Towards a Culture of Quality  

PERSPECTIVES ON DISTANCE EDUCATION

Towards a Culture of Quality
 

Badri N. Koul and Asha Kanwar, Editors

© Commonwealth of Learning, 2006
ISBN: 1-894975-21-9

The title Towards a Culture of Quality indicates that this third publication on the theme of quality in the COL Perspectives on Distance Education series widens the discussion beyond external quality assurance processes to a more generic focus on a "culture of quality." It is a logical extension of the earlier two publications, which came out in 1994 and 1997 and drew our attention to quality assurance concerns, clarifying the basic concepts and documenting the various quality assurance practices as well as the diverse challenges they pose in different contexts. Quality assurance in distance education today is entrenched widely in national and institutional policies and practices. The jargon of QA has entered the lexicon of the common practitioner of open and distance learning (ODL ), and even resource-poor institutions have set up some mechanisms of assuring quality, however rudimentary.

This volume brings together a rich collection of experience from a diverse range of institutions, at both the basic and the secondary as well as the postsecondary levels, and takes us beyond the level of common quality assurance protocols and their applications to a more mature quality framework, namely the culture of quality, which transcends control mechanisms and managerial dictates. It begins with a prologue that traces the developmental trajectory of ODL covering the past 35 years and looks at contemporary ODL in its dynamic global context. There then follows a series of 12 case studies from Commonwealth countries-from the South Pacific to the Caribbean and from the North to the South. Each case opens with its context-specific moorings, details its concerns, practices, challenges and achievements and closes with its considered view regarding the culture of quality. The book closes with an epilogue that reviews the past 35 years' developments in quality assurance in ODL and then draws inferences from the cases to build generalisations that may help not only ODL institutions to review and improve their efforts in quality assurance, but also researchers in their search for that elusive quality paradigm wherein all the related and relevant notions and practices converge to form the basis of a better appreciation for and tangible approaches to a culture of quality in open distance learning/education.

The book should prove valuable not only for ODL policy makers, managers, academics, researchers and field workers, but also for those interested and involved in education and development.

  The printed book can also be ordered from our distribution agent

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THE ENTIRE BOOK - to download or view in PDF format (approx. 4MB)
 

INDIVIDUAL CHAPTER FILES - to view or download in PDF format (200-500kb each)

FRONT MATTER
including Preface, Contributors and Prologue

CHAPTER 1
Quality Assurance in Distance Education: Towards a Culture of Quality in Botswana College of Distance and Open Learning (BOCODOL)
Daniel R. Tau and Thulaganyo Thutoetsile

CHAPTER 2
Quality Assurance in Open Distance Education - Towards a Culture of Quality: A Case Study from the Kyambogo University, Uganda
Felicity Binns and Aron Otto

CHAPTER 3
Application of ODL Methodologies in Non-formal Settings and Quality Assurance: A Case Study from the Indira Gandhi National Open University, New Delhi, India
M. Aslam

CHAPTER 4
Quality Assurance in the African Virtual University: A Case Study
Kuzvinetsa Peter Dzvimbo and Catherine Wangeci Kariuki

CHAPTER 5
Quality Assurance Procedures in Teacher Education: The Case of the National Teachers' Institute, Kaduna, Nigeria
Abdurrahman Umar

CHAPTER 6
Quality Assurance and Best Practices at Yashwantrao Chavan Maharashtra Open University (YCMOU): A Case Study
Anuradha Deshmukh

CHAPTER 7 (800kb)
Defining a Quality Assurance Tool for Web-based Course Development and Delivery at the University of the West Indies Distance Education Centre
Dianne Thurab-Nkhosi and Stewart Marshall

CHAPTER 8
Embracing Change: Quality Assurance at the Open University of Hong Kong
Bob Butcher and Andrea Hope

CHAPTER 9
Quality Assurance in Open and Distance Education at the University of Guelph: A Case Study in Canadian Practice in Quality Assurance in a Dual-Mode Institution
Ian Mugridge

CHAPTER 10
Quality Assurance in Distance Education -Towards a Culture of Quality: A Case Study of the Open University, United Kingdom (OUUK)
Roger Mills

CHAPTER 11
The Satellite Internet Access for School of the Air (SIASOTA) Project: The Making of a New "Live" Online Learning Community
Roger Edmonds

CHAPTER 12
Using Integrated Systems and Processes to Achieve Quality: A Case Study of the University of Southern Queensland
Alan Smith

 

EPILOGUE
Towards a Culture of Quality in Open Distance Learning: Present Possibilities
Badri N. Koul 177