Hi there!

If you are a learner, have you ever wondered, 'What Makes a Good Online Course?' As a Learning Designer or Instructional Designer, what criteria or tools are you or your organization currently using to produce and evaluate an online course? I'm particularly interested in learning about how businesses and organizations that are creating blended learning and e-learning may assess their online courses. Please comment below this post with any experience you have with course evaluation.

Are you looking for a reliable and effective way to evaluate online courses? Look no further than the 'National Standards for Quality Online Courses,' a proven resource that sets the benchmark for excellence in online education. In this article, we'll explore how this technique can help you assess the quality of online courses and make informed decisions about your education. Are you ready to get started? Let's dive in!

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Why should instructional designers/learning designers employ standards for course quality assessment?

The term 'quality course' can be vague and subjective. What one person considers a high-quality course may not be the same for another. That's why it's important to have a tool, such as a set of standards, to guide our course evaluations.

And of course, the course evaluation is researched and developed by experts or reputable organizations will be:

A set of best practices or standards can be a valuable tool for Instructional Designers, enabling them to design courses that prioritize the needs and goals of learners and provide a cohesive and effective learning experience.
A clear and specific scale helps not only Instructional Designers but also Training Managers or Customers to make correct comments and assessments about the quality of a course.

Different organizations will have different sets of course quality assessment standards, they can create their own set of standards or refer to the standards of reputable organizations and adjust them to suit their needs and conditions. Some of the standards we can refer to are:

Online Course Evaluation Guidelines (free) – the University of Wisconsin at La Crosse
The Rubric for Online Instruction (ROI) (free) – California State University, Chico
Quality Online Course Initiative (QOCI) Rubric (free) – University of Illinois Springfield
A Practical Handbook to Implement the Quality Scorecard for the Administration of Online Programs (52$) – The Online Learning Consortium (OLC)
National Standards for Quality Online Courses - Quality Matters, the Virtual Learning Leadership Alliance, and The Digital Learning Collaborative

After going through the above documents (not including A Practical Handbook to implement the Quality Scorecard for the Administration of Online Programs), my personal favorite is the National Standards for Online Courses. I'll go into more detail about this document shortly.

The"National Standards for Quality Online Courses" introduction

Three reputable organizations for online teaching in the US, Quality Matters (QM), The Virtual Learning Leadership Alliance (VLLA) and The Digital Learning Collaborative are implementing a project called National Standards for Learning Quality (NSQOL). (Learn more about these three organizations at here)

The purpose of the NSQOL project has been to offer three sets of national standards to the blended learning and K–12 online communities to assess and enhance online courses. The three national standard sets are as follows:
+ (Quality Online Courses)

+ Quality Online Programs

+Quality Online Teaching)

These three sets of standards are openly accessible and updated frequently to support educational institutions, states, governments, and other organizations with an interest in evaluating and improving online programs, courses, and teaching.

In this article, I focus on National Standards for Quality Online Courses.

I appreciate this set of standard for the following reasons:

1. The National Standards for Quality Online Courses are organized into seven groups of standards that are methodical and simple to understand. It includes:

Standard A: Course Overview and Support
Standard B: Content
Standard C: Instructional Design
Standard D: Learner Assessment
Standard E: Accessibility and Usability
Standard F: Technology
Standard G: Course Evaluation

2. There are a set of component standards that go along with each group of standards, and they are each defined in detail and come with examples.Click here for details)

3. Standards are continually being upgraded because the field of digital learning requires frequent updates.

Using the 'National Standards for Online Courses' as a guide to review 'Learning Experience Design: From Ideas to Impact' by NovoED

In my blog named My journey to become a Learning Designer, I have introduced to you a course that I really like “Learning Experience Design: From Ideas to Impact” by NovoED. I found out about this course thanks to Ms. Hai Van's post on Facebook Instructional Design with Vân.

General information of the course:

1. Course name: Learning Experience Design: From Ideas to Impact

2. Target learner:

Leaning Designer/Instructional Designer
Anyone interested in pursuing a career in education

3. Duration: 10 hours (for 5 weeks)

4. Price: Free

5. Registration link: https://www.novoed.com/resources/learning-experience-design-course/

This course, in my opinion, is quite nicely designed. Although it is free, it is very high quality. Here, I will highlight a few aspects of the course that, in my perspective, are excellent and adhere to the National Standards for Quality Online Courses.

Note: The scoring system

0 :None
1: Failed, requires a lot of improvement
2: Slightly satisfied, need a targeted improvement plan
3: Satisfied, can improve or not
4: Extremely satisfied; nothing needs to change

To sum up, we have become acquainted with...
1. Why should instructional designers/learning designers employ standards for course quality assessment?
2. The "National Standards for Quality Online Courses" introduction
3. Using the 'National Standards for Online Courses' as a guide to review 'Learning Experience Design: From Ideas to Impact' by NovoED

Thanks for sticking with me this far! I know this post has been a bit long, but I hope you found it useful. If you have any tips or tricks for evaluating the quality of online courses, please leave a comment below and share your wisdom with me and the rest of the community. I'm looking forward to hearing your thoughts. Goodbye and see you in another post.

References:

[1] https://www.uwlax.edu/globalassets/offices-services/catl/guidelines.pdf

[2] https://www.csuchico.edu/eoi/rubric.shtml

[3] https://www.uis.edu/ion/resources/quality-online-course-initiative-qoci-rubric

[4] https://onlinelearningconsortium.org/about/history/

[5] https://www.nsqol.org/the-standards/

[6]https://onlinelearninginsights.wordpress.com/2015/05/26/how-good-is-your-online-course-five-steps-to-assess-course-quality/

[7] https://ctl.wiley.com/importance-course-quality-standards-online-education/

Hi there!

Why should instructional designers/learning designers employ standards for course quality assessment?

The term 'quality course' can be vague and subjective. What one person considers a high-quality course may not be the same for another. That's why it's important to have a tool, such as a set of standards, to guide our course evaluations.

And of course, the course evaluation is researched and developed by experts or reputable organizations will be:

A set of best practices or standards can be a valuable tool for Instructional Designers, enabling them to design courses that prioritize the needs and goals of learners and provide a cohesive and effective learning experience.

A clear and specific scale helps not only Instructional Designers but also Training Managers or Customers to make correct comments and assessments about the quality of a course.

Different organizations will have different sets of course quality assessment standards, they can create their own set of standards or refer to the standards of reputable organizations and adjust them to suit their needs and conditions. Some of the standards we can refer to are:

Online Course Evaluation Guidelines (free) – the University of Wisconsin at La Crosse

The Rubric for Online Instruction (ROI) (free) – California State University, Chico

Quality Online Course Initiative (QOCI) Rubric (free) – University of Illinois Springfield

A Practical Handbook to Implement the Quality Scorecard for the Administration of Online Programs (52$) – The Online Learning Consortium (OLC)

National Standards for Quality Online Courses - Quality Matters, the Virtual Learning Leadership Alliance, and The Digital Learning Collaborative

After going through the above documents (not including A Practical Handbook to implement the Quality Scorecard for the Administration of Online Programs), my personal favorite is the National Standards for Online Courses. I'll go into more detail about this document shortly.

The"National Standards for Quality Online Courses" introduction

The purpose of the NSQOL project has been to offer three sets of national standards to the blended learning and K–12 online communities to assess and enhance online courses. The three national standard sets are as follows:+ (Quality Online Courses)

+ Quality Online Programs

+Quality Online Teaching)

These three sets of standards are openly accessible and updated frequently to support educational institutions, states, governments, and other organizations with an interest in evaluating and improving online programs, courses, and teaching.

In this article, I focus on National Standards for Quality Online Courses.

I appreciate this set of standard for the following reasons:

1. The National Standards for Quality Online Courses are organized into seven groups of standards that are methodical and simple to understand. It includes:

Standard A: Course Overview and Support

Standard B: Content

Standard C: Instructional Design

Standard D: Learner Assessment

Standard E: Accessibility and Usability

Standard F: Technology

Standard G: Course Evaluation

2. There are a set of component standards that go along with each group of standards, and they are each defined in detail and come with examples.Click here for details)

3. Standards are continually being upgraded because the field of digital learning requires frequent updates.

Using the 'National Standards for Online Courses' as a guide to review 'Learning Experience Design: From Ideas to Impact' by NovoED

In my blog named My journey to become a Learning Designer, I have introduced to you a course that I really like “Learning Experience Design: From Ideas to Impact” by NovoED. I found out about this course thanks to Ms. Hai Van's post on Facebook Instructional Design with Vân.

General information of the course:

1. Course name: Learning Experience Design: From Ideas to Impact

2. Target learner:

Leaning Designer/Instructional Designer

Anyone interested in pursuing a career in education

3. Duration: 10 hours (for 5 weeks)

4. Price: Free

5. Registration link: https://www.novoed.com/resources/learning-experience-design-course/

This course, in my opinion, is quite nicely designed. Although it is free, it is very high quality. Here, I will highlight a few aspects of the course that, in my perspective, are excellent and adhere to the National Standards for Quality Online Courses.

lehuynhhoaibaoth

The purpose of the NSQOL project has been to offer three sets of national standards to the blended learning and K–12 online communities to assess and enhance online courses. The three national standard sets are as follows:
+ (Quality Online Courses)