Online Course Quality Standards
USU Online is Utah’s #1 Online University, ranking 23rd for best online bachelor’s programs, 6th in graduate education, and 18th in online bachelor’s for military veterans by U.S. News & World Report. In fact, USU is the only university in Utah to make it among the top 100 in the nation. We achieve this by having high quality online course standards that follow industry best practices. We strive to have well designed courses that include interaction and go beyond simply downloading documents or watching recorded lectures.
The following best practices have proven to be essential in creating and managing well designed courses that facilitate student and instructor success. For additional information on these topics, please contact an Instructional Designer in the CIDI at 797-9506.
- Upon first entering the course, students can easily find the course syllabus and introductory materials.
- The progression of course content and activities is easy to find, clearly outlined, and appropriately segmented into units or modules.
- Course appears visually clean, consistent, and appealing on the home page and throughout.
- Course technology is readily available or requirements are addressed up front.
- Textbook information and other materials requirements are provided.
- Course fees are explained.
- Syllabus addresses university policies and procedures, including academic honesty, harassment, withdrawal, I-grades, and student grievance processes.
- Course provides instructions on how to find technical support and academic support services.
- Course technology is supported by the USU Help Desk, or appropriate support mechanisms are provided.
- A course introduction orients students to the course environment, explaining the course organization and structure and how Canvas will be used during the course.
- An overview of the course content is provided and explains why the subject is important/interesting, and how it fits into the larger context of the discipline.
- Course has an instructor introduction.
- Students are encouraged to introduce themselves to the instructor and each other.
- Provides a concrete timeframe for response to student inquiries (within 24 hours during the work week and 48 hours over weekends) and posting grades.
- Evaluation methods, assessment activities, and grading scheme are clearly outlined.
- Provides clear expectations for frequency and quality of student engagement and participation.
- Provides clear expectations for student etiquette in participation.
- Course-level objectives are stated.
- IDEA objectives are aligned with course objectives.
- Module/unit objectives are clearly stated with measurable outcomes.
- Module/unit objectives are aligned with resources, activities, and assessments.
- Specific, descriptive criteria are provided for the evaluation of students' work and participation, ideally in the form of a rubric.
- High stakes exams are delivered in a secured manner that includes student identity verification and discourages academic dishonesty.
- Appropriate pacing mechanisms (due dates, reminders, follow-ups) are used to ensure timely student completion and regular engagement.
- Activities provide students with opportunities to receive feedback early and frequently.
- Course includes assessments or activities that are problem-centered or application-oriented in nature.
- Course design facilitates integration of new concepts into regular practice through demonstration, reflection, creation, or similar activities.
- Course provides additional tutorials/resources as needed to accomplish objectives.
- Course design includes elements that help students recall prior learning and experiences.
- Course design fosters interaction with instructors.
- Course design fosters interaction with other students.
- Syllabus contains the Disability Resource Center Accessibility Statement.
- Course pages have consistent navigation, meaningful headings and adequate contrast.
- Audio and video files are captioned and/or transcribed.
- All documents (PDF, Word, PowerPoint, etc.) are accessible. This includes making sure text in any scanned file is machine-readable.
- All images have appropriate alt text or long descriptions.
- High stakes exams are delivered in a secured manner that includes student identity verification and discourages academic dishonesty.
- An authentic assessment are used including tasks for students to perform, such as: group reports, literature reviews, presentations, etc.
- Plagiarism detection is used to identify potential instances of plagiarism by matching text from a student's assignment to a database of outside sources.
- Cheating opportunities are limited by not re-using exams, multiple exam versions, live or virtual exam proctors, and multiple question types, and variable question order.