FSW Tops All FCS Institutions in Quality Matters Certified Courses

When it comes to education, quality matters at Florida SouthWestern State College (FSW).

A global organization that promotes and improves the quality of online education and student learning nationally and internationally, Quality Matters (QM) leads quality assurance for online and digital courses and teaching and learning environments.

With 37 QM Certified online courses and another 6 currently in review, FSW has the most QM Certified courses amongst all colleges in the Florida College System (FCS). There are 28 state and community colleges in the FCS.

“QM Certified courses ensure high educational standards, consistent online learning experiences, and enhanced accessibility,” said Laura Osgood, Director of Learning Technologies at FSW. “These courses have received national credibility and recognition by adhering to rigorous, research-based standards which ensure that FSW students receive a high-quality, engaging, and supportive online course experience.”

In order for a course to be QM Certified, the course must meet a rubric of standards and undergo a peer review process.

When an online course is newly developed or has reached its five-year review mark, the instructional designers at FSW work with a faculty developer who is certified in Online Course Design to ensure that the course meets the most recent QM standards. The course is first reviewed internally by two QM-certified peer reviewers using the QM rubric who are FSW Instructional Designers or faculty members. Once the course passes the internal review, the course instructor can then submit the course to QM for an official external review.

The external QM review is conducted by a team of three certified QM peer reviewers that consists of at least one reviewer who is external to the college submitting the course, at least one reviewer who is a subject matter expert, and a team chair who is a QM master reviewer. Reviewers follow an internationally recognized review process.

QM certification is valid for five years.

“Courses that carry the QM Certification mark have met the QM Standards for Higher Education at a level of 85 percent or greater in an official external QM review and have national credibility and recognition, meeting the state of Florida’s criteria for the High Quality (HQ) course designation,” Osgood said.

One hundred percent of FSW courses that have passed the internal review and were submitted for external review have become QM certified.