Presentation giving a brief overview of changes and trends in open education, and the quality related challenges linked to each. Presented at : - the 9th European Quality Assurance Forum in Barcelona - the SEQUENT / Openup Slovenia Seminar on QA in e-learning in Ljubljana, Slovenia - the NCFHE Seminar on e-learning in Rabat, Malta

1. QUALITY ASSURANCE OF ONLINE,
OPEN AND FLEXIBLE HIGHER EDUCATION
CONCEPTUAL ISSUES
ANTHONY F. CAMILLERI – KNOWLEDGE INNOVATION CENTRE
ROUNDTABLE ON THE ACCREDITATION OF BLENDED AND DIGITAL LEARNING
MARCH 2015, RABAT, MALTA.

2. Open Educational Resources (OER)
describe any kind of digital media
media which are released under
licenses which allow for:
 use and
reuse/repurposing/modification
WHAT IS OPEN EDUCATION?
Depending on the definition, OER may include:
• digital resources only, or a mix of digital and
‘traditional’ resources
• resources produced with an explicit educational
aim, or any resource used as part of an
educational process
• resources which are in the public domain, or
resources which allow use and reuse merely for
educational purposes

3. WHAT IS OPEN EDUCATION?
Social Openness Technical Openness License Openness Financial Openness
most participative least restrictive least restrictive most affordable
Student, lecturer &
Broader Community
Student Centred
Lecturer Centred
Open
Proprietary/Open
Proprietary
Public Domain
Limited-Public
Copyrighted
Free
Opportunity Cost
Low Cost
Charged
increasinglevelsof
openness
Hodgkinson-Williams, C., & Gray, E. (2009). Degrees of openness: The emergence of open educational resources at
the University of Cape Town. International Journal of Education and Development Using ICT, 5(5). Retrieved from http://www

4. WHAT ABOUT MOOCS?
MOOC is defined as:
 massive: with theoretically no limit to
enrolment
 open: allowing anyone to
participate, usually at no cost
 online: with learning activities
typically taking place over the web
 course: structured around a set of
learning goals in a defined study
area
don’t miss
the forest for the trees

5. EDUCATIONAL CHANGE IS INEVITABLE

6. TECHNOLOGICAL TRENDS
Ubiquitous Computing
access to computing
power any time
anywhere
Open Data
access to any
information any time
anywhere
Learning Analytics
ability to base teaching
decisions on data
Semantic Search
ability to talk and
converse with machines
Collaboration
Technologies
ability to collaborate with
anybody in real-time
Personalisation
Technologies
move away from
traditional massification
concepts

7. SOCIAL CHANGES MEAN INCREASED DEMANDS FROM
EDUCATION
 provide graduates to supply the
knowledge economy
 increase efficiency of processes
 extend reach of programmes
 adapt content to ever-
changing priorities
do
more,
better,
with

8. RESULTING TRENDS IN ONLINE, OPEN AND FLEXIBLE HIGHER
EDUCATION
Growing
Role of OER
Unbundling
of
EducationEmergence
of Non-
Traditional
ProvidersCollaboration
to keep up
with
Increasing
demand for
recognition &
portability

9. GROWTH IN OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES
April 2014:
3045 learning
repositories – 7%
growth year-on-year
with 12 million
learning objects
Source:
repository66.org

10. GROWTH IN MOOCS
March 2015:
1139 European
MOOCs
220% Year-on-Year
Growth
Source:
openeducationeuropa.eu

11. QA-RELATED ISSUES TO CONSIDER
How to adapt teacher
performance metrics to
consider use/re-use of
their resources?
How does open
resources affect
concepts of efficiency?

12. UNBUNDLING OF EDUCATION
A Higher Education Experience is
a gateway to a multitude of services
explicit and implicit

13. THREE SCENARIOS FOR UNBUNDLING

14. QA ISSUES LINKED TO UNBUNDLING
increases student choice (link to SCL)
allows for increased specialisation of
functions of HE
stimulates innovation and quality through
increased attention on niche activities
implicit functions of Higher Education not
necessarily specifically covered by criteria
is the whole of an HE qualification more than
the sum of its parts?

15. EMERGENCE OF NON-TRADITIONAL PROVIDERS
‘Hybrid Providers’
mergers of HEIs and Technology
companies collaborating on
course provision, e.g. Coursera
Teaching &
Examination
Centres
teach HE level
qualifications using
licensed content from
universities
RPL Universities
institutions offering
recognition,
credentialisation and
add-on teaching for RPL
Exam-Only
Companies
designing and/or
providing examinations
(incl. automated
assessment)
Publishers
providing not only books
but online learning
communities

16. QUALITY ISSUES TO CONSIDER
none of these models are explicitly
regulated
especially not at international level
Quality Systems
will need to
enable innovation
protect students

17. RESPONDING TO TECHNOLOGY THROUGH COLLABORATION
University Networks
publishing courses
under a single
brand
University –Business
collaborations for
joint-provision of
education
Living Labs’ to
develop OE
content,
technology and
pedagogy

18. TECHNOLOGY-NETWORKS AS QUALITY NETWORKS
 EdX and Coursera only
admit ‘world class’
universities
 OpenupEd is linked to a
Quality Label

19. INCREASED DEMAND FOR RECOGNITION
 Badges
 Certificates of
attendance
 Certificates of
completion
 ECTS
 Diplomas and
Degrees
easily mapped to
Qualifications Framework
Hard/Impossible to map to
Qualifications Framework

20. CHALLENGES FOR QA
Equivalent Quality
across all qualification
types
Quality of the
Qualification itself
(recognition & portability as elements
of quality)

21. OPEN DATA & QUALITY
TECHNOLOGY GIVES RISE TO NEW EXPECTATIONS FROM THE QUALITY ECOSYSTEM
Assure Minimal
Quality
Standards
Offer Various
Ranking
Methodologies
Allow for User
Review and
Rating
Give Access to
Data

22. THANK YOU FOR
YOUR ATTENTION
ANTHONY F. CAMILLERI
ANTHONY@KNOWLEDGEINNOVATIONEU
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milleri