APPENDIX 3: COURSE DESIGN RUBRIC (ESSENTIAL ITEMS)
| COURSE DESIGN QUALITY ELEMENT AND
EXCEPTIONAL QUALITY CRITERIA |
| Course Introduction & Overview |
| Information about the purpose and structure of the course is easy to find and is clearly written (e.g. learning activities, deadlines, requirements, and so on). |
| Learning Outcomes |
| Learning outcomes are written in measurable terms |
| Links between learning outcomes and students’ assessments I clearly written, explicitly stated, and provided to students in an intuitive location (e.g. with the assessments) |
| Learning outcomes are provided, easy to locate, and clearly written from the students’ perspective |
| Consistency exists between learning outcomes and module/unit goals and is clearly articulated |
| Learning outcomes are at the appropriate learning level (designed for the level of the course and level of students in the course and are clearly written |
| Student Assessment |
| Instructor grading policies are clearly written and easy to find |
| Grading rubrics are provided for all assessments, are clearly written, and models of “good work” are shown |
| Instructions for assignment are clearly written, easily located, and contain sufficient detail to ensure student understanding. |
| Instructional Materials |
| Required materials for the course are listed and are easily accessible from various locations within the course (e.g. ISBNs and links) |
| All materials contribute to achievement of course/unit outcomes |
| Content Presentation/Structure |
| Content is easily located and present in distinct and manageable segments (e.g. modules, weekly segments) |
| Course navigation is intuitive, content flows in a logical progression (e.g. presented in a table of contents, modules in numerical order) |
| All elements of the course design are consistent (i.e. font, graphics, icons, layout and organizational levels) and professional looking |
| Student Interaction/Engagement |
| Communication activities are deliberately designed to help build a sense of community |
| Student-student and student-instructor interaction is required and instructions about how to engage in this are clearly stated and simple. |
| Course Technology |
| The majority of tools/media support student learning by engaging students with course content and guiding them to become an active learner |
| Technology required for course is easily accessible from various locations and links or resources are provided |
| All course technology is reliable |
| All of the tools/technology that is incorporated is appropriate to the course outcomes (i.e. not just included for sake of inclusion) |
| Student Support |
| Accessible technologies are fully employed |
| Design factors reflect universal accessibility considerations (e.g. AODA accessibility standards) |
| Faculty Support |
| Full technical assistance in course development is available |
| Full pedagogical assistance in course development is available |
| Communication and Feedback |
| Learners can give formative and summative feedback to the instructor about design/content and their learning |
| Legal/Procedural Issues |
| Copyrights have been obtained for all external course materials, when applicable |
Scoring:
3 if design completely satisfies that element
2 if design mostly meets that element
1 if design somewhat meets that element
0 if design does not meet that element
Maximum points = 78
Taken from Quality Standards for the Delivery of High-Quality Online Courses, Report for the Council of Ontario Universities