Tidewater Community College has adopted Quality Matters, a faculty‐centered, peer review process.
To   support   that   adoption   and   assist   faculty,   especially   those   new   to   online   instruction   or
Quality
Matters, the college adopted this course template developed by the Online Assurance
Quality Committee. It addresses numerous standards from the Quality Matters rubric, especially
Standard 6.3: Navigation throughout the online components of the course is logical, consistent, and efficient.
HIGHLIGHTS OF THE template
NAVIGATION AREA
All Blackboard courses will include the navigation links displayed to the left. The single exception is that faculty must select one of the two “Course Content” items, delete the other, and eliminate the comment within the parentheses (see note below).
The intent is to give students a consistent online experience while supporting faculty in meeting
QM standards.
Faculty may add a maximum of 3 additional buttons to the menu. However, the content contained in any added button must also be included in the required button where prepopulated. For example, a Syllabus button may be added, but the official syllabus must also be located in the designated area of Course
Information.
Several of the areas are pre‐populated with
“placeholders” that help to address standards from Quality Matters. Some placeholders contain information and others are to be populated by the faculty.
Each area is addressed below.

Announcements is the official opening page of the template. It includes announcements identified as important by the instructor.
The Start Here area contains the following placeholders:
 Meet Your Professor – faculty to populate
 Welcome to the Course: Summary of the
Purpose and Structure of the Course – faculty to populate
 Prerequisite Knowledge and Technical
Skills Required for this Course – link to minimum technical skills provided, faculty to add prerequisite knowledge
(often from the official course outline)
 Required Textbook and Instructional
Materials – faculty to populate
 First Steps – faculty to populate
 How to Navigate This Course – faculty to populate
 Netiquette link (faculty may augment as desired)
 Do You Have Any Questions About This
Course?
link to discussion area
 Introduce Yourself to Your Classmates link to Discussion area
The above items are required. Faculty may add additional information as deemed appropriate.
Course Information area contains the following placeholders:
 Syllabus, Schedule, and Course Policies o
Syllabus o
Course Schedule with Official
TCC academic dates o
Grading Policies o
Late or Make‐Up Work Policies for this Course
 Office of Educational Accessibility –
Individuals with Disabilities link
The above items are required. Faculty may add additional information as deemed appropriate.

Example of Folders:
Course Content – the intent of the content area is that all instructional (“content”) material be located in this area. Faculty are to DELETE the unused Course Content menu item and update the item to simply “Course Content” (remove parentheses).
Both Course Content by Units and Weeks are fully loaded (8 Units in “by Units” and 16 weeks in “by Weeks”) with prebuilt learning modules.
Course Content (by Units):
The design of course content addresses QM
General Standards 2 (learning objectives), 3
(Assessment and Measurement), 4
(Instructional Materials) and 5 (Learner
Interaction and Engagement).
Course content includes:
 Power Points
 Podcasts
 Videos
 Documents
 Assignments
 Quizzes
 Information about discussion boards
 Links to assignment discussion

Example of “Week 1” content areas
Course Content (by Weeks):
The design of course content addresses QM
General Standards 2 (learning objectives), 3
(Assessment and Measurement), 4
(Instructional Materials) and 5 (Learner
Interaction and Engagement).
Course content includes:
 Power Points
 Podcasts
 Videos
 Documents
 Assignments
 Quizzes
 Information about discussion boards
 Links to assignment discussion

The Discussions has been pre‐populated with three folders corresponding to the “Learning
Unit” assignments plus the following:
 Class Introductions (Self‐ introductions)
 Water Cooler Forum (may be renamed)
 Open Forum – students ask questions of other students about assignment topics
Not all faculty will want to use these; however, they are available.
For those who prefer to make use of Blogs,
Journals, Collaborate and/or Wikis,
“Discussions” may be turned into a content area with links to each, or into a discussion tool (such as groups or Collaborate) while retaining the name “Discussions .
”

My Grades has a great deal of student support.
It provides a quick link to a topic of significant interest to our students.
Student Services has been populated with links for the following:
 Academic Support for Students folder o
TCC Libraries Information,
Resources and Tutorials folder o
Student Services folder o
TCC Academic Calendars link
 Technical Support for Students folder o
Blackboard Help with link o
Minimum Computer
Requirements and Technical
Skills link o
Wireless Service Access at TCC link
Course Tools includes all Blackboard tools.
 Instructors should hide unused tools

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Website: www.tcc.edu/students/DTLS/faculty
Help Requests: http://www.tcc.edu/students/dtls/faculty/forms.htm
Interactive QM Rubric: http://www.tcc.edu/students/dtls/faculty/faculty_qm_checklist.htm