Online Insight Program

The Online Insight Program is a series of rubrics developed by MSU Instructional Designers to promote excellence in online course design and development. Based on SUNYʼs OSCQR, Insight offers Mississippi State faculty the opportunity to receive recognition for their online courses with standards that are tailored specifically to our institution and thoughtful feedback provided by in-house online experts.

Process

The Insight Program opens a limited number of spaces each fall and spring semester based on the workload of our designers. 

The Spring 2026 application period for Insight—called the "Intake period"—begins January 20, 2025. 

Once your application has been reviewed, you will receive an Insight Course Inventory that will need to be completed by February 10, 2025.

After you've submitted your Insight Course Inventory, you will be contacted by your instructional designer to set up your initial meeting. 

All work required to receive your seal must be completed by May 19, 2025.  

Eligibility

Is the Insight Program right for you? This program is designed for established online courses at Mississippi State University.

Please review the criteria below to determine your eligibility:

• Eligible for Insight Excellence Seal: You have taught your course fully online multiple times.
• Eligible for Insight Baseline Seal: You have taught your course fully online one time.

Courses are not eligible if they are currently in development or have never been taught online. If your course falls into one of these categories, you can still receive support! CITE staff are happy to offer dedicated, one-on-one consultations and advice to assist you with design and development before teaching. Contact our team at help@cite.msstate.edu to schedule a consultation with one of our expert staff. 

Available Rubrics

Insight Baseline

Gain insight into your course with the basics. Upon completing the Baseline program, your online course is guaranteed to meet essential online education standards for Mississippi State.

Insight Excellence

Go beyond the entry-level Baseline standard with the Insight seal. This level offers insight into a course that goes beyond the essentials to foster excellence in online academic performance. 

Benefits

The Insight Program supplies a multitude of benefits for faculty teaching online courses, including but not limited to:

• Collaborative space to explore growth opportunities
• Increase online course quality 
• Explore new ideas
• Develop better outcomes, assessments, and media
• Assistance meeting the needs of online student populations at MSU

Awards

Faculty who successfully complete the Insight Program will receive a certificate and an Insight "seal" to place in their online course to denote it is considered an excellent online course. A list of faculty and their Insight-approved courses will also be listed on the Center for Innovation in Teaching Excellence's website. 

Copyright Information

This rubric, "Baseline Insight Rubric", is adapted from the OSCQR Rubric by the State University of New York (SUNY), used under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0 Deed). The OSCQR Rubric, Dashboard, and Process were originally developed by the State University of New York, through SUNY Online, Online Teaching. "Baseline Insight Rubric" is licensed under CC BY 4.0 Deed by the Center for Innovation in Teaching Excellence at Mississippi State University.