ABSTRACT
Quality Matters (QM) General Standard 8: Accessibility and Usability has evolved over time to increase awareness of the need for accessible course design and materials in digital learning environments. This chapter summarizes how QM General Standard 8: Accessibility and Usability has advanced since the Fund for Improvement of Post-Secondary Education grant launched QM in 2003 through the Sixth Edition of the QM Rubric published in 2018. The QM Rubric Committee, in conjunction with the advisory Legacy Committee, assigns relative point values to the Specific Review Standards (SRSs) of the QM Rubric through a Delphi process. As high-speed internet became more prevalent, the increased use of multimedia materials and tools in online courses warranted a separate SRS that specifically addressed animations, video, and audio. Therefore, SRS 8.5 was added, which stated, “Course multimedia facilitate ease of use.” The phrase “ease of use” was used repeatedly to refer to the usability aspect of accessibility.
