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Quality Assurance for eLearning
Virtual Universities
For a comprehensive account of the development of virtual universities around the world in 2003 through the analysis of case studies that are scheduled for updating in 2006, see the IEEP UNESCO project The virtual universities: models and messages www.unesco.org/iiep/virtualuniversity/home.php
A list of virtual universities can be accessed through the publication at www.unesco.org/iiep/virtualuniversity/linksliste.php
COL is involved in developing a Virtual University for Small States in the Commonwealth (VUSSC). For further information see www.col.org/vussc
Chapter 7 of the second preparatory study for VUSSC The Changing Faces of Virtual Education (2001) is devoted to quality assurance issues www.col.org/colweb/site/pid/3335
Online Education
For an overview of the development of on-line education in the US, see the annual reports of the Sloan Consortium www.sloan-c.org, a consortium of institutions and organizations committed to quality online education. Their third and most recent report is entitled Growing by degrees: Online Education in the US, 2005.
http://sloan-c.org/publications/survey/survey05.asp It is based on a survey of over 1000 colleges and universities in the US. Its findings indicate that on-line courses, defined as courses where more than 80% of the course content is delivered on-line, have entered the mainstream of tertiary education in the US. In the light of this growth, the accreditation agencies listed in Section 6 have been obliged to review their policies and procedures.
The opportunities to engage in on-line learning are not limited to those offered as part of a structured programme of study. In 2002 in order to educate the consumer of on-line learning in what to look for in a good on-line learning course, the Canadian Association for Community Education (CACE) and the Office of Learning Technologies(OLI) of Human Resources Development Canada (HRDC) commissioned Dr Kathryn Barker of Futured Inc. to develop a Consumer's guide to E-learning www.futured.com/pdf/ConGuide%20Eng%20CD.pdf based on the Canadian Recommended E-learning Guidelines www.futured.com/pdf/CanREGs%20Eng.pdf.
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