Reading time: 4 min.
Video time: 0

Online course design rubrics, standards, and guidelines have been around since shortly after the dawn of online education. These are usually a compilation of research, theory, and the practical experience of veteran online educators.

Personally, I think these are useful. But clearly, given that online education is not yet as successful as we want it to be, we are still figuring this out, especially as we seek more equitable outcomes for online students from disproportionately impacted populations. While online course rubrics may not be blueprints for success, they certainly can help instructors to see their online courses and teaching practices in a new light, and hopefully to make adjustments that will improve the student experience.

As the Manifesto for Teaching Online so pithily states, "There are many ways to get it right online. 'Best practice' neglects context." I completely agree; yet, at the risk of being mildly provocative, I would also say, there are many, many ways to get it wrong. For most faculty, approaching online course design from an intuitive sense of "let me just figure out how to do what I do in the classroom, online" can lead to some significant challenges.

In that sense, online course design guidelines and standards can be seen as offering boundaries that can help instructors get creative, while maintaining some assurance that their efforts will at minimum "do no harm" to students. In a more positive light, personally, I've worked with many faculty in my career who have found that not only do online course design and teaching guidelines help improve their practice of online teaching, but they also feel that they become more effective classroom instructors, too, as they learn to incorporate the guidance.

Becoming familiar with, and fluent with, online teaching guidelines does not happen overnight. The intent here is simply to introduce you to two resources especially recommended for use at MiraCosta. Engaging in ongoing collegial dialogue about these is important. Sharing what's working - and what's not - with other faculty on the journey is priceless. Attending online teaching workshops and conferences can also be a great help.

MiraCosta Online Class Quality Guidelines

As stated in the MiraCosta Online Class Quality Guidelines, "the guidelines were developed by the MiraCosta Online Educators committee to help faculty develop and redesign online classes and foster conversation in departments about effective and equity-minded teaching practices in online education." Originally developed and approved in 2016, MOE substantially revised these in 2020-21 to reflect updates to external regulations and a greater emphasis on equity.

The Guidelines begin with essential elements required of online classes based on MiraCosta policy and procedure. These requirements comprise the Self-Checklist which is now contractually required for all MiraCosta faculty teaching online to self-certify their understanding and compliance.

After that relatively brief initial section, the heart of the Guidelines is a set of recommended practices and examples for online teaching "based on principles for good teaching practice and encouraging equity in online education. [The] list is not meant to be prescriptive or all-inclusive. It includes examples that will vary in their applicability across classes and disciplines, and are offered to encourage creativity and exploration."

The Guidelines conclude by providing three sets of principles for quality, equity-minded online education. These principles were critical to the committee as it developed and organized the examples provided in Part II of the document.

In addition to the Guidelines document, MiraCosta faculty can join a Canvas course which includes many examples of how MiraCosta faculty are implementing elements of the Guidelines in Canvas.

CVC Course Design Rubric

Compared to MiraCosta's Guidelines, the CVC Course Design Rubric (originally the "OEI rubric") is a more prescriptive, specific resource designed to be used in course reviews. It has multiple criteria in four areas: Content Presentation, Interaction, Assessment, and Accessibility. While the rubric was originally designed to be used to review online courses being offered for inclusion on the California Virtual Campus Online Education Initiative Course Exchange, many colleges have adopted the rubric for use locally, often through a CVC-certified process called Peer Online Course Review (POCR). While MiraCosta has not developed a POCR process or endorsed this rubric in any official way, It can certainly be a useful self-check tool for faculty designing online classes.

While the rubric is formatted quite differently from the MiraCosta Online Class Quality Guidelines, a closer look reveals that there is an extensive amount of overlap in what the two areas address. Check out a comparison if you are interested in seeing more of what each one addresses and how they relate. (Note, this comparison is based on version 1 of the MiraCosta Online Class Quality Guidelines, and will be updated to match the latest version.)

Extending Your Professional Learning

Interested in reviewing other course design/teaching rubrics? There are many, but a few that may be especially useful include:

Peralta CC district's Online Equity Rubric
California State University's QLT Course Review Instrument
State University of New York's Open SUNY Course Quality Review Rubric
Quality Matters Higher Education Rubric

Also recommended: a three part article series comparing and discussing higher education online course design rubrics.

What: Comparing 7 rubrics
So What: Importance and impact of these rubrics
Now What: Recommendations for rubric providers and users

Module Home