The Higher Learning Commission's Academic Quality Improvement Program

For me, this seems to be the Spring of peer review. In February, MCLI launched the Maricopa Quality Matters Peer-Reviewer Program and in March (over the last 3 days), I attended the the Higher Learning Commission's Academic Quality Improvement Program Peer Reviewer training in Chicago, Illinois. The training lasted a total of 55 hours over 2 1/2 days and was extremely valuable and insightful in many ways:

• what is the role of accreditation in the US
  
• who are accrediting bodies in the US and how were they established
• what are the options for accreditation and continuous improvement for institutions
  
• what is AQIP, how does it differ from PEAQ and how do institutions interact with each

It is my understanding that PEAQ is the traditional form of accreditation and that AQIP is the new kid on the block, at least over the past 7 years. From the past few days, I've learned that AQIP seems to be a much more continuous improvement process. PEAQ takes place every 10 years, while AQIP has contact with the institution regularly over a 5 year period in a process that emulates strategic planning. It seems that several institutions are opting in to AQIP and out of PEAQ (although an institution has to be PEAQ-approved to be able to participate in AQIP).

It may seem odd to some that an instructional technologist would be involved something like this, but this experience gave me such a comprehensive overview of quality and improvement issues in higher education. Our training concludes tomorrow and then I'm on the list to be a peer-reviewer. Aside from the time commitment (of 25-30 hours), I'm very much looking forward to participating.

Quality Matters comes to Maricopa Community Colleges

Yesterday, I attended the overview session of Quality Matters (QM) with Dr. Ron Legon, Executive Director of QM and although I already knew something about the program, I was very pleased for its potential for Maricopa students and faculty members.

MCLI has secured a subscription for its one-year pilot of QM to begin in 08-09. Today 35 Maricopa peer reviewers will be trained to begin reviewing courses next year.

So... a bit about QM:

Quality Matters came out of a FIPSE grant that was meant to support adult learners and distributed/distance learning and originally had these 4 goals:

1. provide statewide leadership in distance learning
2. maintain a web gateway for online higher education in Maryland
   
3. collaborate on faculty training
   
4. facilitate online course and program sharing

Over 700 faculty members, 158 institutions and 28 states participate in QM (they are non-profit).

The QM toolset and processes include

1. faculty-driven, peer-review process
2. collaborative process among faculty peers
3. commitment to continuous quality improvement
4. based on national standards of best practice, the research literature, and instruction design principles
5. designed to promote student learning
   

Overall, QM is designed to support student retention and satisfaction in online and hybrid courses. Reviewed courses don't have to be perfect, but QM aims at better than just "good enough".

Here you can read about the underlying principles of Quality Matters and how it aligns with accreditation standards and is supported by the research literature.

The review team takes the perspective of a student (as a novice to the course) and asks basic questions to assess quality. QM is NOT about the individual instructor, about faculty evaluation, or about win/lose pass/fail regarding course review.

The rubric contains 8 key areas of course quality, 40 specific review standards including 14 essential standards, and detailed annotations and examples of good practice for all 40 standards.


The 8 key areas of course quality include

1. course overview and introduction
   
2. learning objectives
3. assessment and measurement
4. resources and materials
5. learner interaction
   
6. course technology
   
7. learner support
8. ADA compliance
   

Areas 2-6 must be aligned. Throughout the review, their is a focus on improvement and support of instructor-student interaction, content-student interaction, and student-student interaction.

We are hopeful and excited about bringing QM to Maricopa (first in Arizona--who says we don't lead). Stay tuned for more...