At the University of Arizona Global Campus, quality does matter.
Commensurate with the University of Arizona Global Campus's mission to provide "high quality learning opportunities and degree programs" multiple assessment initiatives are underway to support course development and other improvements to the learning environment that support this purpose.
Quality Matters
The Quality Matters (QM) external review process is used to achieve standardized, quality curriculum design and incorporate research, national best practices benchmarking, and external peer review as quality management resources. Quality Matters is a faculty-centered, peer review process that examines 40 specific course design elements, under eight broad standards, to assess the quality of online and hybrid courses and the alignment of critical course components. The University of Arizona Global Campus is the first university in the nation to be recognized by Quality Matters for its institutional-level implementation plan.
Through the use of quality standards documented by Quality Matters, the University of Arizona Global Campus has intentionally woven into the fabric of instruction best practices in online instructional design. Courses must include well-defined, measurable learning outcomes. All courses are designed to ensure that outcomes are appropriate, that all components align with and support the learning outcomes, and that the courses reflect a cognitive level appropriate to the subject matter and course level within the curriculum.
As part of our commitment to Quality Matters standards, the University of Arizona Global Campus is seeking programmatic certification for its academic programs. Programs are eligible to be certified in four key areas: Online Program Design, Online Teaching Support, Online Learner Support, and Online Learner Success. As part of the programmatic certification process for Program Design, all faculty engaged in curriculum development must be current with certification in the Applying the QM Rubric workshop and three courses within each program must be current with course certification through a formal external review process while the rest of the courses within the program must undergo an internal Quality Matter review. As of June 24, 2022, all programs from the University of Arizona Global Campus are certified as meeting the requirements for the Online Teaching Support certification. As of October 30, 2023, all programs from the University of Arizona Global Campus are certified as meeting the requirements for the Online Learner Support certification.
Waypoint Outcomes
Essential to the University of Arizona Global Campus's Learning Outcomes Assessment Plan is the incorporation of Waypoint Outcomes, an electronic grading rubric and assessment data-gathering tool which is integrated with the learning management system. There are two central features of Waypoint. The first is the significant improvement in quality of feedback to students from their instructors. Using a strategically designed rubric with well-defined evaluation criteria and optional editable feedback, instructors can quickly and efficiently grade papers while still providing robust and meaningful feedback to students. The other important feature is the ability of this tool to gather data on how well students are meeting course, program, institutional, and other learning outcomes. Each individual criterion in a grading rubric is mapped to one or more outcomes.