A MATURITY MODEL: DOES IT PROVIDE A PATH FOR ONLINE COURSE DESIGN?

Maturity models are successfully used by organizations attempting to improve their processes, products, and delivery. As more faculty include online course design and teaching, a maturity model of online course design may serve as a tool in planning and assessing their courses for improvement based on best practices. This article presents such a maturity model. Online education has moved to the mainstream of higher education and may surpass all other course delivery methods in quality in the near future. According to a survey of Chief Academic Officers of U.S. degree-granting institutions of higher education (Allen & Seaman, 2003), • 81% of all institutions of higher education offer at least one fully online or blended course. • 34% of the institutions offer complete online degree programs. • 67% say online education is a critical long-term strategy for their institution. This survey also suggests that academic leaders believe online education may be superior to face-to-face (F2F) education. The results show that • 75% expect learning outcomes for online education to be equal to or better than F2F

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