Quality Assurance

Excellence, access and impact

We put standards into practice

Our Quality Assurance team partners with faculty and instructional designers to support positive and engaging digital learning experiences that promote student success and lifelong learning. Embedded within the ASU Course Development Cycle, our work prioritizes quality across early planning, delivery, and revision through intentional review at key points to elevate consistency at scale.

How we work

Services

Services

Through our model of ongoing course enhancement, we communicate the services and resources available to support faculty. We also establish expectations for design standards that promote quality, equity and inclusion. We partner with faculty and units to establish transparency and fulfill our commitment to improvement for all online courses. Resources include access to:

  • ASU Online Course Quality Assurance Support.
  • Instructional designers.
  • ASU Faculty Center.
  • Design resources.
  • Faculty support workshops.
  • Academic Media.
Preparation

Preparation

Preparation is the key to course delivery success. We support faculty by providing resources and guidance for course design and facilitation.

  • Partnering to design and develop online courses.
  • Reviewing Course Design Standards, available services and resources, and data to make informed decisions to improve the student and facilitation experience.
Ongoing enhancement

Ongoing enhancement

After courses are initially developed to meet our design standards, we provide ongoing quality assurance support services to ensure that online courses are regularly reviewed and improved.

Course readiness checks

Prior to each academic session, we email faculty a course start-up checklist and encourage them to review their courses. This includes making sure all course materials are up-to-date and accessible for students.

Additionally, instructional design assistants perform a rigorous 24-point check to confirm that course materials are ready and accessible. These reviews ensure that faculty, the instructional designer or other colleagues are in the loop and prepared to address any issues.

360 end-of-session reviews

Courses are identified for review every session based on numerous course health indicators, including:

  • Information related to readiness checks.
  • Low course evaluation ratings.
  • Low pass rates.
  • Student comments.
  • Success coach or student service recommendations.
  • Unit lead requests.

Our instructional designers review compiled data and prepare recommendations for course design improvements. These recommendations are then shared with ASU Online program leads within units and ultimately faculty. Following a review of the constructive feedback, our instructional designers offer consultation and support to implement improvements as needed

Quality Matters at ASU

Arizona State University aligns with the research-based Quality Matters (QM) standards for the design of online courses. These rigorous standards ensure that courses promote learner engagement and retention. You can register for a Quality Matters workshop to learn more.

Register for QM training

ASU Online Faculty Guide

The ASU Faculty Guide was developed to communicate support and expectations for developing and teaching courses in digital learning environments. It includes a variety of resources, including:

  • ASU services for faculty.
  • Best practices for teaching in digital learning environments.
  • Standards for course design.

The ASU Faculty Guide will be housed in our ASU Faculty Center. The Faculty Center is under construction, and a new faculty guide will be released in Spring 2026. 

For early access, you can opt into an early registration group.

Request early enrollment

Quality assurance by the numbers

We identify best practices and apply evidence-based research in the design, development, and delivery for ASU Online courses.

4468

Readiness checks performed

2650

Courses with remediations acted

406

Courses reviewed during 360

242

Design recommendations for faculty

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