The CVC-OEI Course Design Rubric contains the online course design standards developed and adopted by the CVC-OEI. 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 and conforms to existing regulations.

The rubric is designed as an analytic rubric. In the left-most column are a series of criteria, and along the top row is the scoring range. The cells in the center of the rubric describe the specific criteria for each dimension in the score range. In the OEI Course Design Rubric, the aligned and exemplary dimensions are cumulative. In other words, to achieve an exemplary rating, the course would need to meet both the aligned and exemplary description. The value of an analytic rubric is the detailed feedback provided by scoring each criterion individually. These details provide valuable formative feedback that allows the instructor to pinpoint where revisions can be made.

The criteria that comprise the OEI Course Design Rubric are divided into four sections:

Section A: Content Presentation
Section B: Interaction
Section C: Assessment
Section D: Accessibility

In Sections A, B, and C, there are three categories in the score range--incomplete, aligned, and exemplary. Courses must achieve aligned or exemplary in every category to enter the OEI Course Exchange. In sections D, there are only two categories in score range--a course either meets the accessibility requirement (and is therefore aligned) or it does not.

Within each of the A-C sections, criteria are grouped into sub-sections, with between 3 to 5 criteria presented per page of the rubric. Below the criteria is a text-entry field where reviewers can include constructive feedback explaining not only the rationale behind the score but also providing helpful suggestions for revising the course to align with the rubric. When you complete the rubric, each criterion must be marked with a rating (incomplete/aligned/exemplary), and each sub-section must include a narrative response.

In the development of these standards, the CVC-OEI team was fortunate to have access to significant work already undertaken in this area by @ONE, the CCC Distance Education Coordinator’s group, the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges (ASCCC), and the CCC Chancellor’s Office (CCCCO) along with a variety of other local college and nationally established standards.

The CVC-OEI Course Design Rubric by CVC-OEI is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Development of this course was funded by a grant from the California Community Colleges' Chancellor's Office.