Quality Matters Course Reviews are designed for mature courses that have been taught previously and/or for courses that are fully developed online (including blended formats) such that reviewers can see all evaluated components.

The following checklist can help you determine if a course is ready to be submitted for review:

•  The Course Representative had time to review the Quality Matters Rubric and make modifications before the review. Faculty that are prepared for a Quality Matters review have better outcomes and get more out of the review process. Members have access to the Self-Review tool in the Course Review Management System (CRMS) which allows a user to conduct a review of his/her own course.
•  The measurable course-level objectives are specified and there are measurable module/unit-level objectives for each of the course modules/units. The lack of course-level objectives and module/unit-level objectives is among the most frequently missed Specific Review Standards.
•  All discussion board questions or topics are posted for review. Student responses (stripped of identifying information) and faculty responses/feedback are not necessary to provide as the QM review does not evaluate delivery of the course.
•  If the course uses email in any part of the instruction, this information has been made available to the review team. Examples of such email exchanges should be provided to the review team during its review of the course.
•  All course activities, including all audio-visual components, are available to the review team. Sometimes instructors make assignments "not available" after a specified "due date." All such assignments will need to be available to the review team.
•  All assessment tools are available for review by the team. The review team will need to be able to access quizzes, exams, and tests, and it would be beneficial to the review team to also have access to the grade book as it is set-up for the "student view."
•  The review team can see and experience the course as a student would.

What kind of course access does the review team need?

Because the review team will be reviewing the course from the student perspective, team members should be provided student-level access in a course clone or shell. The most recent archive of the course under review, with steps taken to ensure student privacy rights, is a common way to provide access to the review team. For purposes of protecting the confidentiality of student information, the institution should provide a shell or clone, rather than access to a live course. QM only reviews the design of the course, and reviewers should not be provided the ability to review student activity or information or to have any contact with students in any course submitted for review. By submitting the application for a course review, the institution acknowledges Quality Matters bears no responsibility for any consequence of providing a live course for review or a course without anonymized student information.

If Publisher material is used in a course, reviewers will also need login access for that content.