Internal Quality Assurance of Distance Learning

1. Internal Quality Assurance of Distance Learning  Laura Fedeli University of Macerata, Italy

2. IQA: aims Internal Quality Assurance means the development of a quality “culture” to be the focus of the institution at all levels: • Administrative • Pedagogical • Technological The IQA process is to be incorporated in the institutional management and involves both academic and administrative/technical staff as well as students.

3. IQA: the ENQA report The ENQA report highlights the following standards for internal quality assurance within higher education: • Policy and procedures for quality assurance • Approval, monitoring and periodic review of programmes and awards • Assessment of students • Quality assurance of teaching staff • Learning resources and student support • Information systems • Public information

4. IQA: extending the framework to e-learning • When higher education implies a transformation through technology-enhanced learning and online delivery procedures need to be modified for their application to e-learning: a new framework is needed for quality assurance, accreditation and qualification. This is a general agreement in the literature: Connolly, Jones and O’Shea, 2005; Hope, 2001; Middlehurst and Campbell, 2003; Robinson, 2004; Roffe, 2002; Stella and Gnanam, 2004.

5. The impact of e-learning on existing IQA procedures A broad study by Jara and Mellar (2008) started investigating the nature of the impact of e-learning on existing IQA procedures. • The research was carried out using 129 reports produced by the QAA between 2003 and 2006 describing the application of QA procedures to e-learning courses; • The following issues were identified: • e-learning courses design, delivery and assessment were often disaggregated, that is, carried out by different teams, which affected co-ordination and communication among team members • The supporting teaching team (tutors) was composed of a mixture of profiles with whom teachers had a different level of communication and a different management about quality assurance • tutors were not always able to directly interact with students in order to obtain feedback about course processes.

6. E-learning in Western Balkans: some case-studies • Within the Workpackage 2 of the ongoing Tempus Project DL@WeB WB partners from Republic of Serbia, Macedonia and Montenegro provided a detailed description of current online courses run in their institutions • Those case-studies, except the case of the University of Kragujevac, are not accompanied by an evaluation report as part of the IQA process

7. IQA in WB: critical elements for e-learning • Approval, monitoring and periodic review of programmes • no clear designation of the body responsible for approving an online programme and for ensuring that all conditions have been met before the programme begins • When a Quality Unit is present it seems to be not well coordinated with the different departments and not focussed on specific distance learning standards

8. IQA in WB: critical elements for e-learning • Quality assurance and e-learning staff: • Supporting staff is commonly meant to be technical staff able to help for general problems related to the LMS; • No specific regulation for recruitment of e-learning professionals (instructional designer, tutors etc.) • in-service training is not addressed to enhance pedagogical issues related to distance learning (except some isolated cases as for SEE University, Tetovo)

9. IQA in WB: critical elements for e-learning • Course design, learning resources and student support: • No reference to a systematic approach to the design process : blended courses, online courses and online support to face- to- face instruction need to rely on different approaches; • no clear description of the course structure: formative committment (pre-requisites, objectives, expected outcomes, number of hours dedicated to self-study/online activities/stage-project works, netiquette); organization of modules; organization of activities in each module; mandatory and optional learning materials; assessment ; contact information (teaching and supporting staff); • No clear definition of the procedures to make course contents conceptually adjusted to distance learning; • No clear discrimination between technical support and disciplinary support provided by tutors

10. The next step in the workpackage: establish the framework for improving DL quality assurance Institutional dimension Administrative issues • Need analysis • Institutional readiness analysis • Monitoring and quality assessment of capacity to deliver online courses Academic issues • Staff training and recruitment • Course management • Assessment Pedagogical dimension • Design approach • Content analysis and creation • Didactical strategies and tools Technological dimension • Infrastructure • Policy and standards to create and access content

11. The next step in the project: quality assurance and accreditation • Accreditation represents both a status and a process • Establish/rely on quality standards • Internal self-evaluation • External evaluation to achieve recognition