In just a short time, AI has become a part of every educator’s world. It’s rare that a technological advancement makes as immediate and indelible a mark on education as generative AI has, with implications for quality assurance, automation, creativity, and academic integrity. There’s a lot to learn, and the technology’s constant evolution requires us to adapt quickly. But online educators are already well-versed at leveraging the power of technology to improve their work, uniquely positioning them to contend with the challenges and opportunities AI presents. As your partner in online quality, QM has been working hard to apply its rigor and focus on quality to this new technology in order to make sure you are prepared and confident in your use of AI — and the way your learners use it.
Supporting Professional Growth
QM has launched a number of professional development sessions aimed at helping you improve your skill set for using and responding to AI in your course design and delivery work, including:
- QM Summer Camp 2025: AI-Powered Learning: From ABC to AI, a series of four workshops and a virtual workshop built to tackle AI from a number of different angles critical to online education.
- Advanced Techniques for Generative AI Instruction, a workshop on using AI tools for creating open educational resources that can significantly reduce student costs without sacrificing educational value.
- A series of free webinars on AI topics presented by members of the QM community, available on the QM YouTube Channel.
Collaborating for AI Innovation
Partnership with other organizations is an important element of QM’s approach to AI in online education. In February, QM announced a new partnership with longtime member San José State University on the institution’s $150,000 grant from the California Governor’s Office of Planning and Research to advance the development and use of AI in California’s public higher education system. The ultimate goal of the SpartanAI: Elevating Course Design with Faculty and Student-Centric AI Agent project is to empower faculty with innovative course design tools and resources to improve learner experiences and outcomes.
QM’s collaborative efforts on AI already extend across the education sector. These include working with D2L on the LMS company’s D2L Lumi product and its latest offering, Lumi Content, whose aim is to help faculty move traditional curriculum online with guidance from QM Standards. Additionally, QM is in talks with a number of innovative educational organizations including OPX providers and enrollment support services to further AI research and practice. The goal of these initiatives is to provide useful guidance and resources for ways that AI can support teaching and learning with care and quality in mind, supporting the best practices educators in our community are working hard to develop.
Building Community Around Best Practice
QM is also actively engaged in critical conversations on AI with organizations and thought leaders around the world. Through these discussions, QM represents our community’s innovations on AI globally and helps inform a worldwide understanding of how this technology can function as a meaningful tool in the online learning ecosystem. Recently, QM CEO Dr. Deb Adair appeared at two major events focused on AI. At the Instruction Technology Council President’s Summit on AI and Online Learning this month, she joined representatives from the tech and education sectors in a discussion of the future of online learning and artificial intelligence at community colleges. And in March, she joined fellow invitees including former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for the 2025 ISACCL World Forum on the Future of Democracy, AI/Tech and Humankind. During this thought-provoking international event, Deb and fellow panelists weighed in on what a set of global education standards on AI might look like.
Developing Guidelines for AI Implementation
From Automation to Transformation: AI Strategies for Personalized, Engaging, and Inclusive Online Course Design is a new QM-published white paper on AI written by Dr. Racheal Brooks, Director of QA Implementation Solutions for QM and Dr. Siobahn Grady, Founding Director of the North Carolina Central University Institute for Artificial Intelligence and Emerging Research. The paper examines how AI can be used intentionally and ethically to personalize learning, enhance learner engagement, and foster inclusive and accessible online course design. The authors posit that, with purposeful integration, artificial intelligence can move beyond automation to become a powerful co-creator in designing meaningful, student-centered learning experiences.
Finally, an official resource to extend the application of QM Standards to AI use in courses is forthcoming. The tool will act as a supplementary support to help update the courses designed to incorporate AI.
Your Partner in Continuous Improvement
The QM community continues to lead the field of online learning with forward-thinking and research-supported solutions for leveraging the power of AI to support learners. Through a commitment to the innovative, ethical and research-supported use of new technologies like this one, we continue to grow as a community of practice dedicated to continuous improvement.
