„How about accrediting your e-learning courses?“
Results of a survey of e-learning providers
DLAE Conference, Stockholm, 10th & 11th June 2004
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Methodological background
10 providers of eLearning courses took part in our survey 5 universities 5 private providers of vocational training
function of interviewees: e.g. director of studies, CEO, research associate
kind of courses offered by the interviewees: e.g. European Net Trainer, Business information technologies, Tele Trainer, Master of business administration
Note: this survey is exploratory and does not claim to give representative results
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Accreditation in e-learningData:
Percentagen=10
no40%
yes60%
Question 1: Is your course accreditated? (Source: mmb, telephone-survey, june 2004) no
yes
noyes
0 1 2 3 4 5
universities
vocationaltraining
institutes
Data:Numer of nominations
n=10
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Accreditation: Reasons for renouncement
no legal requirement
no strong regulation to accredit courses without BA /MA-
certificate
ZfU is not responsible for e-learning modules which are not
defined as distance learning
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Well-known accreditation bodies
ZFU Staatliche Zentralstelle für Fernunterricht e.V. (nominated 9 times) ASIN (for BA /MA- Studies) AQUINN (for BA / MA- Studies) AQUAS (for BA / MA- Studies)
(each nominated 4 times)
• EFQM• ISO• LQWZ (learner-orientated qualification)• CHE (ranking of universities)• Certqua• Bundesagentur für Arbeit (Federal Employment Office)(each nominated one time)
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Criteria of accreditation judgement
3,0
1,6
3,2
2,0
2,6
3,4
3,8
3,8
1 2 3 4
Quality
Market-relevance
Reputation
Value of money
Data:Arithmetic mean
(n=10)
universitiesvocational training institutes
Question 3: How do you judge procedures of accreditation in general? Please rate the following criteria on a scale from 1 up to 4 (1=very unimportant, 4=very important).(Source: mmb, telephone-survey, june 2004)
very unimportant very important
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Aspects of accreditation judgement
2,6
2,4
3,0
3,2
3,3
3,6
1 2 3 4
Procedure of accreditation
Accreditation body oragency
Expenses
Data:Arithmetic mean
(n=10)
universitiesvocational training institutes
Question 4: From your point of view, what aspects of accreditation do you consider to be important or less important? Please rate the following criteria on a scale from 1 up to 4 (1=very unimportant,4=very important). (Source: mmb, telephone-survey, june 2004)
very unimportant very important
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Objects of accreditation I
Universities Management, Pedagogy/Didactics Communication Other: Quality of education, target group, concept as a whole, location, staff
(teachers, tutors, etc.), platform of the provider, support
Vocational training institutes Pedagogy/Didactics Management Communication Other: Concept as a whole, formal framework, e.g. contracts, cost benefit analysis
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Objects of accreditation II
0
3
5
4
0 1 2 3 4 5
the institution
the course
Data:Number of nominations
(n=10)
vocational training institutes
universities
Question 6: And what should the accreditation testify?(Possibility of multi-nominations. Source: mmb, telephone-survey, june 2004)
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The Course (nominated 8 times) easier to accreditate the accreditation procedure doesn‘t take so much time it is a quality criteria for the client / the customer
The Institution (nominated 2 times): it is a quality criteria for the client / the customer if an institution has proved a high level of quality about some
years, the accreditation body should take this into consideration
Objects of accreditation III: Explanations
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Accreditation: Test-methods
2
4
2
3
4
4
0 1 2 3 4 5
document inspection
attending / spot testingstudy courses
interviews of alumni
Data:Number of nominations
(n=10)
vocational training institutes
universities
Question 7: Which test-method would you prefer?(Possibility of multi-nominations. Source: mmb, telephone-survey, june 2004)
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Kinds of accreditation
1
5
4
0
4
2
1
2
0 1 2 3 4 5
national
european
voluntary
obligatory
Data:Number of nominations
(n=10)
vocational training institutes
universities
Question 8: Which kind of accreditation do you prefer? (Source: mmb, telephone-survey, june 2004)
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Accreditation body
3
2
1
1
3
0 1 2 3 4 5
universities
vocational traininginstitutes
Data:Number of nominations
(n=10)
state-run
non-profit
commercial
Question 9: Which accreditation body do you prefer? (Source: mmb, telephone-survey, june 2004)
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Accreditation: Reasonable price
No general answer possible, tendency to low prices (from 100 up to 500 Euro maximum)
the reasonability of the price depends on several aspects: accreditation object (course or institution) Number, volume and duration of the course(s) expenditure of the accreditation suggestion: dynamic model, like ZFU: price of the accreditation
is based on the price of the course
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Accreditation: Problems
External evaluators have external criteria which do not always fit with the realities of the institution
Participants should be taken into account much stronger Unique definition of „qualitiy“ e-learning is quite new to most of the evaluators, this leads
to inconsistent criteria Extreme standardisation may lead to arbitrariness (anything
can be accreditated) Not always enough information about the reputation of the
accreditation body (important for the acceptance in the market)
The evaluator‘s pedagogical competences should be as good as the provider‘s are
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Requirements on the optimal accreditation
It should be: Fast, to make sure that the provider has no drawbacks in
business Standardized, to make it fast Transparent, to make it comparable to others
Affordable, if an organisation or institution has proved a continual quality, the accreditation shouldn‘t testify each new offer again