Archive for 2012 Feb

1. Quality, Education
Quality, eLearning Quality
Nan Yang
Doctoral School in Psychological Sciences and Education
Nan.yang@unitn.it
2013-8-9 1

2. Outline
• What’s the concept of Quality, Education
Quality and eLearning Quality
• How to measure?
• Discussion
2013-8-9 2

3. Quality
• Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary
– peculiar and essential character
– degree of excellence
– a distinguishing attribute
• Wikipedia
– perceptual, conditional and somewhat subjective
attribute (quality in business)
– an attribute or a property (quality in philosophy)
• Academic Paper
– A relative and value-laden concept and may be viewed
differently by various stakeholders
2013-8-9 3

4. Quality
• How to measure?
– ISO 9001 (International Organization for Standards)
• Quality management system
• An international consensus on good quality
management practices
– Managing its process efficient
– Fully in control of its activities
2013-8-9 4

5. Education Quality
• UNICEF’s point (United Nations Children’s Fund)
– Quality Education includes: quality learners, quality
environments, quality content, quality
processes, quality outcomes.
• European Commission’s point(European
Economy, Quality and efficiency in education, special report
No.3/2004)
– contributing to the productivity of future members of
the labor force, stimulating technical progress and
providing benefits in terms of greater
citizenship, health and culture, and the democratic
value of access to education
2013-8-9 5

6. Education Quality
• How to measure?
– Standardized academic achievement tests
• It can test the performance in literacy, math and
science
• it can’t fully accurately measure others
(e.g. the extent to which education instills good
citizenship)
– Different perspectives for measurement
• Institutions, instructors, students, assessors, governme
nt, professionals
2013-8-9 6

7. Education Quality
• Models
– European Commission’s Model
2013-8-9 7

8. Education Quality
– Key Quality Indicators
(Department of Education, State of Oregon, USA)
• Leadership that facilitates student learning
• Parental/Community involvement
• Organizational adaptability
• A safe and orderly environment
• A district with aligned curriculum and maximum
allocation of resources to the classroom
• Effective teachers
• Student connectedness to school
2013-8-9 8

9. eLearning Quality
• Specific aspect in educational quality
– Quality of eLearning VS eQuality of Learning
• Different meanings of eLearning Quality
– individual users, institutions, policy
makers, society
• How to measure eLearning quality
– Judged by same standards as f2f education?
2013-8-9 9

10. eLearning Quality
• Models
– Subjective Quality Requirements(Ehlers,2004)-
Learners level
• Tutor support
• Collaboration
• Technology
• Costs-expectations-benefits
• Information transparency of provider and courses
• Course structure
• Didactics
2013-8-9 10

11. eLearning Quality
– e-Learning Maturity Model (Marshall, 2007)-
Institutional Level
• Five process categories
– Learning (pedagogical)
– Development (creation and maintenance of resources)
– Support (management of eLearning)
– Evaluation (quality control)
– Organization (institutional planning and management)
• Dimensions of capability
– Delivery (creation and delivery of process)
– Planning (assess the use of predefined plans)
– Definition (the use of standards, guidelines, templates)
– Management (manage the process implementation)
– Optimization (continuous improvement)
2013-8-9 11

12. eLearning Quality
– E-xcellence project’s model (33 elements)
-Self-Assessment Guide in institutional level
(European Association of Distance Teaching Universities)
• Strategic management
• Curriculum design
• Course design
• Course delivery
• Staff support
• Student support
2013-8-9 12

13. eLearning Quality
– Korea’s quality criteria (95 elements)-Policy Maker
(Ministry of Education, Science and Technology)
• Educational planning
• Instruction
• Human resources
• Physical resources
• Management and administration
• Educational results
2013-8-9 13

14. eLearning Quality
– ISO: a framework for quality management in use
of ICT in learning, education and training
-society level
• Establishment of requirement (defining objectives)
• General conditions
(external context, personnel resources, target group)
• Design (learning content, didactics, activities)
• Production (content’s development)
• Introduction(testing, adapting and release of learning resource)
• Implementation (administration, activities and review)
• Evaluation/optimization
2013-8-9 14

15. Discussion
• Do we need a unified concept for “quality” in
the educational context and why?
– To know our research stance
• What’s the radical/intrinsic purpose for us to
study the quality of eLearning?
– To know our research focus
• What kind of the research outcome we want
to produce?
– To guide our research design and implementation
2013-8-9 15

16. Thank you
2013-8-9 16