Quality Standards for Online Education by Fleksibel utdanning Norge

Quality Standards for Online Education QUALITY AT EVERY STAGE Revised 2015

Innhold Content

Preface

Introduction

Quality in online education

Quality Standards

1 Quality management and quality assurance activities in institutions that offers online education

2 Course development

3 Information and guidence

s 11

4 Course and programme operation and administration

s 12

Appendix 1: Historical background

s 15

Flexible Education Norway 2015 www.fleksibelutdanning.no Design and illustrations Ebba KĂ¸ber ISBN 978-82-91766-35-5

For further information please contact: Fleksibel utdanning Norge Tel. 22510480 email: post@nfleksibelutdanning.no Twitter: @NADE_FuN www.facebook.com/Fleksibel.utdanning.Norge Address Lilleakerveien 23 0283 Oslo

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Preface Quality Standards for Online Education are written by Flexible Education Norway (FuN, previously NADE). The standards constitute the requirements for quality that FuN thinks is reasonable to expect from online schools and other providers of online education. Our aim is that the standards should contribute to improving the quality of education, in parallel and accordance with the quality assurance work carried out at the Norwegian Agency for Quality Assurance in Education (NOKUT). FuN’s Standing Committee for Quality has developed a vision for FuN’s quality assurance work: FuN shall strive to assure the quality of our members’ educational programmes in a society that is undergoing continuous change, and with a growing need for knowledge and qualifications. The aim is that the programmes should be flexible, widely available, relevant and updated. During this revision period, the committee has comprised the following members: Toril Eikaas Eide, University of Bergen, Chair of the committee Anne Berit Swanberg, BI Norwegian Business School, BI Learning Lab Anders Nome/Michelle Storakeren, NKS Nettstudier Mette Villand Reichelt, Lillehammer University College Wenche Halvorsen, NKI Nettstudier Gjermund Eikli, Norsk Nettskole Torhild Slåtto, FuN, Secretary of the committee Quality assurance is a continuous process that concerns our members and affects all providers and users of the online education and flexible education programmes. FuN would like to thank the members of the committee for all their hard work during the revision of these standards, and would especially thank the chair of the committee, Toril Eikaas Eide, who has led the process and prepared drafts for the discussions.

Oslo, February 20th 2015

Torhild Slåtto Director

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Introduction The Committee for Quality has defined online education as follows: “Online education refers to educational programmes adapted for online provision where communication through the medium of internet between teacher and students and among the students is an integrated part of the programme.” Other definitions place emphasis on the flexibility of online education “where students experience a high degree of flexibility in time and space related to their participation in the learning activities1” (Hjortø et al. 2003). Norgesuniversitetet (NUV) also uses the term “flexible education” in their document of strategy for 2012-2016.1 The Quality standards could also be useful in other education that includes online teaching and learning.

Quality in education A common, general definition of quality is “suitable for purpose”. Below we will refer to different definitions regarding quality in education. The Norwegian Agency for Quality Assurance in Education (NOKUT) defines quality in education as follows: “By quality of education we mean the quality and relevance of educational institutions’ facilitation for students’ learning, and students’ learning outcomes after completed education”.2 NUV has proposed that one can describe the quality of education by dividing it into four areas3: • Admission quality is described as the ability to recruit, the students’ prerequisites for the studies and how the students are welcomed regarding application, admission and starting the studies. • Framework quality is described as technical, organisational, administrative, social and welfare conditions within a holistic learning environment. • Programme quality is described as quality of programme description and the organisation and execution of teaching and learning activities. • Result quality is described as the students’ achievements and learning outcomes in relation to the study objectives, and the candidates’ degree of success in their professional careers. These descriptions of quality implies that motivated, educated and able teachers, academic support, good social conditions and relevant course materials all contribute to a positive experience of quality. As important are wellfunctioning administrative support and a good infrastructure for learning. (NUV, 1/20134) These areas include both objective and subjective criteria for quality. Combining perspectives to ensure quality can be useful. For a large part study- and course evaluations tend to focus on the subjective elements, on the students’ “experienced quality”, and quality assurance in education will eventually focus on the learner (i.e. the student or pupil). From this perspective we can say that quality in education regardless of mode of teaching is about students being able to rest assured that what they invest in their studies of time, effort and money will produce valuable results along the way and in the future. When a student chooses a study programme she/he needs to be confident that both content and mode is based on the learning outcome descriptors (NQF5) or another kind of goal description for the programme, and is executed in a way that enables the students to achieve the intended learning outcomes during the programme. This implies that “teaching methods that involve the students and give them responsibilities is vital for learning” (UiB, 2012)6. The result would be competent students with the skills and qualifications that are needed in the public and private sector. Students’ priorities and perceptions of what is, or what creates, quality education may vary, but both international and Norwegian studies over the years have made it apparent that the teacher has a key role in the achieving of quality in all kinds of education. (Hattie, 2009) 7 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Our translation Our translation. http://www.nokut.no/no/Fakta/Utdanningskvalitet/Sikring-og-utvikling-av-utdanningskvalitet/ The following are our own translations Only available in Norwegian: Ulike forståelser av kvalitet i høyere utdanning – teknologi og læring på og utenfor campus, NUV 1/2013 The Norwegian Qualifications Framework for Lifelong Learning http://www.nokut.no/Documents/ NOKUT/Artikkelbibliotek/Norsk_utdanning/NKR/20140606_Norwegian_Qualifications_Framework.pdf Our translation. The document is only available in Norwegian: Kvalitet i utdanning. Notat 2012. Bergen University Hattie, John (2009) Visible learning - A synthesis of over 800 meta-analyses relating to achievement Routledge NY

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Quality in online education Is quality in online education different from, or more than, quality in other education? Ole Jacob Skodvin from NOKUT points to three elements that are necessary to succeed with quality in education from a general perspective and especially ICTsupported education: • Educational leadership • Good programme design • Focus on the learning outcomes (NUV, 1/2013, p. 33) Even though in principle there is no difference in the quality of online education and classroom based education, we would nonetheless assert that there is a difference in what is required to achieve high quality in education exclusively provided via internet and education with face to face meetings. Online education and classroom education will in some areas require different measures to achieve high quality. We have experienced that online students often receive better academic support and guidance from their tutors, but as they are lacking the daily sense of physical community with their peers, this support and motivation is even more important to them. Qualitative advantages regarding online education are not only related to flexibility in terms of when and where one wants to study. In web based studies the students have channels for rapid and efficient communication with the tutor, fellow students and others, and the student’s active participation and development is a key aspect of the online education. According to Mason (2003) quality in online education can be achieved if we can facilitate three aspects of deep-level learning: -Opportunity to express one’s own ideas and perspectives -Vehicle for receiving feedback on those ideas (…) -Encouragement to revise one’s thoughts and opinions on the basis of feedback (p. 7)8. Digital media, tools and learning resources also provide a potential for learning activities, some of which wouldn’t work as well in classroom based teaching. Among the many studies of what is important to the online student, BI Norwegian Business School carried out a study that concluded that written assignments with feedback is the most important element. Help to progress in, and structure the course comes in second. The tutor’s online presence is also reported as very important (BI 2008). Ulf-Daniel Ehlers, the leader of EFQUEL, structures quality requirements into seven fields of quality9. In his survey, too, tutor support, two-way communication and teacher-student interaction ranked high, followed by cooperation and communication and, thereafter, technology and user-friendliness. In fourth, fifth and sixth place were costs in relation to benefits, information and counselling prior to course start, and course structure and organization respectively. Lillehammer University College has worked out five criteria for “good online studies”: 1. Facilitate for and commit to reflection activities in both short and long time spans 2. Stimulate the students’ meta-reflection in relation to their own development 3. Have learning resources that ensure linkage between theory and practice, and reflection on these. 4. Stimulate a learning community between the students and between professionals and students 5. Have technological learning areas that facilitate learning community, learning resources, reflection and development (NUV)10 Furthermore they say that the first four criteria are “general and can be linked to session-based courses and studies just as well as to online courses and studies”, and during the development of the criteria they discovered that several of them were as relevant for students that are not using the net. (ibid.) The review above shows that while there is more than one angle to quality in education, the different approaches have many common features. Torstein Rekkedal 11 presents another important perspective when he points out that in educational programmes, quality lies not only in the “package” offered from the provider; it is also totally dependent on the contribution made by the learner, i.e. the student. The students have a responsibility as “co-workers” in the process. (UiB, 2012, p.33). On this basis mutual clarifying of expectations may be a quality factor. 8 9 10 11

Mason, Robert: Successful online learning conferences: what is the magic formula?, SOFF skriftserie 1/2003 (2003) Refererred to in Torstein Rekkedal: Distance Learning and E-learning Quality for SMEs – State of the Art, (2006) Our translation. http://norgesuniversitetet.no/node/5893 Interview with Torstein Rekkedal in the magazine Forum for fjernundervisning, 2005.

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Quality standards “Quality at every stage” is important in all forms of education and is a recurring feature in FuNs Quality standards. We must focus on quality in every phase of the process, from start of the planning to issuing of the diploma and evaluation of the programme. This means to strive for cohesion and unity when creating aims, content, organisation and learning outcomes, as well as selecting, developing and using teaching methods, learning activities, learning resources and forms of assessment. When everyone involved knows what is expected, the quality aspect is strengthened. It is the expectations we create, the services we offer, and the teaching we provide that will come to represent perceived quality.

Purpose and function of the standards The Quality standards are recommended guidelines for quality that FuN considers can be reasonably expected of online education institutions and other providers of online education. They can act as an important supplement to other quality assurance systems that these institutions may already have in place. The aim is that they should contribute to enhancing quality in education, in accordance with current laws and NOKUT’s regulations and quality assurance work. FuN’s bylaws state the following on the overall significance of the Quality standards: “Ordinary members must accept FuN’s Quality standards.”12 In the Norwegian version of this document we use terms in accordance with the Adult Education Act. In the English version we have chosen to use the term online school for institutions that offer online education and that are approved by Vox on behalf of the Ministry of Education and Research. The use of the term institution in these standards refers to online schools and other institutions that offer online education. Learning resources is used for both paper based and digital learning materials. In accordance with general practice, we relate the term assessment to the summative and formative feedback on the students’ learning utcomes, and the term evaluation to the evaluation of routines and systems. In accordance with NQF and NOKUT’s terminology, learning outcome is set to mean knowledge, skills and competence that the student is expected to have achieved by the completion of the programme, education, module or course. Effectively this means that learning outcome is defined as what a person knows, understands and is able to do on completion of a learning process. The term Programme means a study programme or an education that consists of several units like modules or courses. We have chosen the term course for these units. Programme description is the description of a study programme, and includes curriculum and syllabus. Course description is the description of and plan for a smaller unit within a study programme. By person with academic responsibility is meant a person who has the overall academic responsibility for a study programme or a course. The term Student as used in the standards includes “course participant” and “pupil”.

FuN’s bylaws only available in Norwegian: Vedtekter for Fleksibel utdanning Norge, §3

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Quality standards 1. Quality management and quality assurance activities in institutions that offer online education The term “quality management” can be defined as: “All activities associated with the general management task of formulating quality policy, objective, and responsibilities, and of implementing these through quality planning, quality control, and quality improvement as part of the quality management system. (ISO definition) A general principle and focus for quality management in our context is: “At every stage, from planning to execution, quality for the student must be an overriding objective for the institution. Online study programmes require that particular attention be paid to educationally adapting learning content and to the teacher’s guidance throughout the course of study.” Regulation for quality assurance and quality development in higher education and tertiary vocational education and Regulation for supervision of educational quality in higher education form the basis for the development of FuN’s Quality standards. The standards partly overlap the regulations and partly cover aspects not covered by the regulations.

1.1

Quality management system for online education

1.1.1. Institutions that offer online education must have a quality management system for the educational or training activity as a whole, and a system that includes, among other things, course development, information, marketing, learning resources, teaching plans, and guidance.

At institutions that offer higher education or tertiary vocational education, the quality assurance systems shall comply with the regulations named above.

1.1.2 The institution must regularly review and evaluate all aspects of its organisation that affect its ability to provide services of the right quality, and also assess measures with a view to introducing improvements. 1.1.3. In connection with its regular quality reviews, the institution must obtain viewpoints from its employees, students and external partners. 1.1.4 The institution must have a documentable system and regulations for the assessment (examination regulations) and documentation of learning outcomes. The institution must comply with government requirements pertaining to examinations, grading, and documentation wherever relevant.

1.2

Competence of teachers and other employees

1.2.1 The institution must ensure that all its employees are familiar with relevant laws and regulations that apply to the enterprise and the areas of responsibility of the respective employees. 1.2.2 The institution must ensure that all its employees are familiar with the institution’s quality management system and the Quality standards.

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1.2.3 The institution must facilitate training required for its employees in their areas of responsibility and must ensure that their competence is maintained and developed. 1.2.4 The institution must define competence requirements for teachers and supervisors in all study programmes. For study programmes that lead to a public examination or test, the competence requirements for teachers in online schools must not differ from the requirements in public institutions. 1.2.5 Persons with academic responsibility, teachers and supervisors must possess academic, pedagogical and digital competence that corresponds to the level of the teaching offered.

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2 Course development 2.1. External constraints 2.1.1 An institution that offers online education must ensure that, when planning and developing courses, consideration is given to relevant laws and regulations, curricula, course descriptions and other guidelines. Furthermore, account must be taken of any requirements from customers or criteria for external project financing that may apply.

2.2 Agreements with partners 2.2.1 The institution must form specific agreements and contracts with persons with academic responsibilities, teachers, consultants and other external partners, in accordance with Norwegian law and systems of agreements. 2.2.2 In the case of cooperation between multiple institutions, there must be a written agreement on the delegation of responsibilities.

2.3 Management and administration 2.3.1 The party responsible for a course development project must familiarise the project participants with the conditions and constraints that have been established for the work to be performed. Course development should be based on a plan that describes the roles and responsibilities of the participants, an overview of activities, financial and other resources, and a time schedule for the work.

2.4 Programme description 2.4.1 A description must be developed for each study programme. Programme descriptions must contain learning aims, learning outcomes, intended level of competence achievement, course content, normal duration, teaching materials and requirements to previous knowledge where applicable. The programme description must also state which forms of assessment and assessment criteria does apply. (According to the regulations.13) The same criteria apply to the descriptions that must be developed for courses.

2.5 Educational approach 2.5.1 The aim of the course, the characteristics of the discipline, the expected learning outcomes and academic entry requirements of the students must always form the basis for selecting the educational approach, organisation, learning activities, learning resources, technology and forms of assessment. One must especially strive to ensure that learning activities and assessment are aligned with the intended learning outcomes. 2.5.2 Online education must contain communication, both between teacher and student and between students (see the definition of online education given in the introduction).

2.6 Form of assessment and assessment criteria 2.6.1 The institution must choose forms of assessment that correspond to the content, level, learning outcomes and learning activities of the course. 2.6.2 The institution must develop assessment criteria for each study programme.

Regulation for quality assurance and development in higher education and tertiary vocational education, Regulation for supervision of tertiary vocational education and Regulation for supervision of education quality in higher education

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2.7

Quality assurance and documentation

The institution must assure the quality of its courses of study. The quality assurance must focus on: • The content and organisation of the programme • Activities and teaching modes • Forms of exams and other assessment This entails focus on: • Adaptation to target group • Methodical approach14 and educational adaptation • Use of technology • Relevance for working life and continuing studies • Equal opportunity considerations • Language of tuition • Universal design and accessibility • Differentiated teaching The institution must be able to document what measures have been implemented to assure quality in the abovementioned areas.

2.8

Evaluation of course development

2.8.1

The Institution should evaluate their course development process with the intention to implement improvement measures to correct any shortcomings detected in the process.

Methodical approach can be problem based learning, action based learning, case based learning, collaborative learning etc

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Information and guidance

3.1. Laws and regulations 3.1.1. An institution that offers online education shall perform its information activities in compliance with the regulations and ethical guidelines that are prescribed in legislation regulating trading and marketing practices.15 Marketing information must be truthful, objective and informative.

3.2 Requirements to information content and communication 3.2.1. The institution and any partners it may have must be able to provide necessary and objective information on courses and study programmes and to provide guidance to individuals, organisations and enterprises who seek information. 3.2.2 The institution must prepare information on all its study programmes and make them available to potential students and others. The content of websites, catalogues, marketing campaign material and other information must give a realistic picture of the study programmes offered by the institution, what students can expect of the institution, and what requirements it sets for its students. 3.2.3 The objective for all communication with prospective students must be to provide a basis on which the recipient can determine whether or not the offering corresponds with his/her needs and academic abilities.

3.3. Updating information 3.3.1 The institution must have routines in place for ensuring that information is updated when changes occur and transitional arrangements must be detailed in the programme description.

3.4 Information and guidance on formation of contracts 3.4.1 Before a registration is made binding on students, they must be given written information specifying the product and services to which they will be entitled, and the financial and other obligations to which they will be committed.16 The information must contain details regarding prices and payment terms, right to repent, right of return, procedures for lodging complaints, any time limits that may apply, and terms and conditions for course withdrawal or postponement. 3.4.2 Employers and others who enter into collective agreements with the institution for training courses must be given sufficient and correct information regarding the aim and content of the course, its execution, and financial and other conditions.

3.5 Evaluating information and guidance 3.5.1 The institution should regularly evaluate the content, media channels and results of its marketing, information and guidance activities. Data from students surveys and input from potential students should be included in the evaluation of information- and guidance activities with the intention of improvements.

15 16

The Marketing Control Act, the Contracts Act and the Act concerning the Right to Repent, etc in connection with Distance Sales Transactions and Sales Transactions conducted outside a Permanent Sales Outlet. NOKUT recommends using the guidelines issued by the Consumer Ombudsman. Contractual terms and conditions for private and independent schools http://www.forbrukerombudet.no/asset/13 50/1/1350_1.pdf

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Course and programme operation and administration

4.1 Registration and contracts 4.1.1 Conditions and contracts must be formulated in accordance with consumer legislation.

4.2 Course administration and information 4.2.1 Programme and course descriptions must be available to the student throughout the entire programme. 4.2.2 The institution must ensure that the necessary learning resources are available at the start of the programme. 4.2.3 The institution must ensure that students, teachers and partners receive up-to-date information about changes that affect the programme.

4.3 Employment and cooperation agreements 4.3.1 All teaching assignments must be embodied in written agreements between teacher and institution, regardless of whether the teacher is permanently employed or engaged for a shorter period. 4.3.2 If two or more parties cooperate on an online education activity, a written agreement must ensure that all the parties involved have a common understanding of the aims and execution of the tuition and of the division of responsibilities.

4.4 Tuition 4.4.1 The institution must have good routines for following up, supporting and guiding the students for the duration of the course, and ensure that teachers/supervisors adhere to the programme and course descriptions and to the set time limits.

4.5 Assessment and documentation of learning outcomes 4.5.1 The institution must give the students written documentation of the results they have achieved on completion of the programme. Course completion certificates, transcripts and certificates/diplomas must give correct documentation in compliance with programme descriptions and regulations. 4.5.2 Diplomas in higher education must comply with The Norwegian Association of Higher Education Institutions (UHR) template for diploma and diploma supplement.17 4.5.3 In accordance with current laws and regulations the institution must inform students of their right to receive an explanation of their grades and of their right to appeal against the execution and final decision of the assessment.

4.6 Programme evaluation 4.6.1 In order to assure and develop the quality of the programmes, the institution must regularly evaluate them in accordance with regulations and the institutionâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s own quality assurance systems. (See section 1.1.1)

The evaluation process should obtain feedback from students and relevant customers, as well as from teachers and examiners.

NOKUT evaluates the quality assurance system on a regular basis for institutions that offer higher education and/or tertiary vocational education, and supervises their current educational provisions18.

17 http://www.fellesstudentsystem.no/dokumentasjon/rutiner/felles-mal-for-vitnemal/index.html 18 The page is in Norwegian. http://www.nokut.no/no/Fakta/Utdanningskvalitet--norsk-utdanning/Sikring-og-utvikling-av- utdanningskvalitet/

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The focus for evaluations received from students could be: • Satisfaction with the programme in general • Fulfilment of the aims for the programme as formulated by the institution • Meeting the students’ expectations • Assessment of individual efforts • Quality of information provided prior to and during the course (scope, content, presentation and relevance) • Content of the programme - Correspondence with learning outcomes - Relevance for working life • Communication and supervision with regard to content, form and frequency • Quality in organisation and educational adaption • Alignment in content, intended learning outcomes, learning activities and forms of assessment • Academic, administrative and interpersonal support • Technology – is it used appropriately in relation to content and learning outcomes 4.6.2 On the basis of the results of these evaluations, the institution must consider potential improvements to the course and implement changes where applicable.

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Flexible education Norway (NADE) was first known as Nowegian Association for Correspondent Schools (NB)

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Appendix 1

Historical background Flexible education Norway was founded in 1968 as the Norwegian Association of Correspondence Schools. For a while the organisation was called Norwegian association for Distance Education (NADE). Under all its different names the organisation has played an active role in the development of distance education and online education in Norway. Today, Flexible education Norway’s member organisations consist of both independent and public online schools, public universities and university colleges, private institutions, and training centres for business and industry. Flexible education Norway is a cooperative and consultative body for the Ministry of Education and Research in affairs concerning online education. The Norwegian Association of Correspondence Schools’ bylaws stated that the organisation should raise the “professional and educational standard”, and the Rules for Good Practice in Correspondence Schools were formulated. All correspondence courses that qualified for government grants had to be approved and quality assured by the Council of Correspondence Schools, which came under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Church Affairs and Education. Following the amendments to the Adult Education Act of 1993, responsibility for quality assurance was assigned to the individual, approved distance education institution, while responsibility for approving the institutions rested with the Ministry. The Ministry therefore asked NADE to draw up guidelines for quality standards for distance education to support the approval process. The standards were completed in the same year. The approval requirements were stipulated in the regulations pursuant to the Adult Education Act. “The institution must ensure that the distance education meets the professional and educational standards at all times, in line with developments in the field and with good practice in distance education. The institution must have a quality management system which is at all times in accordance with the currently applicable quality standards for distance education institutions. The quality requirements cover the educational activity as a whole, and include course development, information/ marketing, teaching materials, teaching plans, and the supervision and follow-up of participants and teachers. The content and execution of the distance education must accommodate the needs of the participants”.19 The focus on quality in flexible education is also manifested by the fact that, since 1992, the association has had its own Standing Committee for Quality which, under the leadership of Erling Ljoså, prepared the first edition of the Quality standards. The Quality Council has subsequently reviewed the standards several times and revised them in line with developments in the field and changes in government regulations. They were first revised in 2001, and again in 2008, 2011 and last in 2015. During the years 2010-2014 government-approved online schools could apply for state funding for development projects according to Regulations concerning Adult Education Associations and Online Schools, chapter 3. In the assessment of the applications the compliance of the institutions to the Quality standards would carry weight. The funding was discontinued in 2015.

1992-11-25 no. 1125: Regulations concerning Adult Education (distance education), Subsections 3.1–3.3 (regulations no longer apply).

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