Developing a QM Culture During Course Design

The Institute for Economic and Social Development (INDES) at the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) delivers a variety of online courses targeting the public sector in Latin America. These courses are offered in two main formats: traditional instructor-led courses (in Moodle) and MOOCs (through edX). INDES serves as a hub for many distinct departments. Course design and development activities are distributed between various professionals. The QM rubric has taken an important role in providing a benchmark for quality control. Training INDES staff and conducting QM external reviews were the first steps taken. Internal review processes have been established. This process, although more sustainable than the external official review, depend on the limited availability of INDES staff. Conducting external review of all courses is not economically sustainable. What if QM standards could be more easily enforced during the design and development phases, including to those with no prior knowledge of the QM rubric? This could potentially reduce missteps that require re-design later. This has pushed INDES to devise a tool that sets the steps of instructional design into a format where QM standards are explicitly re-enforced during process. During this session, participants will go through the motions of identifying how the QM rubric can be used for the design and development phase of a new course and further assess how this could be adopted within their own institution.