Quality assurance in distance education is largely a matter of developing a good rubric, say the creators of the Quality Matters process from Maryland Online, a consortium of 14 two-year colleges and five senior institutions. Quality Matters originated with a Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE) grant, and it has since won the 2005 WCET Outstanding Work (WOW) Award. It has been adopted by institutions in eight states as a means of assuring continuous quality improvement in online programs.