National Standards for Quality Online Teaching

The second set of national standards established by iNACOL were the National Standards for Quality Online Teaching which were published in 2008. iNACOL conducted a complete literature review of the existing online teaching standards and determined that the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB)6 Standards for Quality Online Teaching9 and Online Teaching Evaluation for State Virtual Schools10 provided the most comprehensive criteria. Other standards reviewed which were cross-referenced to the SREB standards were:

  • National Education Association’s Guide to Teaching Online Courses11
  • Fifty-One Competencies for Online Instruction12
  • Ohio Department of Education’s Ohio Standards for the Teaching Profession13
  • Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow’s Teacher Evaluation Rubric14

The SREB standards were used as the basis for the iNACOL standards although some SREB indicators were added and deleted. In addition, two standards were added from the Ohio Department of Education and Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow standards.

There are twelve standards related to online instruction that indicate that the teacher…

  1. has appropriate licensure and academic credentials
  2. has the necessary technology skills
  3. uses strategies to encourage active learning
  4. provides clear expectations and provides prompt and regular feedback
  5. models and encourages healthy and ethical use of technology
  6. understands online learning from the perspective of the student
  7. is responsive to students with special needs
  8. creates valid and reliable assessments
  9. delivers assessments that measure learning goals
  10. appropriately modifies instruction based on data from assessments
  11. enables frequent self-assessments
  12. collaborates with colleagues

For teachers that have instructional design responsibilities, there is an additional standard which indicates the teacher…

  1. arranges media and content for effective knowledge transfer

Download a complete copy of the National Standards for Quality Online Teaching.

References for footnotes can be found on the resources page or click on the footnote number for a direct link.