Quality Matters Impact Program - Call to Participate

The Quality Matters Impact program formally recognizes courses that meet Quality Matters (QM) standards and demonstrate exemplary online/hybrid course design. An extension of the award-winning PIVOT program, the call for participation in the Quality Matters Impact program is open now for the upcoming academic year with reviews scheduled in fall, spring, or summer. 

Using the 6th edition of the QM Higher Education Rubric, a formal QM course review is a collegial process to provide helpful recommendations for continuous improvement and reinforce effective, research-based practices for online and hybrid course design.

A QM course review provides independent validation of quality, learner-focused course design. As of May 2022, five of the seven courses in the University System of Maryland certified by Quality Matters are taught by UMBC faculty. A course achieves QM Certification when it meets QM Rubric Standards at the 85% threshold or better and meets all Essential Standards. QM certification is valid for five years.

DoIT's Instructional Technology team manages the QM review process and facilitates the fully online, asynchronous Applying the Quality Matters Rubric workshop designed to help instructors prepare for a QM course review.

When a course is deemed having met QM standards, the instructor is eligible to display the QM Certification Mark on the syllabus or within the course itself. To maintain QM certification, and be listed on QM's website, courses may be re-certified for an additional three years or officially reviewed again.

Eligibility for full and part-time faculty

1. You have taught your course as online or hybrid for at least two semesters at UMBC.
2. You have proficiency with Blackboard by your ability to demonstrate the skills in at least six of the eight Skill Builder themes for Blackboard in a current or prior online or hybrid course.

Faculty who meet the eligibility criteria are encouraged to apply by June 30, 2022 for early consideration and feedback. All QMI applications are due no later than July 31, 2022.

Applicants may choose one of two review types:

• QM Review: Full certification review with external reviewers.
• QM Essentials: A partial review completed internally using QM's 23 Essential Standards.

Inclusion Criteria

Faculty accepted into the QMI cohort agree to participate in the following activities:

• Attend a 45-minute orientation session (TBD)
• Complete the Applying the Quality Matters Rubric (APPQMR) asynchronous workshop (2 weeks, fully online July 12 - 26 or TBD January 2023)
• Or, if you have successfully completed the APPQMR workshop, you will complete a Self-Review of the course you will take through the review process
• Complete a QM self-review of your course (recommended)
• Attend a pre-review conference call with your assigned review team as QM course review windows are fixed: Once assigned, there are limited opportunities to reschedule.
• Implement recommendations to meet QM standards based on helpful suggestions from your assigned review team
• Respond to both a QM survey and a QMI survey after the course review has concluded  
• Participate on a future panel or record a testimonial about your experience

Each accepted QMI applicant will be assigned an Instructional Design Specialist to answer Quality Matters questions and support your course prep for the QM review.

Application Requirements 

An application to participate in the Quality Matters Impact program must include both course-level objectives and unit-level objectives.

Ready to submit? Please complete the QMI application.

• For early consideration, submit an application by June 30.
• All QMI applications must be submitted by July 31. 

Questions? Please reach out to one of the QM coordinators for UMBC:

Dr. Mariann Hawken, Director, Instructional Technology, mariannhawken@umbc.edu

Dr. Susan Biro, Manager, Online Learning, sbiro@umbc.edu