Developed as part of a Fund for the Improvement of Post-Secondary Education (FIPSE) grant by the Maryland Online consortium
Established eight general review standards from learning objectives to accessibility and everything in between
Each general review standard comprised of specific review standards, which are ranked in importance:
Essential Standard (worth 3 points)
The developers of the original rubric felt that certain standards had to be satisfied by every online course; ergo, such standards are rated as essential. Missing even one of these standards means the rubric is not satisfied.
Very Important Standard (worth 2 points)
The developers of the original rubric felt that certain standards should be satisfied, in most cases, by every online course; ergo, such standards are rated as very important. There may be very specific reasons why a course cannot satisfy a standard, so that is why such standards are not rated as essential, but in most cases, these such standards should be satisfied.
Important Standard (worth 1 point)
The developers of the original rubric felt that certain standards should be satisfied in many cases; however, there may be a variety of reasons why this would not be possible in every course. For this reason, they are rated as important standards.
The points above are assigned on an all-or-nothing basis. To determine this, the reviewer will use the rule of 85%--see also below--to determine if at least 85% of the standard is satisfied by the course. If it is, the course receives all of the points for that standard. If the standard is not satisfied, no points are awarded.
In order to pass review, a course must:
Satisfy all essential review standards
Satisfy enough of the remaining review standards to accumulate 85% of the total available points (currently 65 out of 76)
As stated before, there are eight general review standards:
Course Overview & Introduction
Learning Objectives
Assessment & Measurement
Resources & Materials
Learner Interaction
Course Technology
Learner Support
Accessibility