Online education is increasing as a solution to manage ever increasing enrollment numbers at higher education institutions. Intentionally and thoughtfully constructed courses allow students to improve performance through practice and self-assessment and instructors benefit from improving consistency in providing content and assessing process, performance, and progress. The purpose of the study was to examine the transparency of facilitation standards published or common in practice in the quest for high-quality online courses. The participants were administrators, faculty, and staff from degree-granting higher education institutions. The top two findings of this mixed methods study included feedback and grading supported with descriptive analysis and with Chi-squared analysis indicating a significant p-value. The implications resulting from this study based on the data can be used to create high-quality courses by administrators, instructional designers, and subject matter experts. The literature review supports developing effective facilitation standards for easier evaluation of online courses and greater consistency in the quality of online course for the benefit of the student. One recommendation includes, in the absence of a Theory of e-Instruction, using the findings from this study to support the development of a theory to guide online instruction providing standards in the delivery or facilitation of an online course. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com.bibliotheek.ehb.be/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]