Exemplary Course Program

The 16 compulsory standards are as follows:

• Goals and objectives are clearly written as measurable outcomes to ensure that learners are aware of course expectations (e.g., SMART)
• Content is made available or grouped into manageable segments (e.g., presented in distinct learning units or modules)
• Course activities are designed in a way that clearly demonstrate their connection to learning outcomes
• Course design provides clear and structured guidance that helps learners engage with the content and proceed through the course (e.g., clear instructions, course orientation)
• The design and delivery of content supports inclusive pedagogy by integrating alternative options (e.g., transcripts), enabling assistive processes (e.g., voice recognition), and provides different options to support and engage students with diverse learning needs and preferences
• Text, images, and other multimedia are accessible
• Course activities include interactive components/elements (e.g., role playing, peer reviews, group projects, discussions)
• Learners are provided a rubric or scoring guidelines to evaluate participation and interaction
• It is clear to learners how performance in assessments will be evaluated (e.g., rubric, scoring guidelines, section in syllabus)
• Formative and summative assessments occur regularly throughout the course to gauge student success and inform learner progress toward course objectives
• Multiple types of assessments are used (e.g., research project, objective test, discussions, etc.)
• Orientation materials explain how to navigate both the learning management system (LMS) and the course
• Contact information for the instructor is easy to find
• Course/institutional policies are clear and easy to find 
• Course materials use widely accepted formats to ensure usability and compatibility with various devices and assistive technologies (e.g., PDF, DOCX, PPTX)
• Learners have the opportunity to give formative feedback to the instructor regarding course design, content, and presentation of course delivery  

Course Design addresses elements of instructional design. For the purpose of this rubric, course design includes such elements as structure of the course, learning objectives, organization of content, and instructional strategies.

Interaction and Collaboration can take many forms. The ECP criteria place emphasis on the type and amount of interaction and collaboration within an online environment.

Interaction denotes communication between and among learners and instructors, synchronously or asynchronously. Collaboration is a subset of interaction and refers specifically to those activities in which groups are working interdependently toward a shared result. This differs from group activities that can be completed by students working independently of one another and then combining the results. A learning community is defined here as the sense of belonging to a group.

Assessment focuses on instructional activities designed to measure progress toward learning outcomes, provide feedback to students and instructors, and/or enable grading or evaluation. This section addresses the quality and type of student assessments within the course.

Learner Support addresses the support resources made available to students taking the course. Such resources may be accessible within or external to the course environment. Learner support resources address a variety of student services.