The CVC@ONE Course Design Rubric contains the online course design standards developed and adopted by the CVC@ONE, in collaboration with the ASCCC. The Rubric is intended to establish standards relating to course design, interaction and collaboration, assessment, learner support, and accessibility in order to ensure the provision of a high-quality learning environment that promotes student success. This rubric is the basis for the Peer Online Course Review (POCR) process.

Below you will find the basics of the rubric that you can use to consider your own online teaching and learning environment. For the complete version, you can access the full CVC Online Course Design Rubric here. 

Content Presentation

1. Placement of Objectives: Unit objectives are included in the individual learning units.
2. Clarity of Objectives: Unit objectives consistently include demonstrable learning outcomes.
3. Alignment of Objectives: Content is clearly aligned with and sufficient to meet the learning unit objectives.
4. Course Navigation: Navigation and content flow are easily determined by the user.
5. Unit-level Chunking: Content is meaningfully segmented into distinct units or modules to aid learning.
6. Page-level Chunking: Page content is chunked in manageable segments using heading styles that facilitate online reading.
7. Effective Use of Course Management (CMS)Tools: CMS tools are used to reduce the labor-intensity of learning and streamline access to materials and activities for students.
8. Effective Use of Multimedia: A variety of media, such as text, audio, video, images and/or graphics are used throughout.
9. Instructions: Course design includes instructions for learners to work with content in meaningful ways (e.g., guiding students to take notes during a video, explaining what to look for in an article, etc.).
10. Learning Support: Individualized learning opportunities, such as remedial activities to support Basic Skills or resources for advanced learning, are provided.
11. Learner Feedback: Learners have the opportunity to give anonymous feedback to the instructor regarding course design and/or course content after course completion.
12. Course Policies: Policies relevant for learner success (such as academic honesty, course drop/withdrawal, late work) are included and easy to find.
13. Student Services: Links to institutional services (such as disability services, online counseling, online tutoring, online readiness, the library, etc.) are included and clearly labeled.
14. Technology Support: Technology support is explained to students, and relevant contact information and/or links are easily found.

Interaction/Instructor Contact

1. Pre-Course Contact: Instructor initiates contact prior to or at the beginning of course.
2. Regular Effective Contact: The course design includes regular instructor-initiated contact with students using CMS communication tools and a clear explanation for students of when and how  communication will happen.
3. Student-Initiated Contact: Students are encouraged to initiate contact with the instructor through easily accessed contact information that includes expected response times.
4. Student-Initiated Contact with Other Students: Opportunities for unstructured student-initiated interaction with other students are available and encouraged.
5. Regular Effective Contact Among Students: Regular effective contact among students is designed to facilitate interaction with and about course content.
6. Participation Levels: Guidelines explaining required levels of student participation (i.e., quantity and quality of interactions) are consistently provided

Assessment

1. Authenticity: Assessment activities lead to the demonstration of learning outcomes.
2. Validity: Assessments appear to align with the course objectives.
3. Variety: Both formative and summative assessments are used throughout the course.
4. Frequency: Multiple assessments are administered during the duration of the course.
5. Rubrics/Scoring Guide: Rubrics or descriptive criteria for desired outcomes are included in most or all assessment activities.
6. Assessment Instructions: Instructions clearly explain to students how to successfully complete the assessments.
7. Feedback: The course includes a clear description of how meaningful, timely feedback on assessments will be provided.
8. Self-Assessment: Several opportunities for student self-assessment with feedback are present.

Accessibility

1. Heading styles are used consistently
2. Lists use the bullet or numbered list tool: Links are identified with meaningful text
3. Tables have column and row headers
4. Color contrast is sufficient for all text
5. Color is not solely used to convey meaning
6. Images have appropriate alt text
7. Reading order is correctly set
8. Slides have titles and text outlines
9. Spreadsheets include row & column headings
10. Videos have accurate captions & audio descriptions
11. Audio files include transcripts
12. Content does not blink or flash