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QM Members Making Strides
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As we settle into the 2025-26 school year, QM members continue to focus on continuous improvement, developing new projects, initiatives and goals to support their online learners. Here are just a few examples:
Simmons College of Kentucky
This QM member has engaged extensively with Internal Reviews in recent years, uncovering new opportunities for improvement. This work is supported by the institution’s commitment to professional development, with the goal that all online faculty complete the Applying the Quality Matters Rubric course. As of fall 2025, more than 60% have done so — an important first step on the road to success with employing QM quality assurance.
Truckee Meadows Community College
Truckee Meadows is another institution working hard to build self-sustaining internal capacity for professional development and quality assurance. Using its licenses to deliver the Designing Your Online Course and Improving Your Online Course workshops, the institution has held numerous sessions to help faculty understand and invest in principles of course quality.
Looking for ideas for scaling your QA processes? Contact us today.
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Save the Date: 2026 QM Events
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The 2026 QM events schedule is coming together, packed with events to support your work in online learning. Save the date for these opportunities to grow and share:
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NEW: Policy to Practice Summit
Feb. 26, 11 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. ET | Online
This new event, held in partnership with the WICHE Cooperative for Educational Technologies (WCET) will provide administrators and educators with strategies for shaping effective policies for online learning. Get examples of policies that foster quality and learn how they were put into practice. Come prepared with your policy questions and come away with new approaches!
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QM Research Online Conference
Apr. 10, 12:30 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. ET | Online
This gathering of the QM community is geared toward sharing research you can use in your online work. Learn about emerging data, trends and best practices directly from the researchers uncovering this understanding. Perfect for researchers, instructors, designers, administrators, and anyone else interested in how research can impact practice.
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QM Connect
Location & Date Coming Soon! | In-Person
This year’s QM Connect was another inspiring exchange of ideas and community support. Save the date now to make sure you can join us for next year’s QM Connect — our annual in-person gathering of like-minded, enthusiastic educators — for dozens of high-impact sessions led by online learning practitioners from around the world.
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Keep an eye on our events page for more information about these events and more.
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 Catherine brings a wealth of experience earned from more than seven years of progressive leadership at Western Governors University, the nation's largest competency-based online university.
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QM is excited to welcome Catherine Snoddy to the team as our new Senior Director of Product Strategy and Global Member Engagement!
In this new role, Catherine will help QM deepen our engagement with our community around the world, building relationships with QM members and partners. Additionally, she will leverage her experience with large-scale online education to inform QM’s future offerings, collaboratively shaping the development of new products and the organization’s strategic direction.
“I've spent years in the trenches of online education, managing tight budgets, fighting for every percentage point of retention, and implementing tech that sometimes works and sometimes doesn't. That's exactly why I'm so energized about this role. You deserve more than theory. You deserve evidence-based practices that work, a voice in shaping what comes next and research that prepares you for tomorrow's challenges. I'm committed to strengthening our community, enhancing the value you receive as members and ensuring QM remains your trusted partner in quality assurance.”
— Catherine Snoddy
We look forward to working with Catherine to help further QM’s mission of supporting you with innovative best practices as online education grows and changes.
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A New Option for QM Endorsement
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Congratulations to Alamo Colleges District for becoming the first QM member to receive Endorsement for Course Design Quality Assurance from QM, for its AlamoONLINE initiative.
As part of a pilot program, AlamoONLINE earned the endorsement after meeting criteria in a Validation Review. The distinction serves as recognition that AlamoONLINE has established a formal, systematic and evidence-based quality assurance process for course design using the QM Higher Education Rubric, Seventh Edition. Read Alamo’s press release for more information.
“This endorsement reaffirms our commitment to providing high-quality online learning that supports student success at every level. It is a testament to the dedication of our talented instructional designers, faculty and staff to ensure that all learners receive an exceptional online experience.”
— Dr. Mike Flores, Alamo Colleges District Chancellor
This new review service will be available to QM member institutions in 2026. If your institution is using the QM Essential Standards from the QM Higher Education Rubric, Seventh Edition to ensure the quality of online courses, review the FAQs for this review type to see if it applies to your process and let us know if you’re interested.
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Cultivate Curiosity Beyond the Classroom
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The most effective way to inspire lifelong learning in students isn't through lectures about its importance, but by modeling intellectual curiosity in your own teaching practice. When you demonstrate that even experts remain curious and continue growing, you give students permission to see learning as an ongoing adventure — rather than a finite task to complete. Here are five ideas for demonstrating these qualities in your teaching:
- Share your genuine excitement when you encounter new research, admit when a student's question has made you reconsider something you thought you knew, and openly discuss how you continue learning in your field.
- Instead of rushing to provide solutions, pause when students ask thoughtful questions and explore them together.
- Use phrases that demonstrate curiosity and vulnerability, such as "that's fascinating — I hadn't thought about it that way" or "I don't know the answer to that, but let's figure out how we might find out."
- Connect course material to current events, emerging trends or interdisciplinary applications to show students that learning extends far beyond textbook boundaries.
The ultimate goal of this work is to help students develop their own internal dialogue of questioning the subject matter. When students learn to ask compelling questions rather than just memorize answers, they've acquired the most essential tool for lifelong learning.
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Please join us in congratulating the following Higher Education, Publisher and Continuing & Professional Education members for having one or more courses recently QM-Certified.
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- Ashland University
- Austin Community College District
- Austin Peay State University
- Bellevue University
- California State University-East Bay
- California State University-Los Angeles
- California State University-Sacramento
- Cameron University
- Clark College
- Coastal Carolina University
- Community College of Philadelphia
- Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University-Worldwide
- Florida Atlantic University
- Florida International University
- Florida SouthWestern State College
- Florida State University
- Galen College of Nursing-Louisville
- Hagerstown Community College
- Iowa State University
- Lone Star College System
- Middle Georgia State University
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- New Mexico State University-Alamogordo
- North Carolina State University at Raleigh
- Oregon State University
- Rowan-Cabarrus Community College
- Southern California University of Health Sciences
- Texas A & M International University
- Texas A & M University - Central Texas
- The University of Alabama
- The University of Texas at Arlington
- University of Florida
- University of North Carolina Wilmington
- University of South Carolina-Upstate
- University of Southern Indiana
- University of Toledo
- West Chester University of Pennsylvania
- Teach Us
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- APCO International
- Frisco ISD
- Manor College
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- Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center-El Paso
- University of Tulsa
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