Summary
Polk State’s Quality Online Course Design Implementation Project enables the College to
remain competitive in the field of distance learning in the post-COVID environment.
The project facilitates the implementation of Florida’s statewide quality initiative by incentivizing
faculty to certify their general education core distance learning courses at the quality designated
level by fall 2022. There are approximately 327 course preps in the general education core front
door courses (based on fall 2021 offerings). While faculty are strongly encouraged to achieve
high-standard certifications for online courses beyond fall 2022, the goal is to quickly improve
the quality and accessibility of front door online general education core courses to reduce
barriers to student success and promote consistency in online course design.
Background
The State of Florida’s online education quality initiative grew out of the Florida Board of
Governors 2025 State University System Strategic Plan for Online Education, which outlines the
goal for the university and college systems to work collaboratively to create a culture of quality
for online education.
The state developed two designators for recognition of quality online courses, Quality (Q) and
High Quality (HQ), founded upon the Quality Matters (QM) Higher Education Course Design
Rubric Standards 6th edition.
Florida colleges may use institution created rubrics and trained QM reviewers to distinguish
courses meeting the criteria for Q designation. Existing QM certified courses are designated as
HQ.
The Project
Polk State’s project required the development of a minimum standard for the College’s online
course design, a Quality Online Course Rubric. This rubric was developed by a workgroup of
the Distance Learning Committee comprised of faculty and distance learning staff and was
based on:
• Student perception of instruction measures,
• Guidelines for teaching online,
• Faculty online observation form measures, and
• The 23 essential standards from the Quality Matters Higher Education Course Design Rubric.
The rubric was approved by the College’s Faculty Senate in April 2021.
As part of the work toward earning Q designation, procedural changes were implemented to
sustain the initiative. All faculty are required to include access to their course syllabi within same
location within the learning management system, regardless of modality. This measure creates
a foundational consistency for students to find essential course information which supports the
requirements of Q designation.
Additionally, the College allocated federal COVID relief funds to hire two full-time temporary
instructional designers. There was not a budgetary allocation previously dedicated to this type of
work. These instructional designers, along with certified QM reviewers, comprise the
Instructional Design Team which provides training, coaching, and technical assistance to faculty
throughout the project.
The Instructional Design Team’s first task was to use the Quality Online Course Rubric to
establish baseline quality data, using fall 2021 distance learning offerings (572 course preps).
This data is critical in demonstrating the importance of and need for the quality course design
initiative and will provide a means to show growth.
Initial reports show that 93% of 132 courses reviewed to date do not meet the criteria for Q
designation. This number does not include 35 courses that were already certified as HQ. More
information on course designations can be found here. The baseline data work continues and is
anticipated to be completed by the end of summer 2022.
The next task was to engage faculty in the improvement process. The project includes an
intensive instructional design seminar, led by the Instructional Design Team, structured in sixweek
cohorts, with no more than 30 faculty at a time reviewing their courses through the
process. During the seminar, the Instructional Design Team partners with faculty to assist in the
course improvement process targeting each of the three sections included in the rubric: course
organization and content, learning assurance, and faculty/student interaction.
Faculty are required to complete a self-evaluation of courses submitted for review using the
rubric and receive feedback from the Instructional Design Team, who are QM-certified peer
reviewers. All courses must meet the standards of the rubric at 85% or higher. The Team is
responsible for communicating feedback to faculty, making recommendations for needed
improvements to achieve a minimum 85%, and assisting faculty in meeting those standards
successfully. They meet one-on-one with the designers to implement necessary changes.
Each faculty member is compensated to complete the instructional design seminar one time at
$100. Completion of the process is compensated at six points ($898) per course prep certified.
There is also provision for faculty to receive the six-point compensation for additional course
preps that they work through the process to earn Q designation.
The goal is for all general education core distance learning faculty to certify each course prep
taught at the Q designation by fall 2022.
The first cohort began its work in November 2021 with the instructional design seminar. It
included 17 faculty who reviewed 21 course preps. There was an average of 34% improvement
in quality e for the 21 courses. Additionally, accessibility scores rose an average of 11% with the
largest single course gain of 36%. Every course submitted for review was a pre-developed
online course taught at least one semester with students prior to submission for review.
The 21 courses have the Q designator in the College’s course catalog and have been uploaded
to Florida Shines.
Faculty feedback about the process was positive with statements including:
“Their knowledge about quality course design helped me improve my online course, especially
the part related to aligning my module-level outcomes to course outcomes. Also, the extensive
feedback provided on the self-evaluation rubric gives me some new ideas on how I can increase
the quality of the course.”
The second cohort began its seminar in March 2022. There are 11 faculty signed up to
complete the six-week seminar and certify their first Q course. The focus continues to be on
general education core and front door courses, to effectively impact the largest number of
students possible in the time frame set forth. Once they complete the seminar and guided
review, they will be able to submit additional course preps for certification.