To ensure the quality of online courses, CSUF took a faculty-driven approach to develop faculty expertise in online quality assurance and to cultivate a faculty community who provide pedagogical and technological support relevant to online teaching to each other; this approach has been enhanced with professional development and instructional designer support offered from CSUF’s Online Education and Training department.
Our campus commitment to sustainable quality assurance for online courses is supported via:
Hosting workshops and programs for faculty on online teaching pedagogy and effective use of technology tools
Disseminating information on Quality Matters to the campus to promote online quality assurance
Supporting faculty and campus team members to attend professional development opportunities locally and nationally
Campus Goals for Quality Assurance
Goal 1: Expand the awareness and implementation of the Quality Matters (QM) process on campus
Goal 2: Deepen QM expertise on campus
Goal 3: Support expansion of QM course certification
Goal 4: Expand research on the impact of faculty quality assurance expertise on student learning outcomes and experiences and share findings with CSUF and the CSU community
Supporting Campus Partners
Faculty Development Center
Academic Technology Center
Office of Assessment and Educational Effectiveness
Information Technology
CSUF Colleges/Departments
2024-2025 Goals & Progress
Goal 1: Expand Awareness and Implementation of QM Standards Across Campus
Progress: The team evaluated the new "Journey to QM Certification" course using feedback from the 2024 faculty cohort and the QM core support group. Based on this input, course improvements were made for the upcoming 2024-25 cohort. Despite initial plans to recruit eight faculty members—one from each college—recruitment has been challenging due to budget constraints and faculty workloads. Currently, four faculty members have expressed interest, with two having completed the required IYOC QM training. Two additional faculty completed the CO QM IYOC and enrolled in the certification course in April. While further recruitment efforts continue, it is anticipated that two to three faculty will complete the course over the summer. Additionally, the goal included supporting two faculty from the 2023-24 cohort in advancing from QM Prep Review to formal QM Course Review by Spring 2025. To date, one faculty member has achieved QM Course Certification, and two others are finalizing their Prep Reviews, with the expectation that both will submit for certification in August.
Goal Modification: Given the limited faculty participation in QM certification, the team has shifted focus to broader faculty engagement with best practices from the QM and QLT frameworks. A new campus professional development course, "Online Course Design and Engagement Fundamentals," was developed to meet CourseMatch requirements. This 15-hour course will emphasize effective online course design and facilitation and launched in summer 2025. The course was submitted for inclusion on the campus’s Faculty Training Accepted for CourseMatch list.
Goal 2: Expand research on the impact of faculty QM-expertise on student learning outcomes and experiences
Progress: Our campus SQuAIR lead has been active in attending monthly CO meetings online and obtained IRB approval for the updated study. Current findings are posted on this website under Research.