://qualitymatters.org/
Select the Educational Publishing Program tab
From the right side menu, choose Higher Education Publisher >>Course Reviews>>Course Review
Application
Sign in to your MyQM account
- OR -
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Log into MyQM at http://www.qmprogram.org/MyQM
Select the Publisher Program tab
Choose Course Review Management System (CRMS) from the blue menu along the top of the screen
2. In the Course Review Management System (CRMS):
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If you accessed the CRMS from the Website, select the Publisher Program tab
- OR If you accessed the CRMS via MyQM, choose Start a Review Application
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Enter your Publisher name to locate your organization
Complete the next two organization and course contact questions
Choose the appropriate Review Type
Enter the Course Number
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Enter the Course Name
Enter a Brief Course Description
Select the appropriate Content Management System or “Other”
Choose the appropriate Course Subject
Once this is completed, the selected Course Representative will be able to view the status of the review at all
times through the CRMS.
Once a course is submitted, what is the review process?
The review process includes the following steps that are completed sequentially:
Pre-Review
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Once the application is submitted in the Course Review Management System (CRMS), the review
coordinator will notify the Course Representative to go online to fill out the Publisher Course
Worksheet. The CRMS will notify the participants for required actions as the review progresses.
The Course Representative must provide the review team with appropriate access to the course.
(Please note that this information is not provided to Quality Matters). The Course Representative
participates in a mandatory Pre-Review conference call with at least the chair reviewer, to answer
any questions reviewers may have about the upcoming publisher course review and the worksheet
information provided.
Review Period
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The review is scheduled for a 4-6 week review period, which includes approximately 3 weeks of
actual review time in addition to pre- and post-review conference calls.
Once the final report is drafted, the team chair will submit the final report and the Course
Representative will be notified of the outcome.
Post-Review
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The Course Representative notifies QM of his or her intentions through the Review Outcome
Response Form - to have the course recognized if it met standards or to submit an amendment if it
did not yet meet standards. The Course Representative is notified of the date the amendment is
due (within 20 weeks of the start date of the course review).
The team chair reviews and approves the changes to the course. Once standards are met, Quality
Matters recognition is provided to the Course Representative, and the course is listed on the QM
Recognized Courses website page.