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The Quality Matters (QM)™ rubric presents a set of research-based standards on which to judge the quality of online courses. The authors of this study investigated how students' perceptions of online course quality compare to those put forth in the QM rubric. Participants in this study n = 3,160 included students currently taking an online college-level course were invited to rate the importance of each QM standard restated from the student perspective. Students' ratings of each item were compared to the ranking of each item received by QM (3-Essential, 2-Very Important, or 1-Important). The student rating for each item was at least 1.0 indicating that students do value the QM criteria as important to their success in an online course. Items related to having clear instructions for getting started in the course and ease of navigation were rated highly by both QM and students. However, students did not value items related to the importance of interacting with peers and the instructor at the same high level indicated in the QM rubric. Other findings related to practical differences between student and QM ratings of rubric items are discussed.

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The purpose of this paper is to explore whether experienced online students (who have completed seven or more online courses) perceive the quality of their courses differently than novice online students (who have completed three or fewer online courses) or students with an intermediate level of online course experience (those who have completed four to six online courses). Overall, 3,160 online students completed a survey which asked them to indicate the extent to which statements derived from the Quality Matters rubric contributed to student success. The results indicate that students rated some items differently based on their previous online course experience. Novice online learners felt that having netiquette guidelines clearly stated was more important than experienced online learners. Experienced learners rated several items as being more important than novice and/or intermediate online learners, including items related to self-introductions, appropriateness of assessments, relevance and quality of instructional materials, clarity of requirements for interaction, ease of navigation, and availability of required technologies. The implications of these findings for course designers and instructors are discussed.

This study describes assessment results from the Distance Education Mentoring Program (DEMP) at Purdue University Calumet, Indiana, USA. The program, sponsored by the university's Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, was made available to all teaching faculty who wished to become protégés and develop their skills at teaching online courses. The DEMP is a university initiative designed to enhance the development of high-quality online courses by mentoring faculty in instructional design principles. Faculty member protégés who completed the mentoring program were surveyed using an anonymous questionnaire. Data were obtained from 34 faculty respondents who completed the program during the last three years. Using regression analysis, we found that the Pyramid Model explained 83% of the variance in perceptions of teaching improvement attributable to the DEMP. The program's process orientation, continuous improvement approach, and focus on customer satisfaction explained protégés' perceived improvement in teaching. In addition, protégés believed their peer faculty mentors provided more psychosocial support than career development. Implications for implementation of a mentoring program in a university setting are discussed.