teachology
Special Guest Message
Dr. Jackson N. Sasser
President, Santa Fe College
F
or almost half a century, Santa
Fe College has served our
students in the most
academically rigorous, humanely
supportive, and socially inclusive
manner. In the last decade, online
offerings have allowed the college to
apply those same precepts using
technologies that were but a dream 50
years ago, to provide students with
increased access to flexible and mobile
learning.
Two years ago the College Senate
convened an ad hoc committee to
address all aspects of online
instruction. Their focus was how to
assure the best training, professional
development, and delivery for Santa
Fe’s online courses, all in the context of
our values and mission.
With the arrival of Ms. Lisa Ciardulli to
our college and her leadership in
academic technologies, with assistance
from Dr. Dave Yonutas, a plan gelled
and was set into motion. In essence,
the college adopted a tool to assure
the community, the state, and most
importantly the student, the same
quality in online instruction as in our
classroom courses.
This tool is called the Quality Matters
rubric. Quality Matters (QM) is a
national leader in establishing
standards for online teaching and
learning. It is used by more than 800
colleges and universities, with 33
participants in the Florida College
System. It emphasizes high-quality
instructional design in hybrid and
online courses.
One of its strongest attributes is a peer
review process that is faculty-centered
rather than supervisory-based. Every
online course is evaluated by a threeperson team: one reviewer from the
same discipline as the instructor being