Academic Partnerships Signs an Agreement with Quality Matters, a Leading Provider of Quality Assurance in Online Education DALLAS, Feb. 20, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Academic Partnerships signed an agreement with Quality Matters, a leading provider of quality assurance in online learning. Academic Partnerships (AP) is a higher education service provider that helps university faculty transfer their high quality courses into an engaging and individualized online learning experience for students that results in high completion rates and outstanding student performance. "University faculty members are truly experts in their fields, but may not have had the time or resources to become experts in quality online course design," said Debra Cannon, director, curriculum support services, Academic Partnerships. By subscribing to the Quality Matters™ program, the Academic Partnerships team is able to provide a national benchmark for online course design, both during the course design phase and in reviewing existing courses for possible enhancement. Course review is based on a set of standards called the Quality Matters Rubric, which is used to evaluate the design of online and blended courses. The eight general standards include course overview and introduction, learning objectives (competencies), assessment and measurement, instructional materials, learner interaction and engagement, course technology, learner support and accessibility. "When AP team members conduct onsite 'Course Blueprinting' sessions with university faculty members and instructional designers, they show how the Quality Matters™ Rubric and other key success factors can guide the development or revision of the online courses to promote student engagement and further student success," Cannon said. AP also conducts comprehensive reviews of each course before its release and provides specific feedback and suggestions to the faculty author of the course. AP helps college faculty develop courses intended to meet Quality Matters standards. "As a non-profit program, the mission of Quality Matters is to promote and improve the quality of online education and student learning," said Deborah Adair, director of Quality Matters. QM has been adopted by more than 575 colleges and universities, as well as K12 programs, to assure quality in the design of their online courses. "We are pleased to have Academic Partnerships participate in what is the largest community collaboration on quality assurance in online education," Adair said. The application of the Quality Matters Rubric to the courses designed and enhanced by Academic Partnerships anchors those courses to a national standard of quality and helps us further our mission. About Academic Partnerships Academic Partnerships is a higher education service provider that works exclusively with state universities to convert their traditional degree programs to online delivery and to recruit and retain qualified students. For more information see www.academicpartnerships.com About Quality Matters Quality Matters is a nationally recognized, faculty-centered, peer review process designed to certify the quality of online courses and online components. Colleges and universities across the country use the tools in developing, maintaining and reviewing their online courses and in training their faculty. www.qmprogram.org SOURCE Academic Partnerships