Distance Education

With the rapid growth of online education at West Chester University, the Office of Digital Learning and Innovation looked to ensure that our online courses are built upon research-backed standards. Therefore, we partnered with Quality Matters (QM), a non-profit organization that specializes in standards for quality assurance for online course and program design. The Office of Digital Learning and Innovation staff and a number of faculty members have been trained on the QM rubric, standards, and course review process. 

The QM rubric is broken down into eight General Standards:

1. Course Overview and Introduction
2. Learning Objectives
3. Assessment and Measurement
4. Instructional Materials
5. Learning Activities and Learner Interaction
6. Course Technology
7. Learner Support
8. Accessibility and Usability

Each of the General Standards are further broken down into Specific Review Standards. In total, there are 42 Specific Review Standards. A course meets QM certification if it meets the standards at an 85% level.

Faculty members from all five colleges at WCU have prepared their online courses for review with the assistance of the instructional design team. Once a course has been submitted to QM, it is reviewed by a peer review team which consists of a Team Chair, Subject Matter Expert, and External Reviewer. We have worked with peer review team members from all over the country. WCU faculty members have also been certified and are eligible to serve on a review team.

After obtaining QM certification, faculty members can display the QM Certification Mark on the syllabus and D2L course homepage. The mark informs our students that the course has clear expectations, meaningful content, and engaging activities.

The Office of Digital Learning and Innovation runs an initiative each academic year in which faculty members are compensated for preparing their courses for review and obtaining QM certification. If you’re interested in learning more, reach out to your assigned instructional designer.

For more information please contact the Office of Digital Learning and Innovation via email at

distanceed@wcupa.edu.

Through our eTextbook Initiative, faculty help combat the rising costs of textbooks by learning how to build their own high-quality, interactive electronic textbooks. These eTextbooks are then provided to WCU students for free, helping to lower the overall cost of their education while removing the financial barrier to obtaining these educational materials. Please see the initiative’s faculty information page for more about the application process, participation requirements, and stipends for completed eTextbooks.

A faculty cohort participates in a multi-week Digital Learning Objects Instructional Video initiative typically in the spring semester. This initiative provides a structured training sequence to assist faculty in applying multimedia design and universal design for learning principles as they create two, six minute or less instructional videos. The final videos are presented at the Teaching with Technology Excellent Showcase in May. 

For more information please contact the Office of Digital Learning and Innovation via email at

distanceed@wcupa.edu.

The Active Learning Space initiative aims to foster technology innovation and teaching effectiveness in active learning classroom spaces. This initiative offers three training sessions to prepare faculty on the implementation of active learning strategies and develop faculty competencies using active learning classroom technology tools. At the end of the initiative, faculty will create a lesson plan utilizing active learning techniques, classroom technologies and space for one class session. 

For more information please contact the Office of Digital Learning and Innovation via email at

distanceed@wcupa.edu.

Interested in conducting research related to distance education at West Chester University? Join the Distance Education Scholars Center. It is a hub and catalyst for distance education research at WCU aimed at bringing students, faculty, and other members of the community together through learning, scholarship and service. Contact the Office of Digital Learning & Innovation at

distanceed@wcupa.edu

to propose a research topic or join an existing research project. 

This initiative is a University-wide effort intended to explore new and innovative digital pedagogies and technologies in teaching and learning with the goal of improving student success. The focus of the 2021-22 initiative is extended reality, a term which encompasses virtual and augmented reality. For more information please contact the Office of Digital Learning and Innovation via email at

distanceed@wcupa.edu

.