ANNAPOLIS, MD (AUGUST 26, 2025) — Quality Matters (QM) — a trusted partner to thousands of educators at colleges, universities, and K–12 schools worldwide, providing quality assurance for online and innovative digital learning environments — today announced a new collaboration focused on the responsible integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into online course and program design. Built in collaboration with instructional design firm iDesign, the initiative seeks to advance research, faculty development, and standards alignment related to the evolving role of AI in higher education.

“Our field is navigating a moment of profound change,” said Dr. Deb Adair, CEO of Quality Matters. “Rather than rushing to adopt tools for speed or efficiency alone, this collaboration is about deepening our understanding of how AI can support — not supplant — human-centered design, and what that means for academic quality, learner outcomes, and the faculty experience. This isn’t just about AI-enabled and expedited course and program design, it’s about understanding where and how an AI-enabled design process  provides opportunities for faculty professional development for pedagogically useful applications of AI in the classroom.”

The partnership comes amid growing interest — and uncertainty — about how emerging AI tools will reshape course design, faculty roles, and institutional quality assurance. According to the 2024 CHLOE Report, 80% of online learning leaders believe AI will have a significant impact on course development within the next five years. Yet many institutions lack clear policies or training strategies to guide faculty and instructional designers in using these technologies effectively.

This new initiative builds on QM’s longstanding commitment to empowering institutions to uphold quality in digital learning, including recent collaborations such as its partnership with San José State University. The university is working with QM to integrate advanced AI technology with Quality Matters principles to empower faculty and students in collaboratively enhancing course design for impactful student learning experiences. — underscoring the demand for practical, research-informed frameworks to support innovation at scale.

To support this ambitious undertaking, the organization will tap iDesign’s new AI-powered instructional design tool, Build, which blends human expertise with cutting-edge AI capabilities to streamline and enhance program-level course design. Unlike many course-level AI tools, Build is designed for program-level deployment, allowing instructional design teams to visualize time-on-task estimates, align content to accreditation standards, and export materials in compatible formats for LMS and analytics platforms, including iDesign’s Align tool. The result is a faster, more transparent design process — without compromising instructional quality.

As part of the collaboration with iDesign, QM will explore research questions related to faculty engagement with AI, the effectiveness of human-AI co-design models, and how AI can enhance — not diminish — the thoughtful application of instructional design principles. The effort will also examine how existing quality assurance standards can be adapted to account for AI-assisted course design, how they can be effectively used within the design process, and what guidance institutions and faculty may need to make informed, ethical decisions on the use of AI in the online classroom.

Initial efforts will focus on developing shared guidance for institutions navigating the early stages of AI adoption in instructional design. The partners will also explore opportunities to engage faculty in pilot projects, surface case studies, and provide thought leadership on the evolving role of design teams and quality assurance in the age of AI.

“Faculty and instructional designers are looking for frameworks — not just tools,” said Dr. Whitney Kilgore, Co-founder and Chief Academic Officer at iDesign. “Our goal is to help further the field’s understanding around the emerging use of AI for course design — as well as the implications of AI in teaching and learning — and to ensure that innovation remains grounded in evidence and pedagogy.”

Future phases may include co-developed professional development resources and deeper integration between QM frameworks and AI-informed instructional design practices. To learn more about iDesign and Build, visit www.idesignedu.org. For more information about Quality Matters, visit www.qualitymatters.org.

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