quality enhancement

This year EDEN was proudly hosting the third year of the European Distance Learning Week (EDLW) in cooperation with the United States Distance Learning Association (USDLA), which was holding its National Distance Learning Week (NDLW) in parallel with the EDEN event. During EDLW, daily online webinars and panel sessions of expert scholars and practitioners were presented with a variety of cutting-edge open and online learning topics, from innovations in design to open educational research. For NDLW events, see the USDLA web page: https://www.usdla.org/2018-ndlw-2018/

Each day during the EDLW, a webinar was presented with interesting themes and professional presenters. See the themes and the recordings as below. I myself hosted a webinar on the 8 November 2018 on Considerations for Quality Assurance of e-Learning Provision. In addition, I moderated and presented myself. The webinar was in three parts. 

Ebba Ossiannilsson, EDEN Executive Committee Member, EDEN Fellow Council Member, Chair of the EDEN Special Interest Group on Technology Enabled Learning and Quality Enhancement presented on EDEN Special Interest Group on Technology Enabled Learning and Quality Enhancement.

Esther Huertas Hidalgo, AQU Catalunya, Spain, The European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ENQA) presented the ENQA Considerations for Quality Assurance of e-Learning Provision, and the TeSLA project on e-assessment.

The webinar had some 50 registered participants and it was a lively discussion on quality considerations and how EDEN can contribute both internal and external to the changing quality agenda in the changing learning landscape in the 21st century and how the use of TEL can facilitate and promote educational access, equity, and quality around the world, which are the Sustainability Goals related to education (SDG4). The ENQA Quality considerations are based on the ENQA European Standards and Guidelines and the European Association of Distance Teaching University (EADTU) Excellence Associates in Quality and the SEQUENT (Supporting Quality in E-learning European Networks) project.

Quality in Technology Enabeld Learning (TEL) is more than ever a hot topic, not at least because of the transformation of learning and education in the digital era, and the move toward Open, Online, Flexible Learning and TEL (OOFAT). Quality in TEL, can be discussed and measured from a vareity of perspectives and approaches. First, quality has to be considered at different levels, i.e. meso,- miso,- and macro level. Second, there are a huge variety of stakeholders whohave an interest in quality. Third, there are different approaches, as normbased versus processbased  quality assurance and /or  quality enhancement. Fourth, the maturity level has to be taken into consideration. Fifth, and last, or maybe even as a first issue:

QUALITY IS ALWAYS TIME, CONTEXT, AND CULTURE DEPENDENT, AND

QUALITY IS ALWAYS IN THE EYES OF THE BEHOLDER