Bethany Simunich, director of online
pedagogy and research at Kent State
University, has been named senior
research fellow with Quality Matters.
Quality Matters is an international leader
in online education that provides a
faculty-centered continuous improvement
model for online course design.

Bethany Simunich, director of online pedagogy and research at Kent State University, has been named senior research fellow with Quality Matters (QM).

Quality Matters is an international leader in online education that provides a faculty-centered continuous improvement model for online course design. The program maintains a research-based rubric that provides design standards for online and hybrid courses. Quality Matters is designed to provide continuous improvement to distance-learning courses for the benefit of students and instructors.

Simunich, who has worked with Quality Matters for eight years now, started as a peer reviewer for other online courses from other universities and institutions. In 2013, Simunich became a research colleague and was recently named senior research fellow.

“It’s a brand new position that will be defined further under the guidance of QM’s director of research, Kay Shattuck,” Simunich says. “Some duties for the position will be more outreach and mentoring with faculty who are interested in the research behind the rubric or in conducting their own research related to Quality Matters."

Jason Piatt, director of online compliance and communication, is a Quality Matters coordinator for Kent State and has worked with Simunich. Piatt says Simunich has played an integral role in the success of Quality Matters at Kent State.

“Bethany is highly active within the Quality Matters research community and strives to stay abreast of trends and current research, as well as contributing significantly to the field,” Piatt says. “She is an ardent champion of quality online course design and works diligently to inform, educate, mentor and support online faculty course developers.”

Simunich says she is very excited and happy to have this opportunity to guide and mentor other researchers across the nation in the program.

“I really love working with Quality Matters,” Simunich says. “I am thrilled that I was able to continue working on online learning research with this program, and I am happy to have made the next step in this journey.”

Piatt says Simunich is an excellent choice for the position.

“Her work in this role would greatly benefit our institution, our faculty and ultimately our students,” he says.

For more information about Quality Matters, visit www.qualitymatters.org.