Quality assurance of online, open and flexible education

QUALITY ASSURANCE OF ONLINE, OPEN AND FLEXIBLE HIGHER EDUCATIONCONCEPTUAL ISSUES

ANTHONY F. CAMILLERI – KNOWLEDGE INNOVATION CENTRE

ROUNDTABLE ON THE ACCREDITATION OF BLENDED AND DIGITAL LEARNING

MARCH 2015, RABAT, MALTA.

Open Educational Resources (OER) describe any kind of digital media which are released under licenses which allow for:

use and reuse/repurposing/modification of the resources

include free use of these resources for educational purposes by teachers and learners,

encompass all types of digital media

WHAT IS OPEN EDUCATION?

Depending on the definition, OER may include:

• digital resources only, or a mix of digital and ‘traditional’ resources

• resources produced with an explicit educational aim, or any resource used as part of an educational process

• resources which are in the public domain, or resources which allow use and reuse merely for educational purposes

WHAT IS OPEN EDUCATION?

Social Openness Technical Openness

License Openness Financial Openness

most participative least restrictive least restrictive most affordable

Student, lecturer & Broader Community

Student Centred

Lecturer Centred

Open

Proprietary/Open

Proprietary

Public Domain

Limited-Public

Copyrighted

Free

Opportunity Cost

Low Cost

Charged

incr

easi

ng levels

of

openness

Hodgkinson-Williams, C., & Gray, E. (2009). Degrees of openness: The emergence of open educational resources at the University of Cape Town. International Journal of Education and Development Using ICT, 5(5). Retrieved from http://www.editlib.org/p/42198/

WHAT ABOUT MOOCS?

MOOC is defined as:

massive: with theoretically no limit to enrolment

open: allowing anyone to participate, usually at no cost

online: with learning activities typically taking place over the web

course: structured around a set of learning goals in a defined study area

don’t miss the forest for the trees

EDUCATIONAL CHANGE IS INEVITABLE

MOOCs (et al)

are a symptom of change

not, the result of it

TECHNOLOGICAL TRENDS

Ubiquitous Computing

access to computing power any time

anywhere

Open Data

access to any information any time

anywhere

Learning Analytics

ability to base teaching decisions on data

Semantic Search

ability to talk and converse with machines

Collaboration Technologies

ability to collaborate with anybody in real-time

Personalisation Technologies

move away from traditional massification concepts

SOCIAL CHANGES MEAN INCREASED DEMANDS FROM EDUCATION

provide graduates to supply the knowledge economy

increase efficiency of processes

extend reach of programmesadapt content to ever-changing

priorities

do more, better, with less

RESULTING TRENDS IN ONLINE, OPEN AND FLEXIBLE HIGHER EDUCATION

Growing Role of

OER

Unbundling of

EducationEmergence of Non-

Traditional ProvidersCollaboration

to keep up with

technology

Increasing demand for

recognition & portability

GROWTH IN OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES

April 2014:

3045 learning repositories – 7% growth year-on-year

with 12 million learning objects

Source:repository66.org

GROWTH IN MOOCS

March 2015:

1139 European MOOCs

220% Year-on-Year Growth

Source:openeducationeuropa.eu

QA-RELATED ISSUES TO CONSIDER

How to adapt teacher performance metrics to consider use/re-use of

their resources?

How does open resources affect

concepts of efficiency?

UNBUNDLING OF EDUCATION

A Higher Education Experience isa gateway to a multitude of services

explicit and implicit

THREE SCENARIOS FOR UNBUNDLING

QA ISSUES LINKED TO UNBUNDLING

increases student choice (link to SCL)allows for increased specialisation of functions of HEstimulates innovation and quality through increased attention on niche activities

implicit functions of Higher Education not necessarily specifically covered by criteriais the whole of an HE qualification more than the sum of its parts?

EMERGENCE OF NON-TRADITIONAL PROVIDERS

‘Hybrid Providers’

mergers of HEIs and Technology companies collaborating on course provision, e.g. Coursera

Teaching & Examination

Centres

teach HE level qualifications using

licensed content from universities

RPL Universities

institutions offering recognition,

credentialisation and add-on teaching for RPL

Exam-Only Companies

designing and/or providing examinations

(incl. automated assessment)

Publishers

providing not only books but online learning

communities

QUALITY ISSUES TO CONSIDER

none of these models are explicitly regulatedespecially not at international level

Quality Systemswill need to

enable innovationprotect students

RESPONDING TO TECHNOLOGY THROUGH COLLABORATION

University Networks

publishing courses under a single

brand

University –Business

collaborations for joint-provision of

education

Living Labs’ to develop OE

content, technology and

pedagogy

TECHNOLOGY-NETWORKS AS QUALITY NETWORKS

EdX and Coursera only admit ‘world class’ universities

OpenupEd is linked to a Quality Label

INCREASED DEMAND FOR RECOGNITION

BadgesCertificates of

attendanceCertificates of

completionECTSDiplomas and Degrees

easily mapped toQualifications Framework

Hard/Impossible to map toQualifications Framework

CHALLENGES FOR QA

Students Expect HE

to provide portable

and recognisable

qualifications

Equivalent Quality across all

qualification types

Quality of theQualification itself

(recognition & portability as elements of quality)

OPEN DATA & QUALITYTECHNOLOGY GIVES RISE TO NEW EXPECTATIONS FROM THE QUALITY ECOSYSTEM

Assure Minimal Quality

Standards

Offer Various Ranking

Methodologies

Allow for User Review and Rating

Give Access to Data

THANK YOU FORYOUR ATTENTION

ANTHONY F. CAMILLERI

ANTHONY@KNOWLEDGEINNOVATIONEU

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