SEVAQ Conference in Brussels (24-09-2007)
Today I was invited to give a keynote presentation in an international workshop in Brussels. The workshop was organised by the SEVAQ Project to present and discuss their final results. It was impressive to see the product which the project developped.
A completely online managable evaluation tool which allows multiple analysis and views on the data. It follows the concept of Kirckpatrick and combines it with the EFQM model. Very interesting - and online available.
The organisers also publishes a handbook on their software and ainvited me to write a preface for it.
Here it is:
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A CHANGING WOLRD OF QUALITY: MOVING FROM CONTROLL TO CULTURE
by Dr. Ulf-Daniel Ehlers
E-Learning has many faces. It is not developing homogeneously in all European countries at the same pace but rather in a divers manner of different forms, of divers technologies, different pedagogical approaches, contents and objectives – thus reflecting the interrelation between cultures and education in its whole. In the same manner, e-learning is also diffusing educational organisations in a quite different pace, developing different formats within them and taking over different functions, ranging from a catalyst for change of organisations and pedagogical processes on the far end to a mere ‘add on’ information distribution tool on the other.
All the same it can be noted that e-learning has changed from its entrepeneurship and infancy stage to a more general offering in all educational sectors. More and more it is challenging educational settings, reforming and improving them, carrying the implicit promise of changing education for the better. Along with that it can be seen that many policies stress the potential of raising quality of education through the integration of knowledge, learning and information technologies. This quality promise, however, has failed to deliver on the large scale so far. Not through the fault of individuals, not willing to change their professional habits in education, a bad technology or insufficient content. The problem being rather that raising quality in education, through the introduction of technology, needs a total system approach, a systemic strategy. In the quality debate and in experts discussions, this change can be seen as a move from control-centred strategies to development oriented e-learning- and quality strategies, and furthermore a growing debate about a quality culture, focussing on values, attitudes and motivation of stakeholders, rather than only on indicators.
For these discussions, overarching approaches and strategies are needed in order to develop quality in a holistic way, taking into account organisational contexts and stakeholders in a participatory way. Not one golden path of quality development, not one single common set of criteria can then anymore be applied to all situations and organisations alike but a constant effort, striving for improvement has to be made in organisations. All groups of stakeholders are addressed to play their part in this process: teachers, administrators, managers and also learners have to become conscious of the role they play for successful quality improvement. In this view, quality is about professionalisation of teaching, enabling of learning, participative management and recognition of achievements. It is important to recognise that quality strategies for e-learning therefore need to be very much adapted to the organisational reality and can not simply be developed according to the paradigm “one size fits all”.
In this publication, the SEVAQ project takes this angle and develops concepts and tools which enable stakeholders to build support tools for a holistic evaluation and quality development process. The project has merged two widespread concepts, a systematic evaluation approach which has been tried out with much success in the field of education and training – the four level evaluation approach of Kirkpatrick, and a holistic approach for organisational quality development – the quality model of the European Foundation for Quality Management.
A completely online managable evaluation tool which allows multiple analysis and views on the data. It follows the concept of Kirckpatrick and combines it with the EFQM model. Very interesting - and online available.
The organisers also publishes a handbook on their software and ainvited me to write a preface for it.
Here it is:
--------------------
A CHANGING WOLRD OF QUALITY: MOVING FROM CONTROLL TO CULTURE
by Dr. Ulf-Daniel Ehlers
E-Learning has many faces. It is not developing homogeneously in all European countries at the same pace but rather in a divers manner of different forms, of divers technologies, different pedagogical approaches, contents and objectives – thus reflecting the interrelation between cultures and education in its whole. In the same manner, e-learning is also diffusing educational organisations in a quite different pace, developing different formats within them and taking over different functions, ranging from a catalyst for change of organisations and pedagogical processes on the far end to a mere ‘add on’ information distribution tool on the other.
All the same it can be noted that e-learning has changed from its entrepeneurship and infancy stage to a more general offering in all educational sectors. More and more it is challenging educational settings, reforming and improving them, carrying the implicit promise of changing education for the better. Along with that it can be seen that many policies stress the potential of raising quality of education through the integration of knowledge, learning and information technologies. This quality promise, however, has failed to deliver on the large scale so far. Not through the fault of individuals, not willing to change their professional habits in education, a bad technology or insufficient content. The problem being rather that raising quality in education, through the introduction of technology, needs a total system approach, a systemic strategy. In the quality debate and in experts discussions, this change can be seen as a move from control-centred strategies to development oriented e-learning- and quality strategies, and furthermore a growing debate about a quality culture, focussing on values, attitudes and motivation of stakeholders, rather than only on indicators.
For these discussions, overarching approaches and strategies are needed in order to develop quality in a holistic way, taking into account organisational contexts and stakeholders in a participatory way. Not one golden path of quality development, not one single common set of criteria can then anymore be applied to all situations and organisations alike but a constant effort, striving for improvement has to be made in organisations. All groups of stakeholders are addressed to play their part in this process: teachers, administrators, managers and also learners have to become conscious of the role they play for successful quality improvement. In this view, quality is about professionalisation of teaching, enabling of learning, participative management and recognition of achievements. It is important to recognise that quality strategies for e-learning therefore need to be very much adapted to the organisational reality and can not simply be developed according to the paradigm “one size fits all”.
In this publication, the SEVAQ project takes this angle and develops concepts and tools which enable stakeholders to build support tools for a holistic evaluation and quality development process. The project has merged two widespread concepts, a systematic evaluation approach which has been tried out with much success in the field of education and training – the four level evaluation approach of Kirkpatrick, and a holistic approach for organisational quality development – the quality model of the European Foundation for Quality Management.
uehlers - 2. Oct, 21:09
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