It’s Quality Matters Monday! Each Monday, we will highlight a Quality Matters standard and review its importance in an online course and how we evaluate this standard.

Today, we are reviewing Quality Matters Standards 2.5.

General Standard 2 addresses the necessary components that make up quality learning objectives or competencies, which establish a foundation upon which the rest of the course is based.

Click here to view Quality Matters Standard 2.5 in the Quality Matters Rubric. This standard specifically addresses the inclusion of learning objectives or competencies that are suited to the level of the course.

It is important that expected content mastery be appropriate to the type and level of the course. Taxonomies that describe levels of learning can be helpful in categorizing learning objectives or competencies by level and in enabling reviewers to determine whether the objectives or competencies correspond to the course.

For example, a first-year course is likely to include objectives or competencies that are lower in the cognitive realm and may use verbs such as “identify,” “describe,” or “apply,” which align with assessments such as multiple-choice quizzes, essay questions in exams, or solving problems.

On the other hand, upper-division and graduate courses are more likely to include objectives or competencies that are higher in the cognitive realm and may use verbs such as “differentiate,” “design,” or justify,” with assessments such as critiques, flow charts, or original research.

In our demo course, BUSN 7000 Start-Ups: Venturing Into Entrepreneurship, you can find higher order learning objectives that align with higher level activities due to the graduate level nature of the course.

Click here to access Quality Matters eLearning Marketplace. The Quality Matters eLearning Marketplace is a free, searchable database built to serve the broad QM community with an easy-to-use eLearning product/service directory organized within the 8 general standards of the rubric as well as by user and product categories.