Who Is Responsible for Online Quality

SMU's online education governance model, established in 2022, defines documented accountability across four layers: executive authority, standards governance, operational execution, and school-level responsibility. This structure ensures institutional priorities are set at the executive level, quality standards are faculty-informed, review is consistently executed, and findings are reported and used to drive decisions.

Council for Online Education (COE)

Executive Governance Body · Academic Affairs & OIT · Convenes quarterly · Established 2022

The COE holds institutional authority over online education strategy, standards, and central resource allocation. Established in 2022, the COE receives aggregate quality and pipeline reports from OPS, reviews compliance data, and documents resource allocation decisions resulting from those reviews. The COE ensures SMU's online portfolio remains aligned with institutional mission and strategic priorities.

• Sets institutional priorities for online education aligned with SMU's mission and strategic plan
• Approves and oversees central online production resource allocation
• Reviews aggregate QM compliance and pipeline data reported by OPS
• Documents decisions informed by quality reporting (meeting records retained)
• Approves policy updates and resolves escalated governance issues from FTC Sub-Committee

FTC Online Education Sub-Committee

Co-chaired by Jennifer Jordan & Kimberly Rutigliano · Meets monthly · Sub-committee of the Faculty Technology Council (FTC) · Established 2022

This Sub-Committee has operated within the Faculty Technology Council since 2022, exercising faculty oversight over online course production standards. It serves as the primary cross-school coordination body, the escalation path for exceptions, and the conduit for governance transparency. Embedding online education oversight within the standing FTC — rather than maintaining a separate standalone body — anchors standards oversight within SMU's established faculty governance authority and supports continuity across personnel changes. Legacy documentation note: the Sub-Committee was previously known as the Online Education Steering Team (OESTE). Both names refer to the same governance function operating continuously since 2022.

• Governs production standards; coordinates cross-school communication
• Reviews monthly OPS quality reports; recommends policy updates to COE
• Handles escalations, exceptions, and policy clarifications
• Each school appoints an online faculty representative to this body
• Meeting minutes, action items, and decisions are documented and retained

Online Production Services (OPS) — OIT Academic Technology

OPS Website · Operational since 2019 · Part of OIT Academic Technology Services

OPS manages end-to-end online course production, QM quality review, and institutional reporting. Since 2019, OPS has collaborated with faculty across all SMU schools to design, develop, and maintain online courses. OPS maintains the QM review inventory, proactively tracks the five-year re-review schedule, and provides regular reporting to the FTC Sub-Committee and COE — forming the evidentiary backbone of SMU's continuous improvement cycle.

• End-to-end course design, development, updating, and maintenance
• Conducts QM professional quality reviews; coordinates faculty QM training
• Manages multimedia production: video, animation, accessibility, captioning
• Maintains course review inventory and five-year re-review calendar
• Provides monthly pipeline and quality reports to FTC Sub-Committee and COE

Schools and Colleges

Academic and faculty accountability · Program-level execution · School-funded production staffing

Individual schools retain academic accountability for their online programs and for faculty compliance with institutional quality standards. Schools fund most school-level online production staffing and appoint a faculty representative to the FTC Sub-Committee. Deans and chairs ensure faculty complete required online teaching certification and cooperate with OPS review timelines per institutional policy.

• Fund school-level online production resources
• Appoint a faculty online representative to the FTC Sub-Committee
• Ensure faculty complete required online teaching certification
• Coordinate with OPS on course and program development and re-review timelines

SMU Global & Online

Portfolio tracking · Contract & partner management · Project management · Business development

SMU Global & Online provides cross-institutional coordination for online programs that involve external partners, third-party vendors, or revenue-share arrangements. SMU GO maintains visibility across the online program portfolio, manages contract relationships and project timelines, and pursues business development opportunities that extend SMU’s online reach to learners across the United States and in more than 80 countries. SMU GO partners closely with schools, OPS, and the COE to ensure that operational, financial, and quality goals stay aligned.

• Track the online program portfolio across schools and partner arrangements
• Manage vendor and OPM contract relationships and renewals
• Provide project management for new program launches and major revisions
• Develop new business and partnership opportunities aligned with SMU strategy