Quality in E-Learning (European Weblog for E-Learning, Competence and more) : topic:Papers & Readings

ICT in Higher Education

uehlers — 2007-09-21T17:46:00Z

Excellent Article about ICT policies for Higher education, context is South Africa, but article takes into account international development and viewpoints.

Highly Recommende: http://www.palgrave-journals.com/hep/journal/v20/n1/full/8300144a.html

E-Assessment! (in 2016)

uehlers — 2007-09-21T17:10:00Z

Cool article, showing a scenario between 2006 and 2016.
http://forschung.pruefung.net/?p=131

How can young people serve as change agents towards the use of ICT in education......

uehlers — 2007-09-19T09:12:00Z

Issues Paper: Youth and ICT as Agents of Change

This paper presents a review of information in key areas of youth development pertinent to the Forum.

Unlike previous generations of youth who lived in ideological, cultural and social isolation, the youth of today are far more attuned to the global challenges and issues due to the proliferation of ICTs and the new global media culture. They are simultaneously living lives at multiple levels, i.e., global, regional and local, because they are adept at using technology to harness it to their specific needs. Even in areas of low ICT penetration, the youth have managed to adapt to their circumstances by combining both traditional and innovative means of communication to gain access to knowledge and information beyond their physical borders. As such, they are consummate consumers as well as initiators of information, and "have a key role to play as entrepreneurs to build innovative solutions based on state-of-the-art technologies."

It is important to state at the outset that this paper views the role of youth as participants, actors, promoters, influencers, and in some cases, leaders of ICT-led development in areas of particular importance, relevance and interest to their group. The premise for this assertion stems from several factors: the total number of youth - globally - is about 50% of the world's population ; they make up a significant number among the target group for reaching the MDGs; they are avid users of new technology, and successful in adapting to and understanding the potential for ICTs; and developing policies, programmes and initiatives that directly or indirectly impact their lives must acknowledge that the youth of today are far more cognizant of their own environment and are therefore well able to share their experiences, concerns and ideas in order to make the programmes and policies relevant and current. And last, but not least, the youth make up a substantial market for the technology industry, as demonstrated by the proliferation of low-cost technology that is being developed today.

Given the inherent difficulty of addressing the range of diverse issues of interest to today's youth, this paper will only attempt to focus on the following four areas, corresponding to GAID's areas of focus, which have a direct bearing on the achievement of the MDGs: education, health, entrepreneurship and governance.

USA - National Standards of Quality for Online Courses are released

uehlers — 2007-09-18T06:28:00Z

WASHINGTON - September 13, the North American Council for Online Learning (NACOL) released a new publication, National Standards of Quality for Online
Courses.

The standards selected are based on the results of a research review and
survey of online course quality criteria. These quality standards were
evaluated and assembled into an easy to use document for evaluating online
courses with common benchmarks.

"Our overall goal is to ensure that every student has access to the highest
quality education available today. Standards help ensure the quality and
consistency of online learning in K-12," said Susan Patrick, President and
CEO of NACOL. "The National Standards of Quality for Online Courses offers
an important measuring tool to help policy leaders, schools, and parents
across the nation evaluate course quality and implement best practices."

NACOL conducted a comprehensive review of course standards available. Based
on this review, the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) Standards for
Quality Online Courses, used by the 16 states in the southern United States
is adopted as the source for the NACOL National Standards for Quality for
Online Courses. NACOL added a standard to include 21st Century Skills.

"The use of the Web (online learning) to provide academic courses is
extremely important to students everywhere. For online learning to expand
and grow, students, parents and policy- and decision-makers need assurance
that the online courses are of quality. If providers of online courses meet
these standards, there is little doubt that online learning will grow
rapidly," said Bill Thomas, Director of Educational Technology, SREB. NACOL
is building upon and validating the quality online learning/virtual school
work of SREB to help programs nationally.

As a proven, practical method to enhance the critical learning experience,
K-12 online learning is growing rapidly, 30% annually. Online learning
levels the playing field for all students to access high quality courses and
teachers.

The National Standards of Quality for Online Courses are available on
NACOL's website: www.nacol.org/nationalstandards/ (URL:
http://www.nacol.org/nationalstandards/.

Impact of Globalization on Accreditation and Quality Management of Open and Distance...

uehlers — 2007-08-28T13:51:00Z

taken from: http://pppjj.usm.my/mjde/page%20sub2007-1(6).html

Abstract
The term globalisation has become very common now and it is a very generic term and can be defined in a number of ways depending upon the circumstance. Globalization pertaining to higher education has been best defined by Knight and de Wit (1997). Their definition reveals that globalization is a multi-faceted process and has several impacts. As a result of globalization new modes of higher education are emerging and mode like Open and Distance Learning (ODL) are becoming more popular. ODL is adopting new forms of delivery to keep the momentum with the changing pace of time and demand. But, the new forms it is adopting and acquiring has posed several challenges and accreditation being the primary. Globalization has also caused a serious concern for quality of ODL institutions. To cope with these challenges, ODL institutions are developing mechanisms and adopting strategies for continuous quality improvement. Likewise, over the past few years accreditation has become a priority of ODL institutions. The concept of accreditation and quality of ODL are becoming more popular then itself. This paper is an effort to highlight the aspects of globalization of higher education, outline the impact of globalization on ODL, analyze aspects of accreditation and quality management of ODL institutions in the current scenario and discuss specific issues and challenges regarding accreditation of ODL institutions.

The Least Developed Countries Report, 2007: knowledge, technological learning and...

uehlers — 2007-08-17T13:03:00Z

The Least Developed Countries Report, 2007: knowledge, technological learning and innovation for development

Can technology and innovation promote development in LDCs?

The Report suggests that national governments and development partners could meet this challenge, notably through greater attention to the following four key policy issues:

* how science, technology and innovation policies geared toward technological catch-up can be integrated into the development and poverty reduction strategies of LDCs
* how stringent intellectual property regimes internationally affect technological development processes in LDCs, and how appropriate policies could improve the learning environment in these countries
* how the massive loss of skilled human resources through emigration could be prevented
* how knowledge aid (as part of official development assistance) could be used to support learning and innovation in LDCs.

http://www.unctad.org/en/docs/ldc2007_en.pdf

Anti-poverty targets in Africa will not be met, UN warns

uehlers — 2007-08-12T19:46:00Z

Anti-poverty targets in Africa will not be met, UN warns

· Millennium goals within reach for much of world
· Unsafe water undermines educational reforms

Recommende reading: http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,,2116107,00.html

NEW ::: OECD Study: Open Educational Resources

uehlers — 2007-06-27T14:24:00Z

The OECD has released a new study about open Educational resourses:
Definition, Actors, Quality. Even the sustainability issues is touched. great!

http://213.253.134.43/oecd/pdfs/browseit/9607041E.pdf

An global overview on accreditation and quality matters for Higher Education

uehlers — 2007-06-27T14:00:00Z

Two interesting report on quality for HE and Online Education:
1. Written by the Australian Agency for Accreditation, the global report gives interesting insight into the state-of-the-art of accreditation and quality for Higher education, esp. in the US, UK and Australia.

http://www.apqn.org/files/virtual_library/articles/world_issues_in_qa.pdf

2. A VALUE Framework for assessment is given by a report from the National Assessment and Accreditation Council, Bangalore, India. Very interesting, it identifies competences for higher Education.

http://www.apqn.org/files/virtual_library/articles/value-framework_for_assessment_of_hei.pdf

A Reflection Learning Cycle

uehlers — 2007-06-22T08:48:00Z

Since quite some time I am now thinking about how a learning cycle should look like which engages students into reflective pratices, lets them define their problems and questions themselves and turns learning into project work.

I found it today - have a look:
http://mlab.uiah.fi/polut/Yhteisollinen/tutkiva_oppiminen.jpg

A NEW ARTICLE: How to achieve a high quality in learning

uehlers — 2007-06-05T07:19:00Z

In the recently published edition of the
Journal for educatonal Technology and Society I published a paper on quality development in which I argue that it is not only "external" quality strategies (like eg. quality criteria) we need for educational quality but also the competencies to use them,. to adapt them and to develop our own quality objectives for teaching and learning situations. The article is taking a different view on how to develop quality like the mainstream today by stating that quality development in education is a matter of negotiation between the learners and the educatinalists and that this negotiation can only be fruitful if boith "parties" are equiped with knowledge, attitudes and skills which allow them to achieve high quality learning outcomes.

Here the Link to the article online

Here the abstract:
The article suggests that stakeholders involved in quality development need a specific competence, called
quality literacy, in order to successfully improve learning processes. We introduce and describe quality
literacy as a set of competencies that are needed for professional quality development. Quality literacy
emphasises the importance of professionalism as a necessary component for quality development, in
addition to structural quality management models. We argue that quality development is a co-production
between learners and their learning environment. This means that the educational process can only be
influenced and optimised through participation and not steered externally. Quality strategies cannot,
therefore, guarantee a high quality of learning processes but rather aim at professionalisation of the
educational process and stakeholders. This article suggests participation and negotiation between
educational stakeholders (clients and providers) as a main condition for quality development. In addition,
we present a quality model that conceptualises quality as a potential that can only be achieved through
interaction.

Paper on "Emerging Technologies for Learning"

uehlers — 2007-05-31T17:19:00Z

London (UK), May 2007 Becta, the UK government's lead partner in the strategic development and delivery of its eStrategy, is publishing the second volume of its 'Emerging Technologies for Education' paper. This document considers how emerging technologies may impact education in the medium term.
http://www.checkpoint-elearning.com/article/4017.html

New: Abstracts of "Handbook on Quality and Standardisation" available

uehlers — 2007-05-31T17:02:00Z

Now the abstracts of my last book

Ehlers/ Pawlowski (2006): Handbook on Quality and Standardisation in E-Learning. Springer Verlag. Heidelberg

are available on the net:

http://www.springerlink.com/content/r8j857/

Borderless Higher Education - Perspectives and Challenges

uehlers — 2007-05-29T08:35:00Z

cross order higher education is an increasing development. there is a good article by Svava Bjarnason from the Observatory of Borderless higher edcation on this issue - from a Commonwealth perspective...: Four modes of supply are categorised and analysed, they are:
● Mode One cross border supply: essentially distance and
e-learning provision
● Mode Two consumption abroad: the movement of
students
● Mode Three commercial presence: where the providers
are active in a physical location other than their country
of origin
● Mode Four movement of natural persons: or the movement
of teaching or research staff.

Download paper here:
Borderless-Higher-Education (pdf, 106 KB)