High Quality Online Course Review

How Does an Online Course Earn a High Quality Designation?

If your online course earned a Quality designation, you then have the option to request a High Quality Online Course Review. Requesting a High Quality review means that you are also committing to engaging in the High Quality review process as a third reviewer. The first and second reviewers in this process are both Instructional Designers at CDL. Third reviewers must have earned the HQR4444 credential.

High Quality Review Items

Important Information!

Starting January 2, 2024, reviews will be conducted with updated review items that better align with UCF’s Digital Accessibility Policy and to remain equivalent with the most recent version of Quality Matters. View the updated items below.

Download High Quality Course Review Items [PDF]

Course Overview and Introduction

Students are provided with the needed prerequisite knowledge, access to course policies and university services, information on the required technology for the course, and are offered an overview of the course and/or course modules/units.

  1. Expectations for prior knowledge and competencies (beyond prerequisite courses) are described in the syllabus.
  2. Expectations for digital skills (e.g., technical, information literacy) are clearly stated in the syllabus.
  3. An introduction to the university’s services and resources that support student success and well-being (e.g., Student Care Services, Health Services) is provided.
  4. Accessibility statements for tools that are provided by vendors external to UCF are included.
  5. The course provides students with information on protecting their data and privacy related to tools that are provided by vendors external to UCF (e.g., links to privacy statements).
  6. An orientation, introduction, or overview is provided for the course (e.g., Canvas Page, video, syllabus).
  7. An orientation, introduction, or overview is provided for each module or unit in the course (e.g., Canvas Page, video).

Course Content

The course content and technology used is current, accessible, and appropriately cited.

  1. Instructional materials represent current theory and practice in the discipline.
  2. The course models academic integrity by providing citations and permissions for use of instructional materials.

Assessment and Engagement

The assessments promote higher-order thinking while promoting academic integrity. Students are encouraged to develop a sense of community through introduction.

  1. Assessments promote higher-order thinking skills (e.g., apply, analyze, compare and contrast, classify, assess, create, evaluate).
  2. Students are given multiple opportunities to self-assess and/or reflect on their learning (e.g., ungraded surveys, practice quizzes/activities, written assignments, discussions) throughout the semester.
  3. Measures to promote academic integrity are included (e.g., authentic assessments, multi/varied assignments and quizzes, Respondus Monitor).
  4. An opportunity for students to introduce themselves to develop a sense of community is provided.

Accessibility and Usability

The text is formatted with titles, headings, and other styles to enhance readability and improve the structure of the document. Media is appropriately labeled or close-captioned to enhance accessibility.

  1. Tables include a descriptive title or caption.
  2. Videos have accurate synchronous captions, and transcripts are provided.
  3. Accessibility and Usability items addressed in Quality Review are still present.

Act Now

It is encouraged to teach the course at least once before requesting a review, but in special circumstances, a course can be reviewed as long as it is complete. Complete the Course Review Request Form to start the conversation with an instructional designer.

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.