‘Tis the Season to Celebrate You

Yet another seasons greetings…

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Quality Matters (QM) is an international, US-based non-profit organization specializing in standards, processes and professional development for quality assurance in online and blended learning. QM tools and resources are regularly revised to reflect current research and best practices. When you see QM Certification Marks on courses or programs, it means they have met QM Course Design Standards or QM Program Review Criteria in a rigorous review process.

View this email in your browser Copyright © 2018 QM Quality Matters, Inc., All rights reserved. Our email marketing is permission-based. If you received a mailing from us, our records indicate that (a) you have expressly shared this address for the purpose of receiving information in the future (“opt-in”), or (b) you have registered or purchased or otherwise have an existing relationship with us. We respect your time and attention by controlling the frequency of our mailings. Our mailing address is: QM Quality Matters, Inc. 1997 Annapolis Exchange Parkway Suite 300 Annapolis, MD 21401

QM K-12 News: Your Opinion Matters, Meeting Standard 2.3, Let’s Get Together, And More!

From Wednesday’s inbox…

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K-12 Online & Blended Learning Newsletter December 2018

Lighting the Way “If you have knowledge, let others light their candles in it.” — Margaret Fuller Thank you to all of the QM members and friends who took time this past year to share their knowledge and experiences to help others on their quality assurance journey. Thanks to you, thousands of your peers received amazing ideas, tools and resources to help them deliver on their online promiseand create quality learning experiences for learners across the globe. Many of those ideas were shared right here in our monthly newsletter. One of the most read resources was, “K-12: One Course Reviewer. Loads of Impact.” In the article, Meg Graham, an instructor at Wisconsin Virtual School, shared how she used what she learned from QM professional development and her experience as a QM Course Reviewer to make changes that had a direct impact on her students. Another popular topic was cultural awareness in online learning. In the April issue, QM Research Colleague Stella Porto and her Inter-American Development Bank colleagues Carolina Suarez and Miriam Campos shared how culture impacts “every aspect of online learning including course design” in, “The Effect of Cultural Awareness in Online Instruction: An International Perspective.” Getting started with Quality Matters was also top of mind. Many of you discovered how you can “launch” a quality assurance program when Dr. Meghan Roe shared Springfield Public School District’s story in June. These are just a few examples of the many outstanding resources that the QM community shared this year. To see more, please visit the Quality Matters Resource Center and the K-12 Newsletter Archives. And if you are interested in sharing your story to help others, please let us know! We’d love to feature you in an upcoming newsletter. Video Superstars! Video may have killed the radio star, but it has made superstars out of many members of the QM Community! Each month, QM members give generously of their time to share their Quality Matters Success Stories through free webinars.* And 2018 wasn’t any different. This past year featured presentations on a wide variety of important online learning topics, including course reviews, templates and accessibility. Two of the topics that resonated the most with the K-12 community happened in February and May. In February, members of the North Carolina Virtual Public School team shared how they create online courses that are accessible for all learners during, “Breaking Bad with QM Standard 8: ensuring an All-Access Pass for Learners.” Then in May, Robert Lindsay from Salt Lake Community College discussed how strategies and tools used by sportscasters can help increase student engagement in his presentation, “Everything I Need to Know About Student Engagement I Learned From a Rabid Sports Fan.” Quality Matters Success Stories are a valuable resource. Each month they are attended by hundreds of QM members and generate inspiring and helpful conversations to help others on their quality assurance journeys. Consider becoming a QM member in 2019 to take advantage of these webinars and the many other quality assurance resources available to our members. *To view recordings of QM Success Stories, you or your institution must have a current QM Membership. It’s Not Just About QM When it comes to meeting Standards, it’s not just about QM. Specific Review Standard 2.3 requires that course learning objectives or competencies also align with state standards and/or other accepted content standards. That can be challenging for many schools. But it is critical. Standard 2.3 is the only standard that must be met at 100%. So how can you do that? Find out in, “Mapping Your Way to Meeting Standard 2.3.” Your Opinion Matters It’s time for you to weigh in on what is working and what needs improvement in the QM K-12 Secondary Rubric and the K-12 Publisher Rubric. The Rubric Committee needs you to provide constructive, specific, sensitive, measurable, and balanced recommendations about the existing Specific Review Standards, Annotations, the concept of alignment, and other key components of the Rubric. Feedback from those who are using the current Rubrics is a vital part of the review process and helps inform the K-12 Rubric Committee on how to proceed. Members of the Quality Matters K-12 community may provide feedback and help inform the Rubric revisions by completing the K-12 Rubric survey.* Surveys must be completed by January 9, 2019. Questions? Please contact the K-12 team. *To complete the survey, you will log into your MyQM account or go through steps to create one. Let’s Get Together! Who’s going to be at the inaugural Digital Learning Annual Conference (DLAC) in Austin, Texas, April 1-3, 2019? QM’s K-12 Program Director Christine Voelker is! So why not get together? Christine would love to meet up with all the QM K-12 members and friends that are going to be there. If you are interested, please let Christine know so she can arrange a meeting time or even a Town Hall exchange. Then, get ready to share your ideas, questions and challenges related to ensuring quality online and blended learning experiences for K-12 learners! Won’t be at DLAC? Then, join us in New York City for the QM 2019 Regional Conference — Learner Success Through Quality Initiatives — happening April 25 & 26 at Berkeley College. This is your opportunity to gain new ideas and best practices to help improve students’ experiences and successes. Attend pre-conference workshops and sessions in five concentrations, including QM and the Education Puzzle, Analyzing Your QA Efforts and an exciting new concentration — the Idea Exchange — where information on a variety of key online learning topics will be shared in an unstructured way. To get the best rate, register when registration opens on January 7, 2019. Congratulations! Please join us in congratulating the following K-12 members for having one or more courses certified in the month of November: Connections Learning Pointful Education

The Call for Proposals for the 2019 QM Connect Conference in Grapevine, Texas, opens January 18, 2019 — get ready to put your thinking caps on! Tweet Share Forward Share Copyright © 2018 QM Quality Matters, Inc., All rights reserved. Our email marketing is permission-based. If you received a mailing from us, our records indicate that (a) you have expressly shared this address for the purpose of receiving information in the future (“opt-in”), or (b) you have registered or purchased or otherwise have an existing relationship with us. We respect your time and attention by controlling the frequency of our mailings. Our mailing address is: QM Quality Matters, Inc. 1997 Annapolis Exchange Parkway Suite 300 Annapolis, MD 21401

Connect With CHLOE 3 & Other Helpful Resources

From the inbox earlier in the week.

Take Your Online Learning Initiatives to the Next Level with These Resources

Thank you for your interest in our recent webinar, “CHLOE 3: Highlights of the Third QM-Eduventures Changing Landscape of Online Education Survey.” The webinar recording is now ready for you to view! Please note, this link is valid for 30 days. Look for the CHLOE 3 Report in late March 2019. In the meantime, make sure you’ve downloaded the CHLOE 1 and CHLOE 2 reports. During the Q & A, many of you expressed interest in learning from and connecting with other institutions. Here are ways you can do that: Be a Part of the Research Chief Online Officers are encouraged to participate in the CHLOE 4 survey in April 2019. Contact Barbra Burch to receive the survey if you have a lead or contributing role in several of these areas: Budgeting of and Contracting for Online Functions Online Course or Program Development Orientation for Online Students Coordination with Academic Units Online Faculty Training Data Gathering and Reporting Selection of LMS and Online Tools Instructional Design Support LMS Support/Administration Attend a Quality Matters Conference Meet like-minded individuals and learn from those who have walked in your shoes. You’ll get an opportunity to dive deeper into the research with presentations on CHLOE and the research initiatives of other institutions. Registration for the East Regional Conferencein New York opens in January. Join a QM Success Stories Webinar These free, monthly webinars — available for members — are a valuable resource. Each month, a QM member presents what his or her institution is doing to deliver on its online promise, providing others with tips and best practices to help with their own quality assurance journeys. Ready to have others learn from you instead? Help others by bringing your own online learning research to the table. Get started by signing up for the ABCs of QM-Focused Research. In this engaging and personalized workshop, you’ll gain the tools and resources you need to take your online learning research from idea to research study. The next workshop starts February 20, 2019. Members save $100. Quality Matters (QM) is an international, US-based non-profit organization specializing in standards, processes and professional development for quality assurance in online and blended learning. QM tools and resources are regularly revised to reflect current research and best practices. When you see QM Certification Marks on courses or programs, it means they have met QM Course Design Standards or QM Program Review Criteria in a rigorous review process.

View email in browser Copyright © 2018 QM Quality Matters, Inc., All rights reserved. Our email marketing is permission-based. If you received a mailing from us, our records indicate that (a) you have expressly shared this address for the purpose of receiving information in the future (“opt-in”), or (b) you have registered or purchased or otherwise have an existing relationship with us. We respect your time and attention by controlling the frequency of our mailings. Our mailing address is: QM Quality Matters, Inc. 1997 Annapolis Exchange Parkway Suite 300 Annapolis, MD 21401

It’s Time To Make Your Course Accessible For All Learners

An item from Thursday’s inbox…

Dear Michael, Thank you for your interest in QM Live! 2018 Winter Institute. Making online and blended courses accessible for all learners is a challenge that many educators and institutions are facing. And, as WCET’s, “Accessibility in Online Courses – Trends, Tips & Tools,” highlights, the challenge may increase as the use of technology in online classes becomes more complex. Don’t wait any longer to address accessibility issues in your online courses. Join us for QM Live! 2018 Winter Institute. In this series of three highly interactive web-conferencing workshops, you will gain the skills, tools and best practices you need to make Word documents, PDFs and videos accessible. “We should all be concerned with the accessibility of our courses and our course content. The most important reason is a foundational human decency to ensure that education can reach as many people as possible. With more than 1 billion people worldwide living with some form of disability it is our duty, as educators, instructional designers, and administrators, to ensure that those who desire an education can receive one.” — Dr. C.J. Bracken, QM Live! Facilitator and Assistant Coordinator of Distance Learning at Reynolds Community College Join Dr. Bracken and other educators for these workshops December 11 – 13 from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. Eastern. Just bring your headset and a course you are working on. Register for just one workshop or sign up for all three workshops for just $250 ($325 for non-members). We look forward to seeing you there! Sincerely, QM Professional Development

Quality Matters (QM) is an international non-profit organization that provides tools and professional development for quality assurance in online and blended learning. When you see the QM Certification Mark, it means that courses have successfully met QM Rubric Standards for Course Design in an official course review. View this email in your browser Copyright © 2018 QM Quality Matters, Inc., All rights reserved. Our email marketing is permission-based. If you received a mailing from us, our records indicate that (a) you have expressly shared this address for the purpose of receiving information in the future (“opt-in”), or (b) you have registered or purchased or otherwise have an existing relationship with us. We respect your time and attention by controlling the frequency of our mailings. Our mailing address is: QM Quality Matters, Inc. 1997 Annapolis Exchange Parkway Suite 300 Annapolis, MD 21401

Michael, Are Your Courses Accessible?

Note this up-coming webinar.

It’s Time to Meet the Needs of ALL Learners

You know accessibility matters. But knowing and doing are two different things. According to The Quad article, “9 Things Students with Disabilities Should Know About Online College,” many institutions are not prepared to meet the growing number of learners with accessibility needs. This is evidenced by the fact that learners with disabilities are much more likely to drop out of school than other students. It’s time to change that. Start by joining fellow educators for QM Live! 2018 Winter Institute — December 11 – 13 from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. Eastern. In this series of three highly interactive web-conferencing workshops, you will gain the skills, tools and best practices you need to make Word documents, PDFs and videos accessible. “With more than 1 billion people worldwide living with some form of disability it is our duty, as educators, instructional designers, and administrators, to ensure that those who desire an education can receive one.” — Dr. C.J. Bracken, QM Live! Facilitator and Assistant Coordinator of Distance Learning at J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College Start making your courses accessible. Register today for just one workshop or sign up for all three workshops for just $250 ($325 for non-members).

Need more accessibility help? If you are a QM member, check out the new Accessibility and Usability Resource Site (AURS). The site — built by QM members for members — is your go-to resource for addressing key accessibility and usability concerns. Register for the site by logging into MyQM and selecting “Workshop – Register” in the side navigation. Quality Matters (QM) is an international, US-based non-profit organization specializing in standards, processes and professional development for quality assurance in online and blended learning. QM tools and resources are regularly revised to reflect current research and best practices. When you see QM Certification Marks on courses or programs, it means they have met QM Course Design Standards or QM Program Review Criteria in a rigorous review process.

View this email in your browser Forward to a friend Copyright © 2018 QM Quality Matters, Inc., All rights reserved. Our email marketing is permission-based. If you received a mailing from us, our records indicate that (a) you have expressly shared this address for the purpose of receiving information in the future (“opt-in”), or (b) you have registered or purchased or otherwise have an existing relationship with us. We respect your time and attention by controlling the frequency of our mailings. Our mailing address is: QM Quality Matters, Inc. 1997 Annapolis Exchange Parkway Suite 300 Annapolis, MD 21401