Presentation by Secretary General George Ubachs, EADTU for the European Distance Learning Week's second day webinar on "Quality in open, online and technology enhanced learning"- 8 November 2016 Recordings of the discussion are available: https://eden-online.adobeconnect.com/p4vvgr2g7g4/ https://eden-online.adobeconnect.com/p4cqdhsuxmj/

1. “Quality Assurance challenged
by new modes of teaching”.
7th November 2016
Drs. George Ubachs (EADTU)
European Association of
Distance Teaching Universities

2. What is an up-to-date curriculum design
in times of digitalisation?

3. Curriculum design includes
• Personalized teaching and learning, focusing on learning activities and putting
students and their ambitions at the centre
• Small scale and intensive education (breaking down large numbers, learning
communities, balance between qualifications, socialization and personal
development (“Bildung”)
• Integrating courses in larger learning environments, linking with research,
innovation and professional domains behind the course
• Organising open and flexible education for off campus students. This requires
a specific approach with a different blend or even completely online.
• Cost-effectiveness by scale effects in variable costs and re-running courses,
course teams, shareable resources
• High student and staff satisfaction, when incorporated in innovative curricula
and strategies for systemic institutional innovation

4. • Copying lectures doesn’t add enough value as the innovative potential
of online learning is not used
• the variable cost of high quality digital learning does not achieve
economies of scale if you maintain the same pedagogy (Laurillard,
2014)
• to enhance quality, effectiveness and scalability in digital education,
learning design is needed
Education is a design science
Going (partly) online …It is not the same
pedagogy

5. Five main challenges in
designing a course
Learning activities
• which learning activities should be designed for students in the
course to reach the learning objectives?
Sequence
• How to sequence the learning activities
Student support
• How to support students?
Learner control
• How to increase learner control
Assessment
• How to assess students during the process and at the end of it?

6. Innovative pedagogies
Learning design
informed by
analytics
Flipped
classroom
Dynamic
assessment
Personal inquiry
learning
Learning
through
storytelling
Treshold
concepts
Digital
scholarship
Learning from
gaming
MOOCs
Massive open
social learning

7. Blended learning
• The most appropriate modes of teaching and
learning for a course should be used in an
optimal way and in an optimal blend.
• This is a qualitative judgement, based on
multiple factors (course content, student
characteristics, course objectives, learning
activities to be designed, environment or
software available, etc.). The blend is not a
quantitative issue.
• The design concerns the choice of media,
the sequence of activities and the optimal
blend of online and f-2-f education.

8. Quality assurance
As is the case for research publications, the
possibility exists to organise quality assurance ex
ante by peer reviews or by test implementations for
a small group of students (Elen, 2011; Laurillard,
2014).
The review should focus on the content as well as
on the educational design. Only after a positive
evaluation, the course will subsequently be
developed and anchored in the blended learning
environment. Eventually, the course can be
approved for a limited period in which a re-design is
prepared.

9. Are quality assurance frameworks sufficiently flexible to adapt to
differentiated approaches and innovations in pedagogy?
ESG 2.3
External quality assurance does not end with the report by the experts.
The report provides clear guidance for institutional action. Agencies
have a consistent follow-up process for considering the action taken by
the institution. The nature of the follow-up will depend on the design of
the external quality assurance.
ESG 2.6
In order for the report to be used as the basis for action to be taken, it
needs to be clear and concise in its structure and language and to
cover - context description (to help locate the higher education
institution in its specific context); - description of the individual
procedure, including experts involved; - evidence, analysis and
findings; - conclusions; - features of good practice, demonstrated by
the institution; - recommendations for follow-up action.
Seeking and documenting examples of innovation in the curriculum are
necessary.

11. 4.31
It is clear that higher education institutions, their staff and
students, and the quality assurance agencies all have
concerns about relevant and effective quality assurance
for online and blended education.
They are still in the beginning of a transition period, which
has to be accelerated to fully exploit the opportunities of
new modes of teaching and learning and to keep track
with the international developments in higher education.

12. • National governments must review their legislative and regulatory frameworks
and practices for quality assurance and accreditation in higher education
(including recognition of prior learning) to ensure that they encourage, and do
not impede, the provision of more flexible educational formats, including degrees
and other ECTS-bearing courses that are fully online.
• National QA agencies should develop their own in-house expertise and
establish processes that are sufficiently flexible to include recognising and
supporting modes of teaching and learning. They should evaluate institutions
on their active support of innovation (or importantly, the lack of it), and its
impact on the quality of teaching and learning.
• ENQA and other relevant European networks should support the sharing of
good practice by national QA agencies in the development of criteria on the
recognition of new modes of teaching and learning.
CPL-Recommendations related to QA

13. Services open to all HEI

15. E-xcellence: QA in e-learning
instrument
• Curriculum design, Course design, Course
delivery, Services (student and staff
support), Management (institutional
strategies)
• E-xcellence focuses on elements in course
provision that contribute to Lifelong Learning
schemes, like:
 ease of access to courses and services
 new forms of interaction (students and staff)
 flexibility and personalisation
• E-xcellence is a benchmarking instrument.

16. will help the university:
• to develop e-learning programmes
• to guide the internal discussion
• to improve the quality of e-learning performance
• to learn from other similar institutions
• to use existing good-practices
• to be up-to date on developments in e-learning
E-xcellence tool

17. 2015

20. • OpenupEd is an open, non-profit partnership for MOOCs
• OpenupEd aims to open up education to the benefit of
learners and the wider society while reflecting values
such as equity, quality and diversity.
• The vision is to reach learners interested in online higher
education in a way that meets their needs and
accommodates their situation.

21. OpenupEd
OpenupEd is an open, non-profit partnership on MOOCs
OpenupEd aims to contribute to opening up education to the
benefit of learners and the wider society while reflecting
values such as equity, quality and diversity.
Offering over 292 MOOCs in 14 different languages.
With > 100 with an option to do a formal exam (ECTS
credits).

22. OpenupEd features
• Openness to learners
• Digital openness
• Learner-centred approach
• Independent learning
• Media-supported interaction
• Recognition options
• Spectrum of diversity
• Quality focus

23. Quick scan

24. Action plan

25. EUROPEAN ASSOCIATION OF
DISTANCE TEACHING UNIVERSITIES
George Ubachs
Managing Director EADTU
NL- 6212 XN Maastricht | +31
433118712
george.ubachs@eadtu.eu
| www.eadtu.eu
Innovating education by:
E-xcellence | OpenupEd | Empower