For Faculty

Online Course Quality Review Rubric to Consider

by Veronica Valenzuela Sanchez, M.Ed., Instructional Designer

A great course rubric gaining attention today is the Open SUNY Course Quality Review Rubric or OSCQR (pronounced "Oscar"). Developed by the Open SUNY Center for Online Teaching Excellence (COTE), its purpose is to support continuous improvement to the quality and accessibility of online courses.

Since 2012, TTU has been using the TLPDC Course Design Rubric with some modifications (due to updates of accessibility federal guidelines in the recent years) to informally and peer-review courses. Today, we look at this OSCQR rubric since it has partnered with the Online Learning Consortium, it is openly licensed, and it is gaining national endorsements.

The OSCQR rubric started with:

• the CHICO Rubric,
• Universal Design Learning principles,
• Quality Matters,
• iNACOL and
• Blackboard Exemplary Courses.

It incorporates Instructional Design, the Community of Inquiry model, PGP for Undergraduate education, adult learner theory, Bloom's Taxonomy, and maps to the Open SUNY COTE core competencies.

Advantages of this rubric include:

• User friendly
•  Flexible
•  Openly licensed for adaptability
•  Not evaluative
•  Estimates time for improvement
•  Allows for prioritization
•  Offers examples
•  Research-based

Fifty (50) criteria are outlined, but in contrast to the TLPDC Course Design Rubric it comes with great resources worth exploring.

See the following links for further information:

• OPEN SUNY Course Supports
• OSCQR
• OLC OSCQR Course Design Review Scorecard

And as always, feel free to contact eLearning Instructional Design team at elearning.id@ttu.edu for any guidance you might need in developing your course.