Common Problem Areas of Online Course Design and Course Review

摘要

The rapid growth of online courses demands a standard and systematic way to validate its quality for both external and internal constituents.As the best recognized online course review system in the United States, QualityMatters (QM) provides a set standards that address primarily matters of the design and organization of the online materials for fully online and hybrid courses.In addition to a quantified measurement of course quality, the system can be used as guidance for course design and to certain extend, point of alert for common problem areas or challenging elements. This paper presents an analysis of QM course review reports of 47 online and hybrid courses offered by DePaul University.By compiling the scores received in the course review, it brings out the areas that have the highest unmet rate as well as the elements that are hard for reviewers to reach consensus.It also explores ways to address the design and review challenges raised in the research.