„How about accrediting your e-learning courses?“

Results of a survey of e-learning providers

DLAE Conference, Stockholm, 10th & 11th June 2004

2

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

4

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

9

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