Fulton course earns QM certification

Associate teaching professor Katharine Fulton‘s English 302: Business Communication course was  certified in June in the national Quality Matters program that recognizes excellence in online course design. External reviewers measure a course against eight standards in the certification process. Fulton’s course is the first English course at Iowa State to be certified and the fourth course overall (2020 QM certified courses in higher education).  Katie Fulton took the lead on getting the course QM-ready, conducting a thorough review of our existing ENGL 302 online class. She was assisted by Casey White, Assistant Director of the Advanced Communication program, and Suhan Yao, ELO Instructional Development Specialist; they prepared and submitted the course to QM and received a very high score of 97.

English 302: Business Communication, teaches students fundamental theories and practices for effective writing and communication in professional workplaces.  It examines rhetorical concepts and processes to successfully communicate individually and collaboratively via written, oral, visual, and electronic modes across a range of business disciplines. It covers strategies for analyzing audiences internal and external to an organization in order to communicate positive, neutral, and negative messages clearly, completely, correctly, and ethically; save an audience’s time; and create goodwill.

Quality Matters (QM) is a nationally recognized organization that certifies online classes based on a number of criteria, including accessibility, clarity of content, connection between the course objectives and assignments, etc. Courses are submitted for review and are scored by several QM-certified reviewers using a detailed rubric. If the reviewers determine that the course meets QM expectations, they will certify the course.