ALLIANCE – In recognition of its proven academic quality and rigor, the University of Mount Union recently had four online courses earn national certification from Quality Matters (QM).

To receive this recognition, Mount Union faculty worked with Dr. Stephen Craig, the University’s director of digital learning and design, for more than 20 weeks on a thorough course development process. After each course was taught at least twice, they were submitted to QM for certification, where a team of external reviewers analyzed each course on 42 specific review standards. 

A course earns the QM Certification Mark once it meets QM Rubric Standards at the 85% threshold or better and meets all Essential Standards. All four Mount Union courses met the standard by more than 97%. 

“QM is the leading global organization on quality assurance in online and innovative digital teaching and learning environments. This illustrates the high quality of online courses offered at Mount Union that these courses have earned QM Certification,” said Craig. “This is a testament to our work and processes at UMU around online education. We are incredibly proud of the hard work that our faculty have put into this process.”

The four courses that earned QM certification were:

• Introduction to Professional Writing, taught by Dr. Rodney Dick, professor of English
• Marketing Management, taught by Dr. Wendy Ziems-Mueller, director of the fully-online Master of Business Administration program
• Foundations of Leadership, taught by Dr. Mandy Capel, director of the fully-online Master of Education program
• Anatomy and Physiology I, taught by Dr. Chris Marks, associate professor of biology 

Craig anticipates that more courses will earn QM certification within the next year, further indicating the continued quality of online learning at Mount Union. Certifications from QM last for five years. 

To learn more about QM and its efforts, visit qualitymatters.org.