NVAO’s Accreditation of online...

NVAO’s Accreditation of online Education in a nutshell

Visit Jordanian Universities

8 September 2015

Brussels

Lucien Bollaert

Board of executives NVAO

Accreditation of online education contents

• Introduction to NVAO

• Introduction to Dutch and Flemish

systems of external QA and

accreditation

• Growing importance of online education

• QA of online education and MOOCs

• Approach on programme level

• Approach on institutional level

• Conclusions : NVAO approach2

Governance

• Bi-national organisation

• Safeguards for independence

• procedures, methodologies, decision-making

• Publicly funded

• Pre-funded by the Netherlands & Flanders (60/40)

• HEIs pay for procedures

• Accountable

• Committee of ministers

• Respective parliaments

• Organisation

• Executive Board < Board -- Advisory board

3

Accreditation of online education intro to NVAO

Publication

Report

Official register

Accreditation• Concentrate on content

(& focus on performance)

learning outcomes

Institutional “audit”• Focus on policy & practice

re. internal QA system

teaching and learning

Overall approach

4

Institution

Programme Report

ReportInitial accreditation

Postponed in

Flanders for

existing

programmes

until

2018/2020


& Purpose of NVAO’s system (1/2)

Accountability

• Public demonstration of quality

• Public reports

• Watchdog with teeth

• Obligatory

• Grants status for fixed periods

• Linked to recognition & funding

• Increase transparency

• Public register of quality

assured, accredited higher

education

Enhancement

• Stimulate quality culture

• Focus on functioning of

(internal) QA system

with respect to teaching &

learning

institutional audit

• Commit professionals /

academic ownership

• Focus on content; and not

procedures; not quantitative

elements

programme assessment

5


Purpose of NVAO’s system (2/2)

To balance accountability & enhancement

• Respect institutional autonomy

Generic, descriptive standards

Start from intentions formulated by HEI/programme

(aims/learning outcomes)

• Reward earned trust

Limited programme assessment

• No trust (yet)?

• Extensive programme assessment

• In Flanders no programme assessment after

successful institutional audit from 2020

• Stimulate HE to aim above threshold

Accredit as good or excellent, not in Flanders anymore

Distinctive (quality) features, e.g. internationalisation,

sustainability, entrepeneurship, online education? 6

Accountability & Enhancement


• More than MOOCs: Online ≠ MOOC

• 1995: first online course

• 2008: first MOOC

• 2015: 4000 MOOCs

>>4000 non-MOOC online courses

NVAO - Titel van de presentatie - 2010

7

Accreditation of online education importance of online education

MOOCs are from the US

8


NVAO - Titel van de presentatie - 2010

9


Accreditation of online education QA of online education & MOOCs

• 29% of European universities had in place IQA related to e-

learning;

• 35% were discussing the matter(Gaebel, M., Kupriyanova, M., Morais, R., and Colucci, E., 2014, E-learning in European Higher

Education Institutions: Results of a Mapping Survey conducted in October-December 2013,

Brussel, EUA)

• Arrival of MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) gave a …

• Global boom to online (blended) education

• Still a technological tool, no paradigm shift…

• … to democratize and enhance (higher) education globally

10


A Guide to Quality in Post-Traditional Online

Higher Education

Special issue on Quality in MOOCs

INNOQUAL - International Journal for Innovation

and Quality in Learning

Volume 2, No 3, 2014 and Special Issue on Quality

in Massive Open Online Courses

Quality Assessment for E-learning – a

Benchmarking Approach (2nd edition)

http://e-xcellencelabel.eadtu.eu 11

European Association of Distance Teaching Universities

http://www.eadtu.eu

http://e-xcellencelabel.eadtu.eu/


Quality models in online and open

education around the globe: State of

the art and recommendationsAuthors: Ebba Ossiannilsson, Keith Williams, Anthony

F. Camilleri and Mark Brown - International Journal for

Innovation coordinated by EADTU

May 2015

12

International Council for Open and Distance Education

http://www.icde.org

“However, the overarching paradox is that online

and distance education systems with their digital

content and the persistent record of online

transactions provide a rich source of evidence to

enable quality assurance and audit processes.

If open and distance learning were the current

dominant mode of Higher Education and lecture-

based education the innovation, the challenge would

lie in how to quality assure a form of education in

which interactions at the core of the system were

ephemeral, highly dependent on personal

interpretation by the teacher and student and seldom

directly monitored.” (p. 16)13


First Principles of Instruction(book by M. David Merrill, 2013)

Learning is promoted when learners …

1. acquire skill in the context of real-world problems

2. activate existing knowledge and skill as a

foundation for new skill

3. observe a demonstration of the skill to be learned

4. apply their newly acquired skill to solve problems

5. reflect on, discuss, and defend their newly

acquired skill

14


Instructional Quality of MOOCs(January 2015 research article)

Key criteria: Merrill’s First Principles of Instruction

Additional criteria: learning resources and supports

Scoring on 72-point scale

76 randomly selected MOOCs assessed

15


Instructional Quality of MOOCs(January 2015 research article)

[continued]

The majority of MOOCs scored poorly on most

instructional design principles:

≤ 28 out of 72 points.

However, most MOOCs scored highly on

organisation and presentation of course

material.

16


What do you aim to do? What are you doing? What have you done?

Intended learning

outcomesTeaching and learning

Achieved learning

outcomes

Programme assessment

17

Programme Module x Module y Module z ...

Intended LOs

Intended LOs

Intended LOs

Intended LOs

...

(C. &) LOs (C. &) LOs (C. &) LOs

Assessment Assessment Assessment ...

Achieved?

Achieved?

Achieved?

Achieved?

…

1 2 3

Accreditation of online education approach on programme level

• NVAO does not accredit courses, modules or

MOOCs

• NVAO assesses how the courses, modules or

MOOCs fit into the programmes through:

• Learning outcomes/qualifications (in connection with

the National Qualifications Framework – ESG)

• How they are assessed

• How successful courses, modules or MOOCs are

recognized/certified

• On which bases students are exempted from existing

units in the programme

18

Accreditation of online education approach on programme level

the assessment of online education (units)

follows the review framework of the study programme

• NVAO starts from the HEI’s policy on online

education

• NVAO assesses the HEI’s practice of online

education (horizontal & vertical trails)

• NVAO assesses the IQA on online education

• NVAO assesses how the HEI improves its (policy of)

online education

the assessment of the institutional policy and

practice of online education follows the institutional

review framework

19

Accreditation of online education approach on institutional level

Scenarios

Credit recognition

Imported e-learning

E-learning module

E-learning programme

IQA

As usual;

MOOC: certificate?

As above;

Who assesses?

As usual;

Justification

As above;

Justification

EQA

Expertise panel;

learning outcomes

As above;

assessment & LOs

Expertise panel

Expertise panel;

Assessment & LOs

Accreditation of online education conclusions : NVAO approach

2009 NVAO position:

• Thanks to the open character of the assessment

frameworks they are able to accommodate online

education

• It is crucial that appropriate expertise on online

education is represented in the composition of the

assessment panels if necessary

• NVAO considers it a duty to have expertise on online

education in house and share it with all stakeholders

e.g. EADTU, ICDE, etc

http://e-xcellencelabel.eadtu.eu

21


http://e-xcellencelabel.eadtu.eu/

2014 NVAO position paper on MOOCs & online HE

• No separate accreditation of online education, but as

part/variant (FL) of programme with experts as panel

members

• Help to promote and improve good online education

• Develop expertise and share it

22


Q & AThanks for attention

ContactFred Mulder

NVAO Policy Advisor

+31 (0)70 312 23 54

[email protected]

NVAO

visiting address: Parkstraat 28 The Hague

Postal address: P.O. Box 85498, 2508 CD The Hague

The Netherlands

www.nvao.net

23

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.nvao.net/

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