Daily News

American International College Adopts Quality Matters

SPRINGFIELD — American International College (AIC) is committed to ensuring that its online courses and programs employ best practices based on the existing research literature. Course-development goals are focused on ensuring the highest levels of student learning, interaction, and engagement.

To meet these goals, AIC has become a Quality Matters (QM) member. QM is a faculty-centered peer-review process designed to certify the quality of online courses. The QM Rubric and course-review process were developed from a grant provided by the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education. QM has received national recognition for its peer-based approach to quality assurance and continuous improvement in distance learning and has more than 1,000 subscribers in North American and around the world.

The QM Rubric is research-based and promotes best practice-based quality standards. Alignment, a central concept of the QM Rubric, requires that critical course components — learning objectives, assessment and measurement, instructional materials, learner interaction, and engagement and course technology — work together to ensure that students achieve desired learning outcomes.