Project 2 FEA Tool

For the initial proposal, you should address the first three questions: overview, background, and purpose

Overview

In 2012, Stanford University professors Andrew Ng and Daphne Koller were inspired by their experiences offering their Stanford courses online in fall 2011, and soon after left Stanford to launch Coursera. Princeton, Stanford, the University of Michigan and the University of Pennsylvania were the first universities to offer content on the platform.

Coursera courses last approximately four to ten weeks, with one to two hours of video lectures a week. These courses provide quizzes, weekly exercises, peer-graded assignments, and sometimes a final project or exam. Courses are also provided on-demand, in which case users can take their time in completing the course with all the material available at once.

As of February 2017, Coursera had 24 million registered users signed up for its programs and offered more than 2,000 online courses. Coursera is one example, and there are hundreds of other examples.

Many reports estimated the number of students who took at least one of their classes online in 2014 by 18.7 million students, and its predicted that by 2019 at least 50% of all classes will be delivered online! Market value is to reach approximately $325 billion by 2025.

In such competitive market, online courses need to be systematically designed, redesigned, and evaluated. Quality Matters (QM) is a tool that can be used by online courses designers, observers, and students.

Background

Quality Matters began with a small group of colleagues in the Maryl and Online, Inc. (MOL) consortium who were trying to solve a common problem among institutions: how do we measure and guarantee the quality of a course? This question was especially important as institutions began to create a system where they could share available seats in their online courses with other institutions. They needed a way to ensure course quality — that courses would be equivalent for their students, regardless of where the course originated. In 2003 MOL outlined how the Quality Matters program could create a scalable process for course quality assurance and applied for a Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE) grant from the U.S. Department of Education.

Purpose

Quality Matters (QM) is a tool to help institutions continuously improve online and blended learning course quality. The Quality Matters Rubric is a set of 8 general standards and 43 specific standards used to evaluate the design of online and blended courses. These standards were developed and revised based on research and established standards in the fields of instructional design and online learning. The standards can be used to evaluate the design aspect of online and blended courses. They also can be used to guide the design of online and blended courses.

The focus is on transparency and alignment in the course build, with clear connections between the course objectives and the learning design. This rubric also encourages plenty of interactions between the instructor and learners, learners and learners, and learners and the course contents.

The general 8 areas include the following: Course Overview and Introduction, Learning Objectives, Assessment and Measurement, Resources and Materials, Learner Engagement, Course Technology, and Learner Support Accessibility.

This rubric aligns with federal accessibility standards. Critical course components should work together for an aligned learner experience. Some suggest that five core elements should align especially: Learning Objectives, Assessment and Measurement, Resources and Materials, Learner Interaction, and Course Technology.

Image 1: Quality Matters tool. Image source: www.qualitymatters.org/why-quality-matters/process

A quality course is understood to achieve a point score of 85% (with a "Yes" to all 3-point essential standards and 72 or more points overall).

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