Course Quality

As part of The Office of Instructional Design’s (OID) commitment to creating quality, consistent, and meaningful student learning experiences, OID adopted the SUNY Online Course Quality Review Rubric (OSCQR). Beginning in Fall, 2023, all new programs and courses will be developed to align with OSCQR’s current and robust standards for online courses and distance education programs.  

What is the OSCQR Rubric? 

The Open SUNY Course Quality Rubric (or OSCQR) was initially developed by the State University System of New York. The OSCQR rubric is non-evaluative and is conceptually seen as an action plan to meeting OHIO’s six criteria of teaching excellence   This rubric aims to enhance the quality, design, and accessibility of online courses. The rubric includes an array of widely researched and adopted standards for online learning. Since its initial development, the SUNY OSCQR team has partnered with the Online Learning Consortium (OLC) to continually provide updates and current best practices to be reflected in the rubric. 

The rubric itself is open source and is available for other institutions and individuals to use. The OID Instructional designers are certified OSCQR reviewers, as a result, OID is qualified to complete quality course reviews and collaborate with faculty on ways to improve the experience of their online courses.  

You can use the rubric to review your own course or schedule a consultation with an Instructional Designer to discuss course quality.

Check out the OSCQR rubric (PDF)

How do I review my course with OSCQR? 

  1. Visit SUNY’s Get OSCQR webpage.
  2. Select “Generate your OSCQR SUNY Online Interactive Rubric”.
  3. Enter your email address and the title of your course, then press submit.
  4. You will then receive an email with a link to the rubric (Google Sheets).
  5. Evaluate your course based on each standard. Follow the links within the rubric for more information about the criteria or visit the OSCQR website at any time.
  6. In each rubric, you will be able to enter an action plan next to each standard. These will automatically appear in the action plan tab.  
  7. Use your action plan to further improve your course. 

How do I have a course reviewed by an Instructional Designer? 

  1. Send an email to OID@ohio.edu and mention that you would like your course reviewed by our team. A member of the OID team will respond and set up an initial consultation to share more information about the course review and to gather information regarding your course. 
  2. A member of the OID team will respond within 48 business hours and set up an initial consultation to share more information about the course review and to gather information regarding your course.
  3. The OSCQR review will take approximately 1 week to complete. 
  4. Once the review is complete, our office will send you the evaluation and set up a one-on-one meeting to discuss the results and answer any questions you may have.
  5. If you are interested in implementing changes or feedback from the rubric, we will create a course redesign project and an Instructional Designer will be assigned to work with you.

  • Email

    Want to connect with the Office of Instructional Design via email? This is the place. Send us an email with your inquiry and we will get back to you shortly. 

    Email Us