Extract from the Paper on Quality Assurance of E-Learning Providers, Presented on Behalf

EXTRACT FROM THE PAPER ON QUALITY ASSURANCE OF E-LEARNING PROVIDERS, PRESENTED ON BEHALF OF ISETT SETA, AT THE IVETA CONFERENCE IN MAURITIUS – Wynand van der Merwe

Both in developed and developing countries, Education and Training has always been ‘Big Business’. Technology has just made it ‘Mega Business’. Internationally, the extent to which unsuspecting clients are exploited by unscrupulous Training Providers is well known. E-learning has just increased the prospective victims. It is only by providing a well-defined benchmarking tool and through thorough communication to all stakeholders that the integrity and credibility of this industry can be protected and strengthened. The minimum quality requirements that clients of training providers should insist on must be widely publicised and promoted.

As the ETQA for the Information Systems, Electronics, and Telecommunication Technologies (ISETT) Sector, we were faced with a huge challenge to develop and implement an appropriate Quality Assurance System for a very diverse and high-tech Education and Training environment.

In an attempt to establish the benchmark for Education and Training Quality Assurance, ISETT developed a toolkit that would facilitate the development and implementation of an appropriate Quality Management System for any Training Provider, regardless of its size and/or resources.

The issues and challenges we are facing when implementing E-Learning solutions, cannot be distinguished from those of the modern distance-learning environment. The following definition is used for E-Learning: “… a class of methods of instruction, either formal or informal, that place the learner apart in time and/or space from the teacher, or place the learning and practice apart by space and/or time from the teaching and the instruction. To bridge the time and distance factors, learners and instructors use technology-based communication channels and media, such as computers and associated networks, print, audio, cable, satellite, or videotape, or combinations of these technologies.”

CONCLUSIONS

In developing countries the availability of physical resources and infrastructure have a huge impact on the cost-effectiveness and practicality of implementing E-Learning solutions. The importance of partnerships between the public and private sectors to successfully overcome these obstacles cannot be over emphasised.

The importance and value of social interaction as part of the learning process should not be discarded. It is for this very reason that many disciples of E-Learning still bend the knee to followers of the so-called blended approach.

An important factor to consider is the immaturity of the E-Learning Industry and of the learning theory that supports it. E-Learning is still in its infancy and empirical research is limited at best. This fact elevates the importance of thorough Instructional Design Processes to a critical level.

Valid and credible assessment tools are vital. Not only to guarantee the quality of Learner competencies, but also to convince Employers of the value that E-Learning can add to their productivity and profitability.

While most E-Learning software has sufficient knowledge assessments built in, the vital aspect of competency assessment still requires an assessor to observe, measure and evaluate the practical skills of learners.

Providers of E-Learning Software should stay abreast of the latest developments in E-Learning technology and be compatible with Learner Management Systems used by Training Providers.

Software providers must be flexible enough to customise their material for the specific needs and conditions of particular groups of learners and training providers.