When talking about the quality assurance (QA) processes in higher education, specifically those taking part in the conventional universities, there is no doubt that quality assurance agencies have built a reliable and consistent framework, which includes ex-ante, follow up and ex-post assessment processes. Consequently, the mission to assure and to safeguard the interests of society in the quality of higher education is guaranteed. However, when this issue is transferred to the e-learning sector (online and blended learning) the situation is slightly different and the QA is still seen as a challenge.
It is evident that e-learning has gained popularity over the years and has become a key issue among QA agencies and institutions in the European Higher Education Area (EHEA). All the efforts are directed to put all the provisions at the same level and to obtain the same outcomes in the conventional degree programmes as in their virtual equivalents.
Up to today, a variety of different quality models in online education has been used around the globe: ACDE, ACODE, CALED, CHEA, E-xcellence, OpenupEd, UNIQUe, eMM, ELQ, etc. These models share common features and are designed to suit all kind of contexts via certifications, benchmarking, accreditations and advisory frameworks. In this same field, AQU Catalunya (work package 4 leader) carried out a Pre-European Higher Education Area Degrees , called virtual programme, (See AQU virtual programme) that provides guides to evaluate distance learning degrees and institutions. These international practices and the recently reviewed European Standards and Guidelines (2015) can be used as a backbone to develop the methodology in the framework of the TeSLA project.
By now, these are some of the elements to be considered during the assessment of TeSLA pilots:
FUNDED BY THE EUROPEAN UNION
TeSLA is not responsible for any contents linked or referred to from these pages. It does not associate or identify itself with the content of third parties to which it refers via a link. Furthermore TESLA is not liable for any postings or messages published by users of discussion boards, guest books or mailing lists provided on its page. We have no control over the nature, content and availability of any links that may appear on our site. The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.
TeSLA is coordinated by Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC) and funded by the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 ICT Programme. This website reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.