Quality Matters™ Membership
Providing high-quality, engaging courses is a top priority to North Park University—no matter what format students choose to take classes. We take our students’ learning experiences seriously and strive to ensure a rewarding experience in any face-to-face, hybrid, or online classroom. 
North Park is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission and is a member of the Quality Matters (QM) quality assurance program, committed to best practices in online course development and delivery.
Quality Matters (QM) originated from a Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE) grant. Quality Matters is a nationally recognized peer-reviewed process for the academic quality and rigor of online and hybrid courses. Quality Matters is a faculty-centered, peer-reviewed process designed to certify the quality of online courses. Quality Matters is:
- Collegial, partnering faculty peer reviewers with course representatives in dialogue about course design
- Research-based
- Recognized
Today, QM offers professional development opportunities in the form of webinars, conferences, online courses, and course reviews through their secure QM Course Review Management System (CRMS). You can view more about signing up for professional development opportunities in our Professional Development tab below.
North Park has been a member of QM since 2009 where they utilize the QM Rubric (you would receive a fully annotated version during the Course Development Process in the COE 102) for their Internal Review Process for all online and hybrid courses. Please watch this brief video that provides an overview of QM. For additional information about QM, please visit the Quality Matters website.
Instructional Design Services
Provided by the Center for Online Education includes training of faculty in hybrid and online course design and development, and the maintenance of Quality Matters™ instructional design requirements in all online/hybrid courses. Instructional design duties are executed primarily via the course entitled, Online Course Development (COE 102), face-to-face workshops and one-on-one guidance.
Overview of Course Development
In designing and developing online and hybrid courses, the Center for Online Education views instructional design as a systematic process, in which every course component (i.e. assessments, instructional materials, course activities, learner interaction, and technology) works together to ensure that students achieve the desired learning objectives for all online/hybrid courses. You can view our entire course development process from inquiry, development and review in the following document or click the below tabs to learn more about a particular section.
