What Matters? Graduate Students’ Perspectives of Engagement and Learning Based on the QM Rubric

In this study, we expanded our initial investigation, replicating the study by Sadaf et al. (2019). We examined graduate students’ perceptions of the impact of Quality Matters (QM) standards on their learning and engagement. Forty-one graduate students enrolled in various graduate online programs completed a survey based on the QM Rubric 7th edition items. The QM Rubric (7th edition) includes 44 Specific Review Standards clustered into eight General Standards. Among the eight standards, students rated Assessment and Measurement, Instructional Materials, and Accessibility as having the greatest impact on both student learning and engagement. These results can help online instructors and instructional designers understand the impact of individual QM design standards from students’ perspectives as a means of designing online courses that effectively contribute to their learning and engagement.