Education for a Digital World Advice, Guidelines and Effective Practice from Around Globe, 2008a

9 – Quality Assurance by Design
data collected in A and B provides the summative evaluation.
The success or failure of the e-learning community
is apparent where the initial organization’s targets are
met. Most times there are differences between what the
different stakeholders want or seem to need. (See
Cohen’s PhD thesis, Appendix I, 2000.) Formative
evaluation can shed light on the individual stages of e-
learning and in understanding key variances as they
occur. This provides feedback and control for all
stakeholders.
To date, most evaluation and research is designed to
support summative evaluation. The existing tools and
evaluation methods are not designed to aid dynamic
evaluation. If new tools can be designed for e-learning
engineering, then, quality assurance, assessment, and
improvement will control arising problems, and enhance
best practices. Current efforts to meet these targets for
quality are connected to the dissolution of traditional
educational hierarchies and other systems (Pond, 2002).
Summary
The intention of this chapter on quality assurance by
design is to raise awareness of the importance of quality,
and attempts to propose frameworks in order to ensure
quality by design. E-learning quality derives from interdisciplinary
approaches on learner-centred and social
frameworks, and depends on organizations’ infrastructure,
strategy, and vision. Web 2.0 signifies the current
transition from the Industrial to the Information and
Collaboration Age. Changes in the new ways that people
work, learn, and entertain themselves are being established.
It is therefore necessary to agree on specific quality
standards in this transitional period. In general,
quality refers to a fitness of purpose and excellence in
performance defined on pedagogical and operational
levels. In e-learning quality assurance is a planned and
systematic review process to determine that equally acceptable
standards are being maintained and enhanced.
A summary of this chapter would include the following:
• awareness of the importance of quality in e-learning
• inclusion of all stakeholders in e-learning engineering
• support for e-learning communities
• dynamic evaluation
In this time of change, participation of all stakeholders
in quality assurance processes will help the e-learning
evolution in the 21st century.
Acknowledgments
Part of this chapter comes from Niki Lambropoulos’
PhD research, currently conducted at the Centre for
Interactive Systems Engineering, London South Bank
University. Thanks to my supervisors, Dr. Xristine
Faulkner, Professor Fintan Culwin, and David Harper,
editor, for their valuable time, support, and expert advice.
Special thanks are acknowledged to Betty Shane for
her advice and dedicated editing of the final draft.
Glossary
Affective learning. The “why” in learning. Plays a
part in the development of persistence and deep interest
in a subject by incorporating affective elements in the
learning goals.
Computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL).
CSCL focuses on how collaborative learning supported
by technology can enhance peer interaction and work in
groups, and how collaboration and technology facilitate
sharing and distributing of knowledge and expertise
among community members.
Dynamic evaluation. Real-time evaluation in
e-learning environments that covers interdisciplinary assessment
for decision-making, control, and improvement.
Ethnography. From the Greek ἔθνος ethnos = people
and γράφειν graphein = writing. Refers to the sociological
approach that aims to describe varying degrees of
qualitative and quantitative descriptions of human social
phenomena, based on fieldwork. Ethnography presents
the results of a holistic research method founded on the
idea that a system’s properties cannot necessarily be
accurately understood independently of each other.
Hawthorn effect. Asserts as fact the idea that the
mere act of observing/studying something can alter it,
and also asserts that this effect explains some of research
results.
Human-computer interaction (HCI). Concerned
with the design, evaluation and implementation of interactive
computing systems for human use, and with
the study of major phenomena surrounding them.
Instructional design (ID). A process of resolving instructional
problems through systematic analysis of
learning conditions. This process is often referred as
ADDIE to describe the ID phases of analysis, design,
development, implementation and evaluation.
Instructional engineering (IE). An instructional design
process with integrated phases via dynamic, realtime
evaluation and focus on one pedagogical approach
as the added value.
122 Education for a Digital World