A Case Study Exploring Quality Standards for Quality E-Learning

Author(s):  
Colla J. MacDonald ◽  
Terrie Lynn Thompson

In order to satisfy the needs of growing numbers of adult learners, the availability of well-designed, effectively implemented, and efficiently delivered online courses is essential (MacDonald, Stodel & Casimiro, 2006; Palloff & Pratt, 2001). Despite the demand and prevalence of e-learning, there are still concerns regarding the quality and effectiveness of education offered online (Carstens & Worsfold, 2000; Noble, 2002). Too often, in an “effort to simply get something up and running” (Dick, 1996, p. 59), educators have been forced to compromise quality and design. Intensive competition among educational institutions has resulted in quality assurance becoming a critical issue for promoting learning and learning programs. Within this economically motivated environment, online learning has not escaped the scrutiny of quality standards. Quality in online programs is generally defined in terms of the design of the learning experience, the contextualized experience of learners, and evidence of learning outcomes (Jung, 2000; Salmon, 2000). However, the plethora of online learning courses and programs with few standards to ensure the quality of content, delivery, and/or service creates a challenge. The resulting variance in quality makes it difficult for an organization or learner to choose a program that meets their needs and is also of high quality.

Author(s):  
Hale Ilgaz ◽  
Yasemin Gülbahar

The popularity of online programs that educational institutions offer is continuously increasing at varying degrees, with the major demand coming from adult learners who have no opportunity to access traditional education. These adult learners have to be sufficiently ready and competent for online learning, and have their own varied expectations from the online learning process. Hence, this mixed method study is conducted to explore the participants’ readiness and expectations at the beginning and their satisfaction levels at the end of an online learning experience. An e-readiness scale and an e-satisfaction scale was administered as quantitative measures, with open-ended questions gathering qualitative data. Participants of the research were registered to different e-learning programs at Ankara University Distance Education Center, Turkey, during the 2013-2014 academic year. Analysis of both quantitative and qualitative data revealed facts about online learners, which should prove useful to both e-instructors and e-program administrators.


Author(s):  
Roumiana Peytcheva-Forsyth ◽  
Blagovesna Yovkova

The increasing attempts of traditional universities to introduce e-learning in its different modalities – ranging from fully online to different combinations between online and face-to-face pedagogical interactions - raise serious questions about the quality assurance of the learning experience. One possible approach to explore the quality of online learning is to adopt the perspective of the decision-makers, the higher educational institutions and their staff. Another approach is to investigate what are the different dimensions of quality online learning experience from the perspective of students. This article presents a study of students' opinions and attitudes about the quality of different elements in the pedagogical design of blended courses. The majority of the students involved in the research have had no or little experience in online learning. The authors try to find out whether there is a relation between the students' previous experience in e-learning and their judgements about different aspects of its quality.


2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (02) ◽  
pp. 103-114
Author(s):  
Moh. Toriqul Chaer ◽  
Muhammad Atabiqul As'ad ◽  
Qusnul Khorimah ◽  
Erik Sujarwanto

The continuity of learning programs during the COVID-19 pandemic found educational institutions, especially Madrasah Ibtidaiyyah (MI) temporarily closed the learning process in schools. To prevent the spread of COVID-19 that is currently engulfing Indonesia. Lack of preparation, readiness and learning strategies have a psychological impact on teachers and students. Declining quality of skills, lack of supporting facilities and infrastructure. Learning from home (online) is an effort by the government program to ensure the continuity of learning in the pandemic period. The research method uses participatory action research (PAR), which focuses on understanding social phenomena that occur in the community and mentoring efforts on the problems faced. The assistance effort is to help the children of MI Sulursewu, Ngawi in participating in online learning related to; 1). Preparation of activities, 2). Counselling participants offline method, 3). Offline activities method. Results of the study show that the mentoring activities following the target of achievement; first, the activity can be carried out following the schedule that has been set. Second, students are always on time for the online learning hours that have been set. Offline methods show that efforts can help ease the burden on parents, but can also make it easier for students to receive subject matter.  


Author(s):  
D. Thammi Raju ◽  
G. R. K. Murthy ◽  
S. B. Khade ◽  
B. Padmaja ◽  
B. S. Yashavanth ◽  
...  

Building an effective online course requires an understanding of learning analytics. The study assumes significance in the COVID 19 pandemic situation as there is a sudden surge in online courses. Analysis of the online course using the data generated from the Moodle Learning Management System (LMS), Google Forms and Google Analytics was carried out to understand the tenants of an effective online course. About 515 learners participated in the initial pre-training needs & expectations’ survey and 472 learners gave feedback at the end, apart from the real-time data generated from LMS and Google Analytics during the course period. This case study analysed online learning behaviour and the supporting learning environment and suggest critical factors to be at the centre stage in the design and development of online courses; leads to the improved online learning experience and thus the quality of education. User needs, quality of resources and effectiveness of online courses are equally important in taking further online courses.


Author(s):  
Yair Levy ◽  
Michelle M. Ramim

The Greek philosopher Aristotle indicated that learning is the outcome of both teaching and practice. Clearly, learning is not confined to classroom lectures exclusively. In the past several decades, educators explored the possibility of providing learning experience to remote students. With improvement in technology and the growing popularity of Internet usage, e-learning caught the attention of both corporations and educational institutions. However, traditional learning methodology began transforming when elite universities embraced the Internet as a vehicle for their degree programs (Forelle, 2003). Progress in e-learning has increased its popularity in the past decade (Levy & Murphy, 2002). Consequently, it is carving a new brand of universities, causing traditional schools to rethink their business model. Furthermore, some elite schools have developed specialized online degree and certificate programs. In doing so, these schools strive to compete on this new learning medium and create a new source of revenue, especially due to the declining enrollment and lower government funding resulting from the events on September 11, 2001 (Roueche, Roueche, & Johnson, 2002). This paper provides definitions of the eight key elements any institution should have to successfully implement self-funding e-learning systems.


2020 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristyn Muller ◽  
Kim A Scalzo ◽  
Alexandra M Pickett ◽  
Lisa Dubuc ◽  
Lawrence Dugan ◽  
...  

As online learning continues to grow within higher education, it is important for colleges and universities to ensure that they are delivering quality online courses and programs. This paper will discuss the evaluation and assessment of online learning from an institutional perspective. Open SUNY, the system-wide office of online education that supports and services the State University of New York (SUNY), has developed a process using the Online Learning Consortium’s (OLC) Quality Scorecard for the Administration of Online Programs to help SUNY campuses examine and improve the quality of online learning. The first half of this paper will describe the development of that tool and the implementation of the Open SUNY Institutional Readiness Process. The second half of this paper will explain the OLC Quality Scorecard standards for the Evaluation & Assessment section and provide examples of best practices from four different SUNY community colleges.


2021 ◽  
Vol LXIX (1) ◽  
pp. 73-91
Author(s):  
Iulia Gonţa ◽  
Cristina Tripon

The challenges of online learning, created by the COVID-19 pandemic, have prompted a significant demand in researching this particular field of education. The adaptation to online learning, unfortunately, was applied in a context of unprepared teachers and students. This situation was caused by the new format of education, which differs significantly from massive open online courses, traditional learning or distance learning. The new hybrid model of education, prompted by the pandemic, has certainly become a trend that could incite future transformations in terms of teaching and learning. To better understand the specifics of this type of online learning, we asked the students (N = 705) from the University POLITEHNICA of Bucharest to express their opinion on their learning experience during the pandemic. The survey included the problems and expectations of the interviewees, and the research results were analyzed in the article. Our goal was to improve educational practices in the virtual educational environment. In this regard, we analyzed the important components of online learning, focusing on the following ones: the quality of the educational resources used to support the content, the improvement of the quality of the teacher- student relationships, time management, online assessment. The article also provides solutions for effective online learning, from the students’ perspective.


Author(s):  
Melissa Aldredge ◽  
Sarah DuBois ◽  
Diane Mobley ◽  
Elizabeth Prejean ◽  
Margaret Vienne

The online classroom continues to play an ever increasing role in higher education. There are proven, research-based pedagogical techniques available to instructors who want to create online courses that are both dynamic and engaging. With careful planning, online learning can provide students with a positive learning experience without sacrificing the academic quality of learning. Addressing security issues and challenges is vital to maintaining the desired academic rigor and quality. This paper discusses these important security issues and offers a variety of solutions for facilitating a secure learning environment.


Author(s):  
Justina Kwapy

The last decade has brought an increase in online courses in the educational setting. Online enrollment has increased from 1.98 million in 2003 to 2.35 million in 2004 (Allen & Seaman, 2005). While students, higher universities, and faculty are enjoying the convenience and flexibility of online learning environments, there is an increasing concern over the support in distance education, teaching methods, and a social disconnectedness of students from the course. This chapter explores how these factors can impede a successful online learning experience and can cause dissatisfaction and higher dropout rates among students in distance learning programs. Carr (2000) found higher dropout rates for distance education (10-20%) over traditional programs. Higher institution’s online faculty are now faced with the task of creating a virtual community of learners, meeting both academic and social needs of students.


Author(s):  
Nahla Nassif

Background: Nowadays, the internet revolutionized the way people communicate. The research was no longer limited within libraries, individuals can now obtain any information with a click of a button. With the Covid-19 and the lockdown, the Lebanese educational institutions shifted to Online Learning. Aim: The purpose of the study is to evaluate the success of online learning implementation at the Faculty of Dental Medicine and the students’ satisfaction with online courses. Material and Method: A cross-sectional observational study is performed. An online survey is sent to 165 students of the Faculty of Dental Medicine at the Lebanese University. They answered a questionnaire prepared and adapted to the context of the study. Data was collected and analyzed using the SPSS 21.0, Inc., Chicago, IL, USA version. Results: The results are statistically significant (p< 0.0001). The majority of students who did not give essential importance to the instructor’s physical presence (# 106), considered the E-learning method (# 97). The number of students who exclusively prefer in-class courses (#71) corresponds with the number of those who find the instructor's physical presence crucial (#59). For 159 students, surrounding noises during confinement did not disturb them. The majority of the students (#153) did not encounter serious internet cuts and 24 of them weren’t enthusiastic about E-learning. Conclusion: Despite the pandemic, socioeconomic, geographic, and educational difficulties, our results showed that the majority of the students in the Lebanese University, Faculty of Dental Medicine, embraced the rapid transition to E-learning classes. Implementing the online learning mode did not influence participants’ satisfaction towards education.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document