The SEQUENT showcases of nations and institutions

Paul Bacsich, Sero ConsultingConsultant to EADTU

EADTU conference - Fernuni Hagen29-30 October 2015

Outline of presentation1. SEQUENT, the EU project2. Key SEQUENT reports3. Country information: Quality in HE, and quality in

e-learning/MOOCs4. Institutional information: Quality processes

overall, and for e-learning/MOOCs

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The SEQUENT project• Consortium of EADTU (lead), ENQA and (until

it closed) EFQUEL• Finished end March 2015 (ran for two years)• Final reports written by EADTU with specialist

reports by Paul Bacsich (Showcases) and Keith Williams (ENQA Standards and Guidelines, for e-learning)

• Evaluator: Ebba Ossiannilsson 3

Key report URLs– SEQUENT project: http://www.sequent-network.eu/

- see in particular http://www.sequent-network.eu/instruments

– Showcases Report: http://www.sequent-network.eu/images/Guidelines/Sequent_Showcases.pdf - with key extract at https://www.academia.edu/13020383/Quality_Agencies_in_Europe_and_their_approach_to_e-learning_and_open_learning

– QA policy wonks should also read http://www.sequent-network.eu/images/Guidelines/Sequent_Handbook_for_Quality_in_e-learning_procedures.pdf

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Context: Key numbers (Europe)• 7 centralised open universities (UK, NL, ES (2),

PT, DE, CY) and several mini- and micro-OUs• ?300 EU HEIs with distance learning (100 in UK)• 10 large VET DL providers (NKI, Klett, CNED etc)• 81 virtual schools (2012 figure; 2015?)• 3 million DL students in European HE (IDEAL)• 1 ENQA member working on guidelines for e-

learning! (Who?)• Wider context: Adult Education and OER - http

://poerup.referata.com/wiki/ADOERUP 5

Findings

And Questions to you

Quality agencies who are members of ENQA

• UK• Ireland• [now fill in the blanks, as a group]

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Quality agencies with guidelines for institutional QA procedures

• UK• Ireland• [now fill in the blanks, as a group]

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Quality agencies with guidelines for assuring quality of e-learning programmes

• (UK)• ((Sweden))• [Ireland] – soon• [now strain your brains to fill in any blanks, as

a group]

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Quality agencies with guidelines for assuring quality of OER and/or MOOCs

• ((((I think we know the answer!)))

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Now change from nations/regions…

… to institutions

Institutions with a recent public national QA report on their learning and teaching

• All UK institutions – some not that recent• (All Ireland institutions) – but often not recent• [now fill in the blanks, as a group – what about

your institution? URLs wanted]

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Institutions with a recent national QA report also reviewing their e-learning - UK

• See the Showcases QA reports:– Dundee (2013)– Edinburgh (2013)– Heriot Watt (2012)– Interactive Design Institute (2014) – micro-OU– Open College of the Arts (2014) – micro-OU– RDI/Capella (2013) now Arden – alt-OU– Strathclyde (2014)– Warwick (2013)

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Institutions with a recent national QA report also reviewing their e-learning – non-UK

• [now fill in the blanks, as a group – what about your institution?]

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Institutions with documented quality procedures

• “many”, but yours?• [now fill in the blanks, as a group – what about

your institution?]

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Institutions with documented quality procedures for e-learning

• UK: many since around 2000 – public docs:– Manchester Metropolitan– Northumbria– Oxford– Warwick– Yours?

• Non-UK? 16

Institutions and their quality procedures #1• Cyprus: University of Nicosia (UNIC)• Cyprus: Open University of Cyprus (Hellenic Culture Bachelors;

Education Masters)• Hungary: Budapest University of Technology and Economics

(Designer and Tutor training programme)• Italy: Polytechnic of Milan• Lithuania: Kaunas University of Technology (Master Degree in

Information Technologies of Distance Education)• Netherlands: Delft University of Technology

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Institutions and their quality procedures #2

• Portugal: Universidade Aberta• Spain: UNED• Sweden: Dalarna University (Faculty of

Languages; and Nursing Programme)• UK/Scotland: Glasgow Caledonian University• UK/England: University of Hertfordshire

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University of Warwick guidelines: extract #11. Has the department made realistic assessments of the staff time required to develop and update the course materials?2. Will the department be able to offer a high quality course if student numbers are lower than expected or key members of staff leave?4. Have all issues related to availability, standardisation and upgrades of hardware and software both for students and staff been considered carefully? 6. What training and support will staff receive for developing materials or providing guidance to students?8. What proportion of assessment (formative and summative) should take place under controlled conditions and how will the department verify the authenticity of assessed coursework?

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University of Warwick guidelines: extract #29. Will there be any special arrangements for progression of distance-learning students (e.g. in relation to deferring assessments, granting temporary withdrawal, the overall period of time allowed to complete the course)?13. Has the department made all costs and requirements clear to students including those related to any physical attendance at the University?14. How will the department protect its intellectual property rights over teaching materials made available in hard copy or an electronic format?16. Are the arrangements planned for student-student and student-staff interaction, including feedback on the quality of modules, workable? and how will their effectiveness be monitored?

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Questions?

(Before we go into groups)

And now….

Work in groups: if possible, same institution, same country

Group project

• Ignoring specific criteria, how will your institution go about creating or updating in a major way quality guidelines for e-learning?

• Describe the main stages and stakeholders.• Consider the balance between assurance and

enhancement• Consider the extent to which your institution

wishes to be a pioneer? In quality, geographic coverage and scale (numbers)

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Thank you for listening

Paul Bacsich, paul.bacsich@sero.co.uk

http://independent.academia.edu/PaulBacsichhttp://poerup.referata.com