A good place to get a snapshot of research on the impact of QM is the QM Impact Summary. This summary gives the context in which research has been (and should be) done on QM along with a few brief examples of the impact of QM professional development and course reviews. The QM Research printable flyer cites several studies that represent the types of effects QM implementation has had at individual institutions. In addition, QM Research Resources is a curated catalog of studies on QM impact, publications and presentations on QM programs and services, and publications on the QM grant initiative.
Educational research is challenging and requires the investigator to account for many variables in the research study design, of which QM implementation is only one. Further, implementation of QM itself can vary greatly from one organization to another. In higher education, due to the current absence of reliable data on post-degree-completion jobs and earnings, evidence of student outcomes often includes:
- Course persistence and completion
- Final course grades
- GPA
- Persistence through program completion
To date, some findings on the effects of QM implementation on students at individual institutions include:
- A majority of students in a recent study indicated all QM Standards increased their learning and engagement “a lot,” with the top two QM Standards impacting learning being Course Activities and Learner Interaction (78.5%) and Learning Objectives (75.2%) and the top two QM Standards impacting engagement being Course Activities and Learner Interaction (79.08%) and Course Technology (70.61%) (Sadaf, Martin, & Ahlgrim-Dezell, 2019)
- 24% fewer withdrawals, a 20% increase in passing grades, and a 67% decrease in failing grades (N=1,570) (Harkness, 2014)
- 26% greater engagement (as determined through LMS activity) (Baranovic, 2018)
- 2-7% increase in grades, depending on academic term (Baranovic, 2018)
- 1.25% increase in the GPA for students in all online courses (Baranovic, 2018)
- 16% more student interactions (Florida International University, 2016)
- 19% higher rate of submissions (Florida International University, 2016)
- 10% higher course accesses and 12% higher course access minutes (Florida International University, 2016)
- 7% higher marks on course evaluations (Florida International University, 2016)
- An increase from 82.6% to 86.2% on final exam scores and an increase from 77.7% to 82.7% in overall GPA (Hollowell, Brooks, & Anderson, 2017)
