Journal of Online Learning Research (2016) 2(2), 123-144 STANDARDS BASED DESIGN: TEACHING K-12 EDUCATORS TO BUILD QUALITY ONLINE COURSES RENÉ E. QUIROZ Texas A&M University, United States requiroz@tamu.edu NICOLA L. RITTER Texas A&M University, United States nritter@cvm.tamu.edu YUN LI Texas A&M University, United States liyun215@tamu.edu RHONDA C. NEWTON Texas A&M University, United States rhonda_newton@tamu.edu TRUPTI PALKAR Texas A&M University, United States trupsworld@tamu.edu The number of online courses, programs, and schools are growing exponentially in K-12 education. Given the unique nature of online courses and the distinct skills nec- essary to create a quality online course, it is essential that ef- fective professional development be provided for teachers de- signing online courses. Online courses need to be of the same quality as their face-to-face counterparts. Thus, K-12 teachers must learn how to design an online course to meet recognized standards of quality. The current study explored the effects of a professional development model designed to provide an au- thentic, project- and standards-based experience to K-12 edu- cators. The extent to which teachers designed an online mod- ule to meet Quality Matters standards was assessed. Overall, the majority of participants (n=97) were able to successfully transfer learning to design and develop an online course to