ISU just had our first course certified through Quality Matters: VMPM 378 Case Studies IV: Emerging and Exotic Diseases of Animals/Initial Accreditation Training. CELT is a subscriber to a national non-profit quality assurance program for online and blended learning called Quality Matters (QM)https://www.qualitymatters.org. Quality Matters is a nationally recognized, faculty-centered, peer review process designed to certify the quality of online course design and online components. Instructors can submit their course to QM for review and if it meets their standards the course is awarded a certification.
VMPM 378, the Emerging and Exotic Diseases of Animals (EEDA) web-based course was developed between 2000-2002 by Iowa State University, the University of Georgia, the University of California, Davis and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). It has been used since 2002 at U.S. veterinary schools to raise awareness of foreign, emerging, and exotic animal diseases and the appropriate response if an unusual disease is suspected. The course is currently used at all United States veterinary schools and serves as the Initial Accreditation Training that must be completed as part of the USDA Accreditation process.
Quality Matters promotes a peer review process and provides a database of trained QM Peer Reviewers eligible for assignment to a peer review team. Any subscribing institution may conduct internal or informal reviews or contract with Quality Matters to conduct an official review. Official course reviews may also be conducted by eligible subscribers according to the terms in the appropriate subscription agreement. Courses that meet QM Review Standards are listed in the Quality Matters’ Registry of Courses. Please visit the QM website for more information about QM course reviews. Courses that successfully meet QM Review Standards in an official course review are eligible to carry the QM Certification Mark that is specific to the QM Rubric version used in the course review. The following is an example of a certification mark issued for a course that successfully met standards in an official QM Course Review in 2015.
For more information about Quality Matters at ISU contact: Allan Schmidt, 294-5357 or aschmidt@iastate.edu