The purpose of this case study was to explore the impact of online course design reviews on student perceptions of the course and instructor as reported on course evaluations. This study was conducted in an online Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) program at a small private university located in the MidWestern United States that adopted an initiative to improve the quality of their online courses. It utilized the Quality Matters Higher Education Rubric, Sixth Edition (2018) standards as a framework through which to explore effective online course design and the impact on the student experience. Data was collected through university-administered student course evaluations from two semesters prior to each external online course review and two semesters after each external online course review. Findings indicate students more strongly agreed with all the course and instructor items after the online course reviews. Course and instructor means improved for course evaluation questions specifically related to course design as well as for items not directly related to course design. Qualitative analysis of the open-ended response items further supported these findings.