منظمة الا مم المتحدة للتربية والعلم والثقافة

Transcription

1 APEID, UNESCO Bangkok Occasional Paper Series Paper No. 3 United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization Organisation des Nations Unies pour l éducation, la science et la culture Organización de las Naciones Unidas para la Educación, la Ciencia y la Cultura Οрганизация Οбъединенньιх Ηаций по вопросам образования, науки и культуры منظمة الا مم المتحدة للتربية والعلم والثقافة Innovative and Good Practices of Open and Distance Learning in Asia and the Pacific Insung Jung Professor International Christian University Tokyo, Japan October 2005 TH/2005/PI/H/5 1

2 Table of Contents Executive Summary Introduction Background Objectives Methods Limitations Innovative and Good Practices Quality Assurance Curriculum Policy and Management Student Services and Tutoring ICT Innovations Cost-savings Collaboration For-profit Involvement Conclusion References Appendices Appendix 1: List of Abbreviations Appendix 2: Survey Questionnaire Appendix 3: Key Terms used in the Survey Appendix 4: UT s Self-Report on QA Mechanism 2

3 Innovative and Good Practices of Open and Distance Learning in Asia and the Pacific Executive Summary Context of the Study Some unique features of Open and Distance Learning (ODL) in Asia and the Pacific (AP) region include huge student population in ODL institutions, the concentrated efforts of governments with the establishment of dedicated single-mode ODL institutions, the rapid growth of ICT use, and globalization. All these features have contributed to the development of ODL and shaped current ODL systems in the AP region. Especially considering the high number of student enrollment, quality assurance (QA) efforts of the ODL universities are becoming more important than ever for the future of higher education in this region. Several studies have attempted to review current changes in ODL and to evaluate QA systems of ODL for higher education at the national or institutional level. These studies reveal that ODL institutions are in the midst of instructional and technological changes and the QA frameworks of ODL in a globalized context are still at the early stages of development. The previous studies also indicate the need for investigating a wide range of innovative and good practices in different contexts of ODL. Study Objectives This study is to identify information on innovative and good practices in ODL in the region, in particular areas such as quality assurance, curriculum, policy and management, student services and tutoring, ICT integration, cost-savings, collaboration, and for-profit involvement. In addition, the study aims to promote information sharing by publishing its results onto the UNESCO s ODL-KB website ( To achieve these objectives, a survey of ODL institutions in the AP region and analyses of published documents and web sites have been conducted. Innovative and Good Practices in ODL Innovative and good practices in ODL in the AP region are presented in eight categories. Quality Assurance: Over the past years, developing and implementing policies to assure the quality has become a priority of ODL institutions. QA is becoming even more important as ODL becomes popular and faces a proliferation of borderless education. Seven cases are reported to highlight innovative QA efforts in various aspects of ODL. Curriculum: Instead of offering a wide range of different subject areas, new ODL institutions tend to offer programmes or courses specialized in one or a few fields of study. In fact, business and management at graduate level and technology toward 3

4 certification are two most popular fields for for-profit e-learning institutions. Cases discuss examples of market-driven curriculum in NetVarsity and new study fields for e-learning in several ODL programmes. Policy and Management: To meet the needs of a rapidly changing environment for ODL, existing policies have been revised and new policies developed in some ODL institutions. Athabasca and USQ have developed ODL policies in a rather comprehensive manner whereas OUSL has adopted a national level ODL QA policy manual. Student Services and Tutoring: Typical forms of student services in recent ODL include face-to-face and/or online tutoring and counseling, telephone or services, digital libraries, and mentoring. With the development of ICT, ODL institutions are able to offer individualized and interactive student services faster and easier than ever. Cases of comprehensive one-stop student services and integration of online technology in tutoring and assessment of services are analyzed. ICT Innovations: Modern developments of innovative technologies have provided new possibilities to distance teaching professions, but at the same time have placed more demands on ODL institutions to explore effective ways of using these new technologies for their ODL practices. Cases which highlight innovative approaches of utilizing ICT including multimedia, LMS, mobile technology and e-books are introduced. Cost-savings: There is research evidence that an online programme can be cost-effective due to increased enrollments, increased student access to quality programmes and resources, and other benefits. But there are also cautions that initial fixed costs are only the beginning: providing continuous student services, hiring new staff, maintaining virtual systems, and offering new training add substantial costs to the institutions. Two cases are analyzed to show how some of these variable costs can be reduced without diminishing the quality of online programmes. Collaboration: Collaborative partnerships are important for ODL providers in that they reduce the cost of introducing new technologies and also improve the quality of developing programmes. Two cases are analyzed to show some innovative ways of building collaborative partnerships locally and internationally. For-profit Involvement: An increased for-profit involvement has challenged the existing QA frameworks of ODL, which often do not address for-profit education. Two cases show how for-profit e-learning institutions have emerged and how some of QA issues have been addressed. Conclusion The results of the study show that: Many ODL institutions have implemented QA measures throughout their ODL practices including student services and tutoring, course development, staff evaluation, and student assessment. Some ODL institutions have obtained accreditation from outside of their own country to achieve an international recognition and improve their market value. In several ODL practices, new collaborative partnerships have been emerged. Such partnerships include private and public collaboration, for-profit and non-for-profit collaboration, regional and international collaboration, and specific task-oriented partnerships with other ODL institutions or international organizations. 4

5 Most institutions have introduced ICT-based programmes and services in pursuit of quality improvement and expansion. In some institutions, the use of ICT in distance teaching and learning is no longer considered an experimental work. Moreover, several ODL institutions in the AP region have updated existing curriculum to meet the emerging needs of new ODL learners. The cases presented in this paper will provide valuable help for those ODL institutions which are in search of benchmarks. Nevertheless, the study also shows that we are not yet at the stage where attention to QA is covering all parts of our ODL activities. And in quite a few cases, innovative approaches have touched only a small portion of ODL students and staff. Moreover, cross-border educational activities are still at the margins in most ODL institutions, and gender-related innovations have not been reported in any of the survey replies. For further development of quality ODL in the AP region, much still needs to be done. First, it is necessary to develop a holistic QA strategy and strong QA frameworks to improve quality of ODL practices as a whole. In addition, re-conceptualization of the role of an ODL provider in cross-border higher education market is also necessary for future development of ODL in the AP region. ODL institutions in the AP region need to be proactive rather than reactive to the challenges of the expansion of for-profit ODL programmes and transnational education. At the same time, ODL institutions in the AP region need to address issues that are pertinent to the region such as gender gap, digital divide, human rights, and equity in developing and implementing ODL policies. Finally, we need to learn from previous studies in distance education and educational technology showing the importance of instructional design and pedagogical philosophy behind the design activities in creating ICT-based learning environments. The starting point must be the learners learning problems, not technology. 5

6 Introduction Background Open and Distance Learning (ODL) in Asia and the Pacific (AP) region has many unique features. The most distinctive feature is huge student population in ODL institutions. For example, at least seven ODL institutions in the AP region are mega universities (universities with over 100,000 active students in degree-level courses). AIOU (Pakistan), Anadolu (Turkey), CCRTVU (China), IGNOU (India), KNOU (Korea), STOU (Thailand), UT (Indonesia), and PNU (Iran) have more than 5.6 million active students all together as of 2004 (See Appendix 1 for the list of abbreviations used in the study). Besides these well-known mega universities, quite a few distance teaching universities in the region have been established more recently and provided tertiary level education to those seeking continuing education opportunities. With two thirds of the global population, the AP region is known to have over 500 million potential students for ODL institutions (Shive & Jegede, 2001). Another distinctive feature of ODL in the AP region is the concentrated efforts of governments with the establishment of dedicated single-mode ODL institutions. In the 1970s and 1980s, many countries in the AP region established at least one open university at the national level to meet the social demand for education. Some countries such as Bangladesh established its own open university in the 1990s. With limited resources and the need to expand education rapidly, countries in the region saw ODL institutions as an alternative mode of delivery to widen access to education, to satisfy continuing educational needs of adults, to expand trained workforce, and/or to train teachers to improve quality of schooling. A recent change in ODL in the AP region is the rapid growth of ICT use. According to a report published by the International Telecommunication Union (2004), growth rates for fixed lines, mobile subscribers and Internet users in the AP region over the last few years have surpassed the single digit growth rates seen in other regions. The growth of ICT in general has stimulated ODL institutions to introduce ICT in teaching and learning process. Most institutions have adopted ICT as supplementary modes of instruction and also as a way of improving student services. E-tutoring, e-testing, one stop online service, online discussion, and digital library are examples of using ICT for ODL. Some ODL institutions have started totally online courses or programmes. Examples include e-mba of Athabasca University and Anadolu University, and online Lifelong Education Graduate School at Korea National Open University. Globalization of higher education is another recent feature of ODL in the AP region. In the past ten years or so there has been a noticeable surge in the export and the import of educational services in the region. Distance education including e-learning is one of the many manifestations of the current trend, and it has been steadily gaining ground. For example, universities in Australia, UK, USA, and Canada have actively exported their distance education programmes including e-learning to this part of the world. China, Hong Kong (China), India, Malaysia and Singapore are the major importers of these programmes. However, among these importers, Hong Kong (China), India and Malaysia have also exported their programmes to some other countries such as Bangladesh, China, Indonesia and Sri Lanka (Jung, 2004a). Global e-learning providers such as Thomson Learning, Apollo International, and UNext have been recruiting students from Hong Kong (China), India, Korea, Malaysia and Singapore. All these features have contributed to the development of ODL and shaped current ODL systems in the AP region. With the increasing number of student enrollment in ODL universities, the issue of quality assurance (QA) has become more pressing than ever before. Several recent studies have attempted to review current changes in ODL and to evaluate QA systems of ODL for higher education both at the national and institutional level. These studies discussed issues related 6

7 to QA and the emergence of virtual universities or e-learning programmes and cross-border higher education (for example, Farrell, 2001; Jung, 2004a; 2004b; 2004c; Lockwood & Gooley, 2001; OECD, 2004; UNESCO, 2003). The findings show that ODL institutions are in the midst of instructional and technological changes and that QA frameworks of ODL in the globalized context are still at the early stages of development. The previous studies also indicate the need for investigating a wide range of innovative and good practices in different contexts of ODL. Objectives The present study aims at identifying innovative and good practices of ODL in the AP region at the tertiary level and sharing the findings with ODL institutions so as to improve the quality of ODL in the region. The objectives of the study are: to identify innovative and good practices in ODL in the region, in particular areas such as quality assurance, curriculum, student services and tutoring, ICT integration, cost-savings, collaboration, and for-profit involvement. to promote information sharing by publishing its results onto the UNESCO s ODL-KB website ( Methods To achieve the study objectives, data were collected from a survey questionnaire to selected ODL institutions in the AP region and analyses of existing documents and web sites. First, criteria for identifying innovative and good cases in ODL in the AP region were developed based on information gathered from ODL journals and newspapers, ODL related seminars at the regional and international level, UNESCO/COL/OECD/WB Databases, Distance Education Clearinghouse, and the researcher s own experience. As a result, 30 ODL institutions were identified. Second, a survey questionnaire was sent to these 30 ODL institutions in the AP region (See Appendix 2 for the survey questionnaire and Appendix 3 for key terms used in the survey). The survey was conducted between June and August, The selected ODL institutions for the survey included both public and private, single-mode and mixed mode, non-profit and for-profit, and conventional and ICT-based e-learning institutions. Both higher education degree and diploma-granting institutions as well as institutions that provide only professional development programmes were included in the sample. Only 12 institutions returned the questionnaire of the survey. In addition to these 12 institutions, seven more institutions from for-profit private sector were added to the sample so as to present a wider range of practices in ODL. Table 1 shows the profiles of the 19 ODL institutions in the final sample. 7

8 Table 1: 19 ODL Institutions included in the Study Institution Year of Establishment *AIOU (Pakistan) (data as of 2004) *Anadolu (Turkey) (data as of 2005) *Athabasca (Canada) (data as of 2004) BBT (Japan) (data as of 2005) (MBA only) *CCRTVU (China) (data as of 2004) Credu (Korea) (data as of 2004) (Professional development only) *IGNOU (India) (data as of 2005) *KNOU (Korea) (data as of 2004) Monash (Australia) (data as of 2004) Netvarsity (India) (data as of 2004) (Professional development only) OUHK (China) (data as of 2004) *OUM (Malaysia) (data as of 2005) *OUSL (Sri Lanka) (data as of 2004) *Ramkhamhaeng (Thailand) (data as of 2005) U21G (International) (data as of 2005) UOP (USA) (data as of 2005) 1958 (1982 named as Anadolu) Number of Type of ODL Students institution (foreign students) ,599 National, Non-profit, Single-mode 944,680 (305) (1,048) National, Non-profit, Single-mode Public, Non-profit, Single-mode Private, For-profit, E-learning ,006,710 National, Non-profit, Single-mode ,000 Private, For-profit, E-learning ,311,145 (7.861) National Non-profit, Single-mode ,475 National, Non-profit, Single-mode ,926 (all modes) 8,483 (DE mode) 1996 Around 500, ,263(HK); 3,006(Mainlan d China) National, Non-profit, Dual-mode Private, For-profit, E-learning Public, Non-profit, Single-mode ,732 Private (consortium) Single-mode ,976 National, Non-profit, Single-mode ,300 (95) (MBA only) National, Non-profit, Dual-mode Consortium, Private, For-profit, E-learning 1976 Over 200,000 Private, For-profit Homepage URL x.asp line/default.aspx 8

9 Mixed-mode, *USP (Fiji) (data as of 2005) *USQ (Australia) (data as of 2005) *UT (Indonesia) (data as of 2005) * 12 institutions which responded to the survey ,000 (95: outside UP region) ,174 (8,340) International, Non-profit Mixed-mode National, Non-profit, Mixed mode ,781 National, Non-profit, Single-mode Limitations This study has three major limitations. The first is that the terms used in this study may have been somewhat different from institution s own understanding and thus resulted in different interpretations of the survey questions. The second limitation is that the criteria for identifying innovative and good practices in ODL in the AP region are biased towards large institutional ODL providers, formally accredited programmes, or relatively well-known ODL institutions. Small scale, non-accredited ODL programmes, local community-based non-formal ODL practices, unpublished ODL activities have not been included in this study. Finally, only a small number of ODL institutions responded to the survey due to time constraints. As a result, only a snapshot of recent innovative and good practices of ODL in the AP region could be presented in the paper. 9

10 Innovative and Good Practices ODL practices are changing. New fields of study have been emerged, policies revised, a quality culture emerged, student services improved, new ICT-based delivery modes explored, and a variety of collaborative relationships developed. This section cannot provide a full picture of all the innovations and good practices of ODL in progress. Instead, it reports a snapshot of innovative and good practices of ODL in the AP region based on the survey results and other available resources. The innovative and good practices identified in the study are categorized into eight areas: quality assurance, curriculum, policy and management, student services and tutoring, ICT innovations, cost-savings, collaboration, and for-profit involvement. Within each area, specific cases are discussed. Quality Assurance Over the past years, developing and implementing policies to assure the quality has become a priority of ODL institutions QA is becoming even more important as ODL becomes popular and faces a proliferation of borderless education. A majority of the institutions investigated in this study have developed and implemented QA standards and procedures in the key areas of ODL activities and more than half of the institutions have institutionalized a central QA unit and thus sought the development of a more systematic and coherent quality culture. Capacity building efforts for QA are also made by the institutions. At least half of the institutions surveyed have provided continuous staff development opportunities to their academic and administrative staff in pursuit of quality improvement. Moreover, most ODL institutions have shown an aspiration of obtaining national recognition as a high quality ODL provider. Some institutions such as Athabasca, USQ, and OUM have gone beyond the national level accreditation and recognition and pursued recognition from outside the country such as USA or ISO certification for their services. It is also noted that there exists a variety of QA systems of ODL even though the globalization and competitiveness of higher education and the development of technology have brought distance teaching universities closer together in terms of developing a common quality culture. First, the level of QA policy integration in an overall university policy framework varies across the institutions. Some ODL institutions such as IGNOU and UT apply a set of standards and criteria pre-determined by the institution or by the national quality assurance agency to the assessment of key areas of distance education whereas other institutions such as CCRTVU and KNOU provide only general guidelines or areas for QA and leave room for the internal and external review teams or individual units to make QA judgments. Even though core areas such as course and programme development and delivery - for QA are similar in most institutions, some QA areas draw more attention than others. In some institutions, assessment of staff performance and tutoring services is emphasized whereas in other institutions, learner assessment or monitoring of e-learning courses gets more attention. Following cases show some innovative approaches to QA policies and measures in ODL institutions. Shifting from provider-centered to learner-centered QA Of particular interest to students in any ODL institution is whether they can receive enough support services from the institution and successfully complete their study. To improve its ODL practices in general and student support services in particular, Anadolu has implemented the Total Quality Management (TQM) as the main management strategy since The Anadolu University Improvement Project was initiated by the Quality Commission to create QA strategies within the TQM framework. All the representatives of the University faculties were invited to participate in the project. As a result of this project, a widely shared quality consciousness in individuals and organizational units was developed and QA measures were tried out in various service processes. Each faculty (school) has developed its own Faculty Quality Management 10

11 (FQM) model, leading to the clarification of the University Overall Quality Assurance Policy. In this FQM model, the Faculty perceives itself as a service provider and students as a service receiver to be satisfied individually concerning their unique educational needs and expectations. Changes in perception, from teacher-centered to learner-centered, have led to major revisions in mission statements, organizational policies and implement strategies such as the employment policies and the technology investment strategies. Priorities have been given to the students rather than the university members or organizational units. Specific changes include: initiating highly interactive e-learning projects and virtual class models to meet the needs of Anadolu students to study in a more flexible environment, introducing an online academic advising system to increase two-way-communication opportunities implementing the policy which requires all the faculties to respond to students inquiries within 24 hours, adopting the strategy of blending physical and virtual contacts to introduce need-based student services, and including output variables such as students satisfaction and graduation rate as QA factors. As seen above, Anadolu s learner-centered QA system is still at its developmental stage and thus more detailed QA standards and procedures are yet to be developed. However, Anadolu s learner-centered QA approach still provides an insight to other ODL institutions that wish to implement QA measures in ways that assist in the progress of students in their studies and go beyond QA for the production and the delivery of course materials. Applying QA procedures during student assessment Considering the nature of ODL, student assessment is especially important for institutions and faculty members to obtain information about how and what students are learning in order to improve their ODL efforts and to demonstrate to others the degree to which students have accomplished the learning goals. A case of OUHK depicts how an ODL institution has managed QA in student assessment. The QA procedure during assessment and examinations development at the OUHK is extensive and involves about 22 steps. These steps include validations by internal and external examiners, and monitoring before and after examinations. Some of the steps for preparation of course examinations at OUHK are shown in Table 2 (Jegede, 2001, p 63). Table 2: QA steps during assessment and examinations development (OUHK) Steps to be taken by Course Coordinator (CC) Preparing the examination Design exam paper and marking guide Application for approval of External Examiner (EE) Inform registry of exam materials (e.g. calculator) Nominating and appointing script markers After the examination Use Batch X for Coordination Meeting (below) Mark all Batch T scripts to see how marking guide works Chair Coordination Meeting (CM) to standardize marking by training the script markers using Batch X Steps to be taken by others Check exam paper and marking guide (External Examiner) Print exam paper, set exam date, book rooms, etc. (Examinations Office) Send two Batchs (X and T) of scripts to the CC (Examinations Office) Collect scripts form the OUHK (script marker) Send monitoring batch to CC and EE (Examinations Office) Script monitoring to see script markers 11

12 Script monitoring to see script markers performance Set the minimum thresholds for each band, etc. Standardization meeting with the EE Review borderline cases Confirm thresholds Award Meeting including CC, EE, Dean and others Documentation for the Award Meeting Comments on performance Confirmation of standardization results Confirmation of results status boundaries Determination of borderline results Special circumstances (e.g. illness, occasional misconduct) Nomination of outstanding students Recording results Prepare and sign minutes of the Award Meeting Sign the minutes (CC and Dean) performance (External Examiner) Compute results, distribution scores (Examinations Office/ITU) 2nd computation of results based on confirmed thresholds (Examinations Office/ITU) Oversee all exam results (Course Result Group) Send in a report (EE) In ODL implementation, student assessment is the final step of the process, and the one that is most often overlooked. However, as seen in the case of OUHK, rigorous QA is important for ODL institutions to demonstrate that the ODL assessment is of an equivalent level to campus based assessment. At the same time, the case of OUHK shows one of efficient ways of implementing rigorous QA by placing course coordinators at the centre of managing the whole QA processes and utilizing internal and external human resources during the development and administration of student assessment. Linking QA to staff performance evaluation While the ODL institutions share a quality culture in general, the level of QA policy integration in an overall university policy framework varies across the institutions. In the case of UT, the internal QA policies are well integrated into the general university policy and staff performance framework, and QA results are often used for staff evaluation and promotion. UT developed a new Quality Assurance System for UT based on modifications and contextualization of the AAOU Quality Assurance Framework and further developed QA manuals to put QA into practice. This new quality Assurance system encompasses nine components and 107 quality criteria or statements of best practices (Zuhairi, Pribadi, and Muzammil, 2003). Each criterion is further delineated into indicators and methods of achievement. Once the new quality assurance system was developed, UT undertook unit-by-unit and university-wide self-assessment and priority setting. Managers from all units were invited to conduct self-assessment using the criteria of the QA system and set priorities for quality improvement over the next four years. All operational units were involved in producing these job manuals. Under the supervision of the Quality Assurance Center within UT, 197 job manuals have been developed. These job manuals include: systems and procedures in performing particular jobs and activities, standards relating to time, output, workflow, resources and competencies needed to perform the task, and the relationship of tasks among different units. To ensure that the manuals are used consistently by all the members of UT in carrying out their daily responsibilities, assessment forms have been developed to monitor and assess tasks performed by individual staff, to support self-assessment of each unit, to record processes and 12

13 outputs of the tasks, to identify problems, and to offer solutions. Each manager is responsible for implementing QA and assessment in his or her unit. All the assessment forms are analyzed and the result summary is reported to the Rector. The UT s QA is linked to staff performance evaluation in such a way that units and individuals performing high quality works are fairly rewarded (See Appendix 4 for details of UT s QA system). More than anything else, human resources play a significant role in QA implementation. Their performance is what makes a difference in ODL quality. In this regard, UT s fair performance appraisal system based on clear performance indicators provides other ODL institutions with a benchmark of monitoring organizational performance against objectives and key principles, and thus improving ODL quality. Operating a separate QA system for e-learning KNOU has developed more detailed criteria to monitor the quality of its e-learning services because, to KNOU, e-learning is not a supplementary mode of education but a main form of ODL especially at graduate level. In 2001, KNOU opened a totally online Lifelong Graduate School and began to offer four programmes in business administration, public administration, computer science, and lifelong education. To meet the need to oversee QA processes and pursue continuous quality improvement of these new e-learning programmes and online services, the e-learning Centre was created. This centre develops all the e-learning courses utilizing digital materials produced by the Centre for Educational Media Development and supports faculty in delivering e-learning courses. It also carries out e-learning course evaluations and monitoring activities based on specific QA measures. Important QA measures include: experts evaluation of the appropriateness of e-learning development and objectives, accuracy of the contents, and structure of the contents before developing any e-learning course experts assessment of pedagogical strategies, multimedia components, user interface, and course management functions of each e-learning course during the course development seeking comments from the public including students during the course development, and revising e-learning courses and services based on feedback from students and experts after the course delivery. E-learning is increasingly being looked to by many ODL institutions as an economical way of expanding their services, widening opportunities for students around the world, and making effective use of the emerging technologies. In fact, quite a few ODL institutions have integrated e-learning components in their ODL services. However, most of the institutions investigated in the study have not developed a separate QA system for e-learning. It appears that quality assurance schemes for e-learning content and practice are still at the early stages of development. The emerging good practice of KNOU s QA for e-learning indicates that it is necessary to give a role to internal and external experts, students and the public in voicing their opinions about quality of e-learning. Utilizing QA handbook for ODL at national level Whereas other countries adopt the QA system for higher education to oversee and monitor the quality of ODL institutions, India is one of few countries which have a separate agency for assuring and managing the quality of ODL. Being the separate QA body for ODL in India, the Distance Education Council (DEC: has provided a comprehensive and consistent guidelines for QA in ODL. DEC was established in 1992 within IGNOU with the mandate to promote open and distance education network, and to plan and implement schemes for ensuring quality in distance education in close collaboration with the National Assessment and Accreditation Council. The DEC can be seen as a quality assurance and accreditation system that has been developed independently of the 13

14 constraints of the organization, management and funding that govern the conventional universities. As a national apex body for distance education in India, the DEC provides financial support and grants and academic guidelines to open and distance education institutions, develops norms, procedures and guidelines in respect of admission, evaluation, and certification, assesses and accredits open and distance education institutions to ensure quality, and promotes convergence of conventional and distance learning and other systems to facilitate mobility of learners through credit transfer/sharing. The DEC has developed the Handbook of recognition process for distance education institutions and programmes. The Handbook includes criteria set for the approval of a new conventional distance education institution or programme. A distance education institution or an open university that considers application for approval or recognition is requested to fill out three kinds of forms, Form I for institutional details, Form II for assessment details, and Form III for impact of grants/audits (Details can be found at Major evaluation criteria of Form II include: curricular aspects, teaching, learning and evaluation, research, consultancy, and extension, infrastructure and learning resources, student support services, organization and management, and healthy practices. It appears that over the years, the DEC s efforts to establish a system of sharing distance education courses and facilities among open universities and to build a formal assessment and accreditation system has contributed to collaboration among open universities and refinement of a quality assurance and accreditation mechanism for distance education in India. To countries where a centralized mechanism of QA for ODL needs to be developed, the case of India provides a useful benchmark. Obtaining foreign accreditation Most of the ODL institutions investigated were initially accredited by own government or a higher education accreditation body recognized by the central or local government. There are some exceptions. As a regional university, USP was accredited by universities in the region. A more recent trend is for an ODL institution to obtain accreditation from outside of its own country. It implies that ODL institutions want to gain confidence of current students and prospective students around the globe in their ODL programmes and services by meeting rigorous international QA standards. For example, Monash has obtained ISO9001 certification for its services. UT and OUM are developing QA systems to acquire ISO certification. UT is also in the process of seeking international accreditation and quality certification from the International Council for Open and Distance Education (ICDE). Athabasca and USA obtained USA accreditation lately. In June 2005, Athabasca was accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, one of the six regional higher education accreditation boards in the USA. This accreditation is seen as an indication of quality assurance and recognition of institutional excellence. During the lengthy evaluation process, Athabasca was able to reflect itself and identified both opportunities to improve and areas of strengths. USQ was recently accredited by the Distance Education Training Council, one of the accreditation agencies recognized by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation in the USA and dedicated to identifying quality distance learning institutions. The accreditation is seen an endorsement that will allow the University to better sell its distance education programmes overseas. By achieving the USA accreditation, USQ s 14

15 USA based students may be able to claim student financial assistance from their government. In both cases, the USA accreditation is seen as an opportunity to have a better access to the ODL market in the USA and around the world. In the rapidly changing and evolving field of ODL and e-learning, foreign accreditation will certainly contribute to supporting capacity building efforts of an ODL institution and gaining international confidence in its courses and services. Developing QA guidelines for transnational ODL In most cases, quality assurance and accreditation criteria for transnational ODL have not been developed. However, there is a tendency for the mandate of national or institutional policies to include evaluation criteria for transnational education with the growth of the export trade in borderless education products during the last several years. Monash has developed specific QA guidelines for off-shore courses. Consistent with the Australian Vice-Chancellors' Committee's "Provision of Education for International Students: Code of Practice and Guidelines for Australian Universities, Monash s Off-Shore QA Committee approves all courses, new and existing courses including those offered off-shore. QA criteria for off-shore courses include: details of Monash provider and partner(s), structure, content and delivery of the course, admissions requirements for students, human resources to support the course, teaching approaches and assessment, facilities, course management and evaluation, marketing the course, and financial resources and contract arrangements. Similarly, Athabasca has specific guidelines and procedures in its policy on Strategic Partnerships. This policy also includes assessments for various risks involved in strategic partnerships and international activities. Characteristics of a Strategic Partnership include: objectives which seek to extend and or broaden the activities of the University beyond its normal business; mutually beneficial to the parties; outlines measurable outputs; contains details on the responsibilities and contributions of each partner; typically covers a pre-defined period of time; components vary depending on the business category and the needs of the parties and others. IGNOU, being an exporter of its DE programmes has also set QA guidelines for exporting programmes. First, the credibility of partner institutions will be reviewed in collaboration with Indian High commissions and Embassies abroad. Second, IGNOU approves local tutors and counselors appointed by the partner institutions based on their curriculum vita. Those approved tutors and counselors receive training sessions on student support services from IGNOU faculty. Finally, the examination scripts are marked centrally by IGNOU to provide reliability of student assessment. The issue of QA for transnational ODL exports and imports is still at the initial stages of development. As the transnational ODL operations increase in the AP region, the quality of ODL programmes offered by foreign providers and the national and institutional QA frameworks for transnational ODL are emerging as issues of concern. That is to say, serious attention has to be given to the development of QA guidelines for transnational ODL both at the national and institutional level. The above-mentioned cases should help in devising QA mechanisms for transnational ODL operations. 15

16 Curriculum This study found that all institutions investigated offer university degree programmes at undergraduate and master s level and non-degree (certification or other professional development programmes) in various professional fields. The fields of study in ODL institutions in the AP region are as wide-ranging as that offered by conventional institutions. The fields of management and commerce used to be and still are the most popular areas offered across ODL institutions. Education, Agriculture, and Environmental studies were not as popular. The present study, however, found that education or human resource training is being offered in all the institutions surveyed including the other 7 cases. Most institutions offer programmes in education both at undergraduate and graduate level. Some institutions such as IGNOU and AIOU offer doctoral programmes in education. Several institutions also offer graduate programmes in the field of distance education. Teacher certification programmes are offered in most of national ODL institutions such as UT, CCRTVU, KNOU, IGNOU, OUSL, and AIOU. KNOU s online graduate school and Anadolu s e-ma teacher training programme also offer education at graduate level. The last two programmes are especially targeting in-service teachers who need or want to obtain further degree online. Whereas conventional ODL institutions choose to develop academic programmes based both on national and public education goals and the target learners needs, more recent e-learning institutions, whether for-profit or not, tend to develop their programmes mainly based on the market needs. Instead of offering a wide range of different subject areas, these institutions offer programmes or courses specialized in limited number of fields of study. In fact, business and management programmes at the graduate level and information and communication technology programmes toward certification are two most popular fields for for-profit e-learning institutions. Among for-profit institutions, U21G and BBT are focusing on MBA whereas Netvarsity provides ICT-related curriculum only. Credu and UOP offer a variety of programmes and courses with a special focus on business and management. This section analyzes two cases where a specialized ODL programme has been developed and implemented to respond quickly to the changing needs of the market. Focusing on market-driven ICT-related curriculum NetVarsity started as an e-learning unit financed and operated by the National Institute of Information Technology (NIIT), India and now became an independent company. NIIT has around 500,000 students enrolled in its various programmes and courses worldwide. It has offered a 4-year comprehensive GNIIT programme equivalent to a Bachelor of Computer Applications degree course in other formal higher education systems. In fact, the quality of NIIT s training programmes is defined not by Indian government or any national QA body but by certification and recognition from the industry. NIIT is not authorized to issue any formal degrees. NetVarsity, founded in 1996, first created a free education portal which included online courses, a virtual library of links, and other interaction functions. Online courses were taken from NIIT s regular ICT training courses. NetVarsity later added more interactive services such as Ask an Expert, Global Forum, and First Assess, and online testing for NIIT students. These services were offered in a site called Tech Edge. A more active business model was adopted when NetVarsity began to offer Microsoft certification courses. Students in these courses first study self-instructional materials at home and interact with instructors and other students using Tech Edge site. In 1999, NetVarsity was introduced to the 4-year GNIIT programme. That is, students who are admitted to this GNIIT programme are automatically enrolled in NetVarsity and use online courses and services. This hybrid model of combining face-to-face training in NIIT centres in several countries and e-learning by NetVarsity has proven to be successful. NetVarsity now provides several online courses for GNIIT programme and offers interactive tutoring and 16

17 counseling. NetVarsity has developed over 300 courses for an annual enrolment of about 100,000. Among success factors of NetVarsity s ICT training, market-sensitive curriculum is worth mentioning here. Recognizing the fact that ICT training is a fast-changing area in any society, GNIIT continuously updates and customizes its curriculum based on skill needs of leading companies. Considering the fact that most of ODL students are working adults and seeking knowledge and skills applicable to their life, the case of NetVarsity s need-based curriculum development and revision offers useful insights to other institutions. Figure 1 shows GNIIT s industry-endorsed new curriculum. Figure 1: GNIIT s curriculum (Source: Developing new curriculum for e-learning Several ODL institutions have developed e-learning programmes. Business administration and education seem to be the most popular programme. Athabasca, Anadolu, KNOU and USQ offer MBA programmes online. Anadolu, USQ and KNOU offer graduate programmes in education. Besides business administration and education programmes, more recently, new fields of e-learning have been emerged. The cases below present some innovative programmes for e-learning. Anadolu s e-hospitality programme allows those who are working in administrative positions in the hospitality industry to develop their expertise and managerial abilities needed in this sector. U21G offers a Master of Science (MSc) in Tourism and Travel Management from The University of Nottingham. All the courses offered under this degree programme are delivered through an e-learning platform. 17

18 UOP offers graduate programmes in the field of Healthcare and Nursing. Four programmes via online study include Counseling, Health Administration and Management, Human and Health Care Services, and Nursing. The new fields of e-learning identified in the cases above are all in fast-changing professional service areas and thus require regular updates of the contents, continuous interactions with students, and multimedia supports. E-learning, compared with other modes of ODL, can easily and rapidly adapt to the changing needs of students. Course contents of any e-learning programmes can be updated upon need without major cost increases, personalized interactions can be provided readily, and huge amount of multimedia materials can be provided virtually. In this regard, the above-mentioned cases which focus on service industry sectors present good examples of selecting appropriate fields of study for e-learning environment. Policy and Management Open education, open admission, innovative use of technologies, promoting equality of higher education for adult learners, contribution to national development and lifelong learning society, and provision of quality education frequently appeared in ODL institutions vision statements and mandates. Some institutions such as OUM and Ramkhamhaeng emphasize contribution to new knowledge creation and research functions whereas some other institutions such as IGNOU, Athabasca, UT and USP include regional or international contribution. KNOU specifies the mission of contribution to South and North Korea s reunification. To realize their visions and fulfill the mandates, all the ODL institutions have developed policies, management guidelines and organizational bodies which oversee or carry out the policies. Major policy development areas include academic affairs, personnel, admission, assessment, finance and resource allocation, quality assurance, and services. Several institutions such as AIOU, Athabasca, and KNOU have policies on equality, ethics, and protection of human rights. Only few institutions such as IGNOU and USQ have developed policies on transnational ODL activities. Some institutions such as Athabasca, USQ and OUSL have developed a rather comprehensive handbook or manual listing policies and guidelines in all major policy areas. ODL policies at different levels determine the kinds of ODL practices. That is to say, ODL policies at institutional, national and international levels provide the directions and guidelines for the everyday operations and managements of any ODL activities and initiatives. To meet the needs of a rapidly changing environment for ODL, existing policies must be appropriately revised and new policies need to be developed. In doing so, an ODL institution must take a comprehensive, systemic approach rather than a piecemeal approach. This section introduces good practices in developing and implementing ODL policies in a comprehensive manner at the institutional and national level. Developing a comprehensive policy manual at institutional level Athabasca provides a comprehensive source of its official policies on the web. The Athabasca University Policy Manual ( is maintained and issued by the Office of the President. Policies specified on the web apply to all units under the jurisdiction of Athabasca University regardless of locations unless otherwise noted. Following is the headings of the contents of The Athabasca University Policy Manual: Academic Administration Archives Centre for Learning Accreditation Communications Computing Services 18

19 Course Materials Production Facilities and Services Financial Services Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Human Resources Library Services Records Management Office of the Registrar Research Student Services Vice President Finance and Administration Web Similarly, USQ provides a comprehensive portal on its policies and procedures on the web. The University Calendar provides a good snapshot of current activities relating academic affairs. The headings of the contents of the University Calendar are given below. These contents cover a wide range of policy areas to administer and manage university activities including ODL practices. Organisation Governance Management Academic Program Academic Regulations Student Affairs Teaching, Research and Scholarship Exchange Agreements Information Technology Records and Archives At USQ, policies and procedures relating to the management of human resources are listed separately in the Human Resources Policy and Procedures Manual. For policies and procedures for health and safety of USQ employees and students, the Workplace Health and Safety Procedures Manual has been developed. Financial management practices are governed by the Financial Services Policies and Procedures manual. The cases of Athabasca and USQ highlight the importance of developing policies covering all aspects of ODL and making them public so that those policies guide daily practices of ODL. It is important for an ODL institution to integrate QA policy in an overall university policy framework. In other words, QA of an ODL institution should cover all parts of its ODL activities. Moreover, the internal QA system should be closely linked to the national QA framework. Developing a policy handbook at national level Sri Lanka has twelve campus-based universities and one open university. The University Grants Commission (UGC) disburses funds, formulate student-admission criteria and sets administrative guidelines and norms. In 2001, a QA project was initiated by the Committee of Vice-Chancellors and Directors and UGC with World Bank assistance to develop and implement a comprehensive QA system for Sri Lanka higher education including ODL. As results of this collaborative work, the Academic Procedures Handbook was completed in 2003 as a complementary to the QA Handbook. The Academic Procedures Handbook covers all aspects of QA such as course production, accreditation, learner support and staff development both for conventional universities and OUSL. The Academic Procedures Handbook is made up of six Codes of Practice on: 19

20 Assessment of students, Career guidance, External assessors, Postgraduate research programmes, Programme approval, monitoring and review, and Student support and guidance. These six Codes of Practice provide policy directions on the key elements of good practice, which support the student learning experience in the universities including OUSL. Countries which have relatively small numbers of higher education institutions can adopt this model of policy development of Sri Lanka. As seen in the case of OUSL, the policy manual which was developed at the national level has been used as guidelines for assuring the quality of ODL services. This national-level policy will result in a significant improvement in the quality of education in general and ODL in specific. Student Services and Tutoring Student support system lies in the heart of any ODL activities. It is important for an ODL institution to offer opportunities for its students to connect with the institution and thus to develop valuable learning experience. Typical forms of student services in recent ODL include: face-to-face and/or online tutoring and counseling, telephone or services, digital libraries, and mentoring. With the development of ICT, ODL institutions are able to offer individualized and interactive student services faster and easier than ever. Some examples include 24 hour telephone or help desks, e-counseling, e-tutoring, and tutoring sessions via video-conferencing. This section discusses some innovative cases of student services and tutoring. Implementing one-stop student services OUM, as a private open university founded in 2000, provides one-stop comprehensive student services through the Learner Services Centre and 33 Learning Centres throughout Malaysia. The role of the central Learner Services Centre is to be a one-stop centre in providing support services to OUM learners in collaboration with 33 Learning Centres. These centres provide students with academic support and other services via face-to-face tutorials, faxes, and Toll free telephone sessions with tutors. Online services such as online interactions, MS ISO 9000:2001 certified digital library, and -based supports are also provided. More than 2,000 tutors are now employed to conduct tutorial and counseling sessions at the Learning Centres. To ensure the quality support for students, tutors are provided with extensive training and their performance is assessed by learners and Learning Centre administrators. OUM s tutoring groups are kept small, learners per group, to ensure that quality learning takes place. OUM claims that overall, the ratio of tutors to learners is now at 1:16 level that is well above the international standards. Since the quality of student support services is heavily depending on the tutors performance, OUM operates a rather unique system called Lead Tutor system whereby senior tutors that are effective and active are selected to support other tutors. Currently close to 90 Lead Tutors are working at the 33 learning centres. The Lead Tutors distinctive role is to support other tutors in both the face-to-face and online pedagogy. Here they are required to monitor the tutors during the face-to-face interactions as well as their online discussions. An online feedback form will allow the Lead Tutors to key-in the results and tutors can view the feedback. The results are also captured and stored in the Tutor Teaching Database for Deans to view for decision making processes. 20