6.2 Examining elements of quality within online education programs  (Page 5/9)

Best practices for electronically offered degree and certificate programs. One of the first attempts to identify and assess quality in online education was developed by the Western Cooperative for Educational Telecommunications (WCET) in 1997. A second report, developed in 2001 along with the regional accrediting bodies, Best Practices for Electronically Offered Degree and Certificate Programs, expanded the prior report into five categories instead of three: (1) Institutional Context and Commitment, (2) Curriculum and Instruction, (3) Faculty Support, (4) Student Support, and (5) Evaluation and Assessment (WCET, 2001). In the prior report, faculty support and student support were considered subsets of the institutional context and commitment category. The WCET standards developed in 2001 were not created as an evaluation instrument; the standards demonstrate how basic principles of institutional quality already in place according to accreditation boards would apply to distance learning programs (WCET, 2001). The 2001 report is still frequently cited as a guide for indicating quality within online education programs.

Eight dimensions of e-learning framework. Badrul Khan (2001) examined the critical dimensions necessary for quality learning online and found eight primary categories: institutional, management, technological, pedagogical, ethical, interface design, resource support, and evaluation. Each dimension, presented in Table 2, is integral to a systems approach for evaluating quality. According to Khan, this comprehensive model may also be used for strategic planning and program improvement.

Table 2. Khan’s Eight Dimensions of E-Learning Framework

Quality standards in e-learning. Frydenberg (2002) summarized existing quality standards for online education in the United States and found the following themes most common in the literature: institutional and executive commitment; technological infrastructure; student services; instructional design and course development; instruction and instructors; program delivery; financial health; legal and regulatory compliance; and program evaluation. She observed the institutional and executive commitment theme to be one of the most common in the literature, and evaluation of a program to be the least written about, since at that time, “few fully developed programs have arrived at a stage where summative evaluation is possible” (p. 13).

Five pillars of quality. The Sloan Consortium, an organization dedicated to improving the quality of online education, identified Five Pillars of Quality Online Education (Lorenzo&Moore, 2002) as building blocks for quality online learning: Learning Effectiveness; Student Satisfaction; Faculty Satisfaction; Scale; and Access.

The Learning Effectiveness pillar requires a commitment to providing students with high quality education at least equivalent to that of traditional students which includes interactivity, pedagogy, instructional design, and learning outcomes. In fact, the Learning Effectiveness pillar places a priority on learning activities because of student interactivity with the instructor, and creating a learning environment of inquiry (Lorenzo&Moore, 2002). The Student Satisfaction pillar focuses on the experience of the student by providing necessary support services such as advising and counseling and opportunities for peer interaction. It also examines student satisfaction with what and how they learned in either the online course or overall program.