At College of the Desert we have begun to use the Online Education Initiative rubric to guide our course design. A great way to begin to design your course, or to improve an existing course, is to review the OEI Rubric and use it as a self-evaluation tool. This is the rubric the Distance Education Subcommittee is using to evaluate course shells, so this is the standard that is helping us improve our courses. Now that COD has chosen to participate in the OEI's course exchange, this rubric is the standard we will be expected to meet. Visit the Updated OEI Rubric for more information.
You can read about additional "Best Practices" at