Internet Learning Volume 5, Number 1, Fall 2016/Winter 2017 | Page 16

Online Graduate Course Evaluation from Both Students’ and
Peer Instructors’ Perspectives Utilizing Quality Matters TM
• The National Adult Education
Professional Development Consortium:
http://www.naepdc.org/
index.html
• The Adult Literacy & Technology
Network: http://www.altn.org/
about.html
While these links are specific to
our institution, we recommend inserting
comparable links to the readers’ institution
or organization.
Conclusion
By utilizing the QM standards,
we identified strengths as well as
weaknesses of the graduate online
adult education program. In general,
the online adult education graduate
courses fulfilled the key components of
the QM standards. We confirmed that
students’ perceptions regarding the
course design and learning experiences
were consistent with the intention of instructors.
On the basis of our findings,
instructors’ specified areas for improvement
and considered some practical
implications through the evaluation
with QM standards. Institutions that
offer online courses may find it beneficial
to survey students and apply Quality
Matters standards to its courses. This
may provide ways to identify strengths
and weaknesses, modify areas that are
indicated as needing improvement, and
respond directly to student concerns.
This is one way that higher education
institutions may attend to the reservations
about the value and legitimacy of
15
online learning held by faculty noted at
the beginning of this study.
References
Adair, D., & Shattuck, K. (2015). Quality
Matters™: An educational input in an
ongoing design-based research project.
American Journal of Distance Education,
29(3), 159–165. doi:10.1080/0892
3647.2015.1057094
Allen, E., & Seaman, J. (2016). Online
report card, tracking online education
in the United States. Retrieved from
http://onlinelearningsurvey.com/
reports/onlinereportcard.pdf
Aman, R. R. (2009). Improving student
satisfaction and retention with online
instruction through systematic faculty
peer review of courses (Unpublished
dissertation). Oregon State University.
Corvallis, OR. Retrieved from http://
ir.library.oregonstate.edu/xmlui/
bitstream/handle/1957/11945/Aman_
Dissertation.pdf
Dietz-Uhler, B., Fisher, A., & Han, A.
(2007). Designing online courses to
promote student retention. Journal of
Educational Technology Systems, 36(1),
105–112. doi:10.2190/ET.36.1.g
Ralston-Berg, P. (2014). Surveying student
perspectives of quality: Value of
QM rubric items. Internet Learning, 3(1).
Retrieved from http://digitalcommons.
apus.edu/internetlearning/vol3/iss1/11
Shattuck, K. (2015). Research inputs
and outputs of quality matters: Update