Click the image above to see the video.

In 2008, the Washington State Board for Community & Technical Colleges (SBCTC) started a consortium subscription with Quality Matters (QM) that allowed colleges within the system to participate in professional development workshops, access QM services and materials, and conduct official course reviews. Today, 34 institutions are part of that statewide subscription, and a total of 83 courses in the state of Washington have received the Certification Seal from QM, indicating that those courses were assessed by an official Review Team and met the QM Standards. The importance and role of the QM program nationwide is well captured and summarized by Stephanie Diemel, QM Master Reviewer, in this video clip. As Diemel states, “QM is a set of tools for improving and developing online courses;” it is “a community of faculty and learners and researchers” who are in the program with the intent “of improving online education.”

Note that, among all SBCTC-affiliated colleges, three institutions have led the state in the pursuit of the QM Seal for their online courses. Those are: Clark College, Shoreline Community College, and Whatcom Community College. Together, Clark, Shoreline and Whatcom have submitted 63 of 83 Washington State courses currently listed in the QM national registry. As of today, Shoreline ranks #35 in the QM national registry, which comprises a total of 252 higher education institutions with 4,074 courses officially recognized by QM since 2005, when the registry was established. Together with Shoreline faculty, eLearning Services is currently working on having two more courses receive the Certification Seal from QM by the end of January, and several more courses to join the QM national registry by the end of 2015. See all Shoreline courses currently recognized by QM. Such accomplishments reflect Shoreline’s Virtual Campus Initiative and our commitment to quality online education and student success.