This document discusses challenges and opportunities related to quality assurance in e-learning. It summarizes: 1) Challenges universities face with large student numbers, research and innovation demands, and ensuring inclusiveness. Digital strategies are needed rather than just reacting to new technologies. 2) Benefits universities see in online education like improved quality, scalability, and learning analytics. However, staff time and costs are concerns. 3) Emerging drivers for universities to adopt digital learning including cultural shifts and increased global competition. Quality assurance now applies to all credit-bearing programs. 4) The E-xcellence quality assurance instrument and its use by over 50 universities and stakeholders to benchmark e-

1. SEQUENT
Supporting Quality in E-learning
European Networks
24-10-2014 Krakow
George Ubachs (EADTU)

2. Challenges with regard to excellence in teaching
• Large student numbers - low student staff ratios
Challenges with regard to education and innovation
• Research and innovation - delivering high quality education
Challenges with regard to inclusiveness
• Knowledge society – need for basic competences and digital literacy
skills
Solutions require rethinking and redesigning campus education ->
new modes of teaching and introducing ICT based learning
Main challenges in
Higher Education

3. Digital strategies
From MOOCs to a digital strategy
• The MOOCs movement activated the debate on Open
and Online education
There is a need for digital strategies rather then being
led by digital developments
Universities adopt online ICT-based education in their
mainstream, as well as OER and MOOCs. (improve quality
and activate educational innovation)

4. University’s interest
• Enhance quality of your offerings and generate
new offerings
• Support face-to-face formats
• Increased collaboration, educational
partnerships
• Allow for scalability, wider audience
• Staff time and cost
• Learning analytics
Improve accessibility, flexibility, interaction

5. University’s interest
Next to institutional considerations to increase
quality of education, there are two emerging
external drivers:
-Cultural rather than a technological shift
-Increased competition in a global context
For universities ICT is no longer an optional
element for enhancing education, but
becoming a must.

6. The university of tomorrow
Three complementary educational segments
are emerging:
• Blended and online education
• Blended and online continuous education
• Non-degree education and online open
education and MOOCs
More open, more productive, more efficient

7. Anticipating organisations
• Governmental bodies
• LERU: Online Learning at RIUs
• EUA: Survey on E-learning in the
European HE institutions
• ACA: Making sense of MOOCs
• NVAO: MOOCs and online HE survey
• EU: the Changing Pedagogical Landscape
study on new modes of teaching, High
level group

8. QA-agencies and e-learning
From the ENQA Sigtuna Seminar on QA in e-learning (Oct. 2009)
•establish a solid quality assurance system in Europe
•eLearning should not be evaluated separately,
•There is a need for a common definition and understanding on all
aspects of eLearning.
•There is a need for a “common language” that would help higher
education institutions and quality assurance agencies strive for the
same goal.
•It is important to meet and discuss quality assurance at the
European level and between different stakeholders in the
educational sector
•to provide adequate training for academic professionals, higher
education providers and quality evaluation experts.

10. Message of the report
The main actors for delivering pedagogical change are
the HE institutions and particularly the teachers.
It is the responsibility of the public authorities to create
the environment and incentive for action.
High Level Group report 22-10-2014

11. High Level Group report 22-10-2014
• The integration of digital technologies and pedagogies should
form an integral element of higher education institutions’
strategies for teaching and learning.
• Public authorities should develop guidelines for ensuring
quality in open and online learning and to promote excellence in
the use of ICT in higher education provision.
• The European Commission should support cross-border initiatives
to develop quality standards for open and online learning under
the Erasmus+ programme.
• Higher education institutions should ensure that quality
assurance arrangements apply to all forms of credit awarding
provision in the institution.
• Governments and higher education institutions should work
towards full open access of educational resources– the drive
should be to make materials as widely available as possible

13. SEQUENT
• The “SEQUENT” project aims to promote
excellence in the use of ICT in higher
education for governments and universities,
and prepare QA-agencies in establishing a solid
methodological response.

14. OBJECTIVES
• To involve of governments, universities and QA
agencies in online, open and flexible learning
• Further disseminate instruments
• To support universities in the adoption of a QA and e-
Learning strategy, through dissemination and training
activities.

15. Instruments

17. E-xcellence: QA in e-learning instrument
• Curriculum design, Course design, Course
delivery, Services (student and staff support),
Management (institutional strategies)
• E-xcellence focuses on elements in course
provision that contribute to Lifelong Learning
schemes, like:
 ease of access to courses and services
 new forms of interaction (students and staff)
 flexibility and personalisation
• E-xcellence is a benchmarking instrument.

20. Institutions involved
Core Partners (2005-2012)
1 EADTU (The Netherlands)
2 Open Universiteit Nederland (The Netherlands)
3 Open University (United Kingdom)
4 OULU-University (Finland)
5 Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (UNED) (Spain)
6 PROSE (Belgium)
Universities that used E-xcellence
7 Centre National d'Enseignement à Distance (CNED)
8 Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC)
9 Estonian Information Technology Foundation (EITSA)
10 National Council for Distance Education (APERTUS)
11 Network per l'Universita Ovunque (NETTUNO)
12 European University Association (EUA)
13 Nederlands-Vlaamse Accreditatie Organisatie (NVAO)

21. 14 International Telematic University UNINETTUNO (Italy)
15 Tallinn University (Estonia)
16 Högskoleverket / NSHU (Sweden)
17 KU Leuven (Belgium)
18 The Czech Association of Distance Learning University (CADUV)
19 University of Hradec Králové (Czech Republic)
20 Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava (Slovakia)
21 Universitäre Fernstudien Schweiz (Switzerland)
22 Hungarian e-University Network (Hungary)
23 University of Southern Denmark
24 University of Copenhagen
25 Aarhus University
26 University of Latvia
27 Lund University
28 University of Kuopio
29 University of Porto
30 University of Bologna
31 Universidade Aberta (UAb), Portugal
32 Open University of Cyprus (OUC), Cyprus
Universities that used E-xcellence

22. 33 Riga Technical University (RTU), Latvia
34 Akademia Górniczo-Hutnicza (AGH), Poland
35 Hellenic Open University (HOU), Greece
36 Kaunas University of Technology (KTU), Lithuania
37 MESI (RU)
38 Dalarna University, Sweden
 European Centre for Strategic Management of Universities (ESMU),
Belgium
 European University Association
 African Council for Distance Learning (ACDE), Kenia
 CommonWealth of Learning (COL), Canada
 Latin American and Caribbean Institute for Quality in Distance Higher
Education(CALED), Ecuador
 Association for Asian Open Universities (AAOU)
 UNESCO, France
 International Council for Distance Education (ICDE)
 EADTU Student Council, The Netherlands
 EURASHE
 INQAAHE
Universities that used E-xcellence
European and Global stakeholders

23. • ENQA as Associate partner in the project NEXT
• Portuguese Agency for Assessment and Accreditation of Higher
Education – (A3ES),
• La Agencia Nacional de Evaluación de la Calidad y Acreditación
(ANECA, Spain),
• Vlaamse Interuniversitaire Raad (VLIR),
• Vlaamse Hogescholenraad (VLOHRA),
• Dutch-Flemish accreditation body (NVAO),
• Lithuanian Centre for Quality Assessment in Higher Education,
Higher Education Quality Evaluation Centre (HEQEC – AIKNC),
• Polish Quality Assurance Agency for Technical Universities (KAUT),
• Higher Education Planning, Evaluation, Accreditation and
Coordination Council (YÖDAK, TR)
• Hellenic Quality Assurance Agency (HQAA).
QA-agencies reached
with E-xcellence

25. Some challenges
• How can universities apply QA instruments for online
education in combination with running systems?
• How can QA-agencies assist in the removal of barriers
for online education?
• How can governments provide room for innovation.
www.sequent-network.eu

26. NVAO