Internet Learning Volume 4, Number 2, Fall 2015 | Page 74

The Intersection of EPAS and QM Rubric Standards for Best Practice in Distance Education
to Boyer’s model of scholarship. QM is
now a self-sustaining program and process
for which institutions provide a fee-forservice
or subscription to participate in
professional development, including peer
reviewer training to promote best practice
in distance education.
Comparison and Analysis
Proliferation of distance education
programs presents challenges for national,
regional, and specialized degree granting
organizations. The author evaluated primary
standards documents from ACOTE and
QM for congruity and disparity, strengths
and limitations. For clarification, national,
regional, and specialized accreditation are
concerned with programs and institutions
as a whole. Accreditation reviewers
examine administrative concerns such as
sponsorship of the institution, academic
and student resources, fiscal management,
operational and admission policies,
strategic planning, and program evaluation.
Reviewers may also examine curricular
frameworks and content, particularly for
specialized degrees and programs, however,
QM reviewers assess and recognize only
individual courses, without examination
of larger institutional concerns. QM
reviewers may see elements of institutional
or programmatic, admin-istrative concerns
addressed within a single course, but QM is
not intended to be a substitute for the larger
focus of national, regional or specialized
accreditation (Legon, 2006).
The following table is a comparison
between the ACOTE Standards on the
Distance Education Checklist and the
corresponding QM Standards. Many of the
ACOTE Standards address institutional
accreditation and cannot be assessed
against the QM Standards focus at an
individual course level. The comparison is
an attempt to determine congruity, gaps,
and opportunities. The QM Standards
Rubric may be reprinted only with
explicit permission of a QM staff member,
which was not provided for this article.
The QM Higher Education Rubric,
Fifth Edition, 2014 Standards only are
available for individual, single-use at the
QM website: https://www.qualitymatters.
org/rubric. The downloadable document
is intended solely for transparency to the
public; the complete document with its rich
explanations and supporting materials is
available through paid services. The reader
may contact MarylandOnline, Inc. at info@
qualitymatters.org for information or reprint
permission. ACOTE Standards are available
for download at http://www.aota.org/-/
media/Corporate/Files/EducationCareers/
Accredit/Standards/2011-Standards-and-
Interpretive-Guide-August-2013.pdf.
ACOTE Distance Education Checklist,
a portion of the ACOTE Standards, is
available for download at http://www.aota.
org/Education-Careers/Accreditation.
aspx. The author, a long time ACOTE
accreditation reviewer, updated the existing
ACOTE Distance Education Checklist to
reflect the corresponding 2011 Standards,
effective July 31, 2013. The first column
within the table lists the ACOTE Standard.
The second column lists recommended
ACOTE questions to illuminate each
Standard. The third column lists the related
QM Standard, noted as essential where
relevant. The last column contains the
author’s comments about the relationship
between the two sets of standards.
73