As part of its continuous commitment to advancing nursing education, GW Nursing on October 16 facilitated a Quality Matters (QM) workshop for instructors, instructional design staff and academic leaders.
Applying the Quality Matters Rubric (APPQMR) is a workshop focused on teaching a better understanding and appreciation of standard elements that make a successful online course.
“Improving the design of courses enables to spend less time figuring out our course navigation and location of resources, and more time focusing on learning,” said Miro Liwosz, GW Nursing’s director of Online Learning and Instructional Technology.
The QM rubric focuses on evaluating online courses from the student’s perspective, and its process is designed to ensure continual improvement in online courses.
Quality Matters grew out of a grassroots movement of educators wanting to ensure quality course and standard outcomes at the advent of online education. It’s now a nonprofit organization serving students worldwide. More than 1,300 colleges and universities worldwide have subscribed to its program with more than 52,000 education professionals trained in course design, according to its website.
As part of Monday’s workshop, 24 GW Nursing faculty and staff members earned the QM Applying the Rubric Certificate course. A total of 42 now hold that certificate, while six GW Nursing faculty members also have a QM Peer Reviewer Certificate and three hold a Master Reviewer Certificate.
At GW Nursing, graduate education is exclusively online, with some program options offering an occasional on-campus experience. Other students, such as those enrolled in the school’s Accelerated BSN option, primarily attend traditional face-to-face classes but may also experience online or blended courses. A growing team supports faculty in course design for this growing population of students. In addition to Liwosz, an instructional technologist, instructional designer and multimedia producer help create online courses for almost 600 online graduate students.