Illinois State University Mennonite College of Nursing earned the certification of “high quality” from Quality Matters for an online course offered in the Nursing Systems Administration sequence.
Quality Matters is an internationally recognized not-for-profit group that provides certification for online courses that facilitate learning. Similar to an accreditation process, the certification is only granted after a lengthy and detailed-review process.
Taught by Associate Professor O. Ed Reitz, Nursing 562: Leadership in Health Care Systems, is the first course at Illinois State to receive the Quality Matters designation. The class engages students in effective application of leadership models, theories, and concepts within diverse health care settings. The course teaches about healthcare organizations as complex adaptive systems. Students in the Nursing Systems Administration sequence and the Doctor of Nursing Practice are enrolled in Leadership in Health Care Systems.
“We now have our first online course that is internationally recognized as high quality, thanks to the dedication and support of administration, faculty, and staff,” said Linda Summers of the Center for Teaching, Learning and Technology at Illinois State, which helped coordinate the faculty-designed and driven review process with Quality Matters.
Reitz completed several professional development programs prior to this submission, which included Design, Align, Refine, Teach Online (DART); Apply the Quality Matters Rubric (APPQMR); Peer Reviewer Certification (PRC); and Apply, Improve, Meet (AIM).
“I am thrilled this course has been QM-certified as high quality, and I’m proud for all of the hard work Dr. Reitz and CTLT did with this submission,” said Judy Neubrander, dean of MCN. “We want to continue to provide the best quality education for our students, and plan to submit additional online courses for Quality Matter’s approval in the future.”
