Higher Ed | K-12
Course Format Chart for Courses Reviewed With QM Higher Ed Rubrics
While the QM Rubric may be used to evaluate courses of any modality, the Course Format Chart below defines course formats to which the QM Rubric may be applied during a course review. These formats are determined by taking into account professional development offered by QM, tools provided, and current review policies and procedures.
Regardless of course format, courses submitted for an Official QM Course Review must have all design components visible to reviewers in an asynchronous course site. Additionally, please note that all course formats below refer to courses that were purposefully designed for partial or full online delivery and do not refer to emergency remote instruction courses. Lastly, remember that institutional definitions of course formats may differ from those described here.
| COURSE FORMAT | DESCRIPTION | COURSE DESIGN EVIDENCE REQUIRED |
|---|---|---|
Asynchronous Online | Learning takes place online and asynchronously within a course site, typically hosted in a learning management system (LMS). | Asynchronous online courses can become QM-Certified with the respective QM Rubrics and QM Course Review process. If any portions occur live, such as an in-person final exam, this must be included in the course site as well. |
Synchronous Online | Learning takes place online and in real time, using technology such as web-conferencing software for synchronous interaction.
| For a synchronous online course to be reviewed using the QM Rubric, there must be evidence of course design components that are available asynchronously (usually within an LMS course site) for reviewers to examine.
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Hybrid | Learning takes place both online and in-person/face-to-face (F2F). | For a hybrid course to be reviewed using the QM Rubric, the online, asynchronous course site must include information about F2F activities to help orient learners and inform reviewers.
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HyFlex and Multi-Modal | Learning takes place in at least two of three modalities: online asynchronous, online synchronous, and face-to-face/in-person.
| If a HyFlex or Multi-Modal course includes an asynchronous online version, that is the version that will be reviewed using a QM Rubric.
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Face-to-Face (F2F) and Web-Enhanced | Learning takes place in regularly scheduled, real-time, F2F sessions, where learners meet in person at a campus location with their instructor on a set schedule. | While principles of the QM Rubric Standards can be applied to F2F and Web-Enhanced courses, due to the nature of the course review, it is not possible to have F2F and Web-Enhanced courses QM-Certified.
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Course Format Chart for Courses Reviewed With QM K-12 Rubrics
QM defines course formats within the context of applying a QM K-12 Rubric during a course review. While the QM K-12 Rubric may be used to review most courses in digital modalities, the QM Course Format Chart below is a guide for understanding the types of courses that may be reviewed. It takes into account the professional development offered by QM, the tools provided, and the current policies and procedures that reviewers are taught to use.
QM Rubrics can be used to review the design of various course types, including asynchronous online, synchronous online, hybrid, and digital-first courses. However, courses submitted for an Official QM Course Review must have all design components visible to reviewers within an asynchronous course site. For example, in hybrid courses and synchronous online courses, components delivered in real time (whether virtually or in-person) must be available to reviewers within a web-based course site. Opportunities for real-time sessions may be present, but the content of such sessions is not pre-planned as part of the course design and is not used as evidence of meeting QM standards.
Maintaining the consistency of design evidence ensures that courses receiving QM Certification are reviewed in a replicable and equitable manner. Please note that organizational definitions of course formats may differ from those described here. Additionally, all course formats below refer to courses purposefully designed for partial or full online delivery and do not refer to emergency remote instruction courses.
| DELIVERY MODE | DESCRIPTION | COURSE DESIGN EVIDENCE REQUIRED |
|---|---|---|
Asynchronous Online | The course takes place online and asynchronously within a course site, typically hosted in a learning management system (LMS). | The asynchronous course site contains all pre-planned content, including activities and assessments. Optional or instructor-determined real-time sessions may be included, but the content of those sessions is not pre-planned as part of the course design to be reviewed. If any assessments take place in real time, the content of the assessment is included in the course site for review purposes. |
Synchronous Online | The course takes place online in real time, where the instructor and the learners engage with the course content and each other at the same time using technology such as web-conferencing software for synchronous interaction. Additionally, course components necessary to support synchronous learning, such as additional content, assignment information, grades, and the syllabus, are available asynchronously online, typically in an LMS course site. | For a synchronous online course to be reviewed using the QM Rubric, evidence of course design components delivered in real time must be available asynchronously (usually within an LMS course site) for reviewers to examine. For pre-planned activities that occur synchronously online, information about, or artifacts of, these activities are included in the asynchronous site to help orient learners and inform reviewers. Optional or instructor-determined real-time sessions may also be included, but they are not part of the pre-planned course design and need not be included in the asynchronous site. |
Hybrid | The course includes learning opportunities that take place both asynchronously online and in real time where the instructor and the learners in the course engage with the course content and each other at the same time, either synchronously online or in-person/face-to-face (F2F). | The online, asynchronous course site includes information about real-time activities to help orient learners and inform reviewers. The content of the real-time sessions is pre-planned as part of the course design. Courses in which all real-time sessions are optional, or determined by the instructor based on learner needs, are reviewed as Asynchronous Online courses. |
Digital-First | Digital-First courses are designed to be taught in flexible modalities depending on local needs. The course may take place in multiple modalities, including online asynchronous, online synchronous, and face-to-face/in-person. | Digital-First courses are intentionally designed for use in multiple modalities and are not only a collection of resources. Digital-First courses include an asynchronous online version that is reviewed. A Digital-First course provides resources or lesson plans enabling the delivery of the course in multiple modalities. |
Real-Time | The course takes place in regularly scheduled, real-time sessions, where learners meet live with their instructor on a set schedule, whether in person at a school location or synchronously online. | While the principles of the QM Rubric Standards can be applied to the design of real-time courses, evidence of course design components is not available in an asynchronous course site. Due to the nature of the course review, it is not possible to have real-time courses QM-Certified. |
