The Course Improvement Matrix was designed to provide a structured approach for online instructors – critical but sometimes marginalized stakeholders – to become more involved in the continuous improvement of online courses. This paper describes the development of this tool and its application at an online university. An online instructor successfully spearheaded the improvement of an undergraduate course by using the tool to: identify instructional issues based on student feedback; examine the course content; and propose theoretically sound prescriptions for solving these instructional design issues. The authors propose that the use of Course Improvement Matrix and similar tools can help online institutions to leverage the knowledge and potential contribution of part-time instructors to support the design team’s effort to maintain online course quality.
