On behalf of Quality Matters (QM) and Fudan University, Deb Adair, Executive Director of Quality Matters, accepted the prestigious award at the United States Distance Learning Association (USDLA) conference and awards banquet in Indianapolis, Indiana.
In May 2015, Quality Matters and Fudan University, a Chinese research institution with over 500 programs, signed a five-year cooperation agreement to develop online course design standards for the Chinese higher education community. In the first two years of a five -year agreement, Quality Matters, a US-based quality assurance organization, and Fudan University have developed “QM-Fudan Higher Education Online Course Quality Standards”, adapted to Chinese culture and pedagogy with the goal to promote and foster quality assurance in China.
“This year’s USDLA Award recipient Quality Matters represents the finest examples of online courses, best practices, and leadership in our field. The depth and breadth of the USDLA membership allows us to engage with leaders from higher education, K-12, industry, military, and government who daily demonstrate the power of distance learning. We are so very proud and excited to be able to recognize this level of excellence,” said Mr. Ken Conn, President of USDLA.
Yaping Gao, Senior Academic Director at Quality Matters, said, “The QM-Fudan collaboration brings together the research findings and best practices of U.S. online education with the best pedagogical traditions of Chinese higher education to reach a potentially large population of online students in China. We are very excited to see this come to fruition and this prestigious award provides the much needed recognition for this initiative. ”
Fudan University and Quality Matters have a shared vision and commitment to quality education for all students. In the years to come, the hope is to establish, under the leadership of Fudan University, a Chinese higher education association to promote quality assurance in online education, and to develop, based on the QM-Fudan Standards, a framework and related services to meet the quality assurance needs of the Chinese higher education community.
