The Online Course Evaluation Project (OCEP)

The Online Course Evaluation Project (OCEP) identifies and evaluates existing online courses in higher education, Advanced Placement© and high school. The goal of OCEP is to provide the academic community with a criteria-based evaluation tool to assess and compare the quality of online courses. OCEP course evaluations are made available to the public through a partnership with WCET and EduTools at www.edutools.info.

The focus of the evaluation is on the presentation of the content and the pedagogical aspects of online courses, yet OCEP also considers the instructional and communication methods so vital in a successful online learning experience.

Click the image to view the OCEP Overview (pdf).
Existing online courses are identified and measured against a set of objective evaluation categories. These criteria were developed through extensive research and review of instructional design guidelines from nationally recognized course developers, best practices from leading online consultants, and from numerous academic course evaluations. Click here to download the evaluation categories and their definitions.









OCEP uses a team approach in evaluating courses. Subject matter experts evaluate the scholarship, scope, and instructional design aspects of courses, while online multimedia professionals are used to consider the course production values. Technical consultants are employed to establish and evaluate the interoperability and sustainability of the courses.

The ongoing results of the OCEP study will be available publicly in a web-enabled comparison tool developed in partnership with the EduTools project from the WCET. The evaluation categories will be published for use by the academic community and presented at upcoming conferences.

OCEP is funded by The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.


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