Quality Assurance

Excellence, access and impact

We are evaluators

The ASU Online course quality assurance team provides ongoing course enhancement support for faculty. Teammates from the beginning, our support begins when a faculty member is identified to teach or a course is initially prepared for delivery online, and continues throughout the life of the course.

How we work

Services

Services

Through our model of ongoing course enhancement, we communicate the services and resources available to support faculty. We also establish expectations for design standards that promote quality, equity and inclusion. We partner with faculty and units to establish transparency and fulfill our commitment to improvement for all online courses. Resources include access to:

  • ASU Online Course Quality Assurance Support.
  • Instructional designers.
  • The ASU Online Faculty Center.
  • Academic Media.
Preparation

Preparation

Preparation is the key to course delivery success. We support faculty by:

  • Providing training opportunities, such as the Master Class for Teaching Online and other workshops to develop skills for course design and facilitation.
  • Partnering to design and develop new online courses,
  • Reviewing Course Design Standards, available services and resources, and data to make informed decisions to improve the student and facilitation experience. 
Ongoing enhancement

Ongoing enhancement

After courses are initially developed to meet our  design standards, we provide  ongoing quality assurance support services to ensure online courses are regularly reviewed and improved upon.

Course readiness checks

Prior to each academic session, we email faculty a course start-up checklist and encourage them to review their courses. This includes making sure all course materials are up-to-date and accessible for students.

Additionally, instructional design assistants perform a rigorous 24-point check to confirm that course materials are ready and accessible. These reviews ensure that faculty, the instructional designer or other colleagues are in the loop and prepared to address any issues.

360 end-of-session reviews

Courses are identified for review every session based on numerous course health indicators, including:

  • Information related to readiness checks.
  • Low course evaluation ratings.
  • Low pass rates.
  • Student comments.
  • Success coach or student service recommendations.
  • Unit lead requests.

Our instructional designers review compiled data and prepare recommendations for course design improvements. These recommendations are then shared with ASU Online program leads within units and ultimately faculty. Following a review of the constructive feedback, our instructional designers offer consultation and support to implement improvements as needed.

Quality Matters at ASU

Arizona State University aligns with the research-based Quality Matters (QM) standards for the design of online courses. These rigorous standards ensure that online courses promote learner engagement and retention.

Interested in learning more about QM at ASU? Register for our next training.

Register here

ASU Online Faculty Guide

The ASU Online Faculty Guide was developed to communicate support and expectations for developing and teaching online courses. It includes a variety of resources, including:

  • ASU Online services for faculty.
  • Best practices for teaching online.
  • Standards for course design.
View the guide

Quality assurance by the numbers

We identify best practices and apply evidence-based research in the design, development, and delivery for ASU Online courses.

4468

Readiness checks performed

2650

Courses with remediations acted

406

Courses reviewed during 360

242

Design recommendations for faculty

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