Full paper at Innovating Higher Education, IHE 2023, EADTU Conference, Istanbul, 6th October, 2023.

1. Developing National QA for Digital Education:
Insights from the Irish Experience
06h October 2023
Mark Brown
Eamon Costello & Prajakta (Lily) Girme

2. Anchoring literature
Developing the National QA Guidelines
Lessons for European Standards & Guidelines
Outline

3. Photo by Rae Wallis on Unsplash
Before we start…

4. Photo by Rae Wallis on Unsplash
“Quality is an elusive term
for which there is a wide
variety of interpretations
depending upon the views of
different stakeholders.”
(Schindler, et al., 2015, p. 4)
Before we start…

5. 2004
2005
1. Anchoring literature
2011 2015

6. 1. Anchoring literature

7. 2022
https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/education/digital-higher-education_f622f257-en
1. Anchoring literature

8. • An abundance of QA frameworks
• Many common dimensions shared across
the different QA frameworks
• Absence of output measures of QA
• Emergence of new QA considerations
• More research needed on how institutions
implement QA/QE frameworks
Findings…
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/08923647.2018.1417658
1. Anchoring literature

9. “Importantly, the learner’s location is a key determinant in
naming the mode” (Johnson, Seaman & Poulin, 2022, p. 106)
On-campus
Off-campus
https://olj.onlinelearningconsortium.org/index.php/olj/article/view/3565
1. Anchoring literature

10. What else is missing
from current QA frameworks?
(Brown, 2022)
1. Anchoring literature

11. 2018
https://www.qqi.ie/sites/default/files/media/file-uploads/Statutory%20QA%20Guidelines%20for%20Blended%20Learning%20Programmes.pdf
2. Developing the National QA Guidelines

12. 2023 March
2023 January 2023 September
2. Developing the National QA Guidelines

13. What in a single word is the most
important quality consideration
that you would like to see in the
new QQI guidelines?
2. Developing the National QA Guidelines

14. 2. Developing the National QA Guidelines
2023 January

15. Adapted
from
OECD
2. Developing the National QA Guidelines
2023 March
Explicitly included
M
icro-credentials

16. 2. Developing the National QA Guidelines

17. 2. Developing the National QA Guidelines

18. Closed 9th June 2023
2. Developing the National QA Guidelines

19. 2. Developing the National QA Guidelines
Not the everyday
Definition of blended learning
Generally positive
Feedback on structure

20. 2023 September
2. Developing the National QA Guidelines
Inclusive of
M
icro-credentials

21. 2. Developing the National QA Guidelines

22. 2. Developing the National QA Guidelines

23. 2. Developing the National QA Guidelines

24. 2. Developing the National QA Guidelines

25. 2. Developing the National QA Guidelines

26. 2. Developing the National QA Guidelines

27. 2. Developing the National QA Guidelines

28. 2. Developing the National QA Guidelines

29. 3. Lessons for European Standards and Guidelines
2018

30. 3. Lessons for European Standards and Guidelines
https://beta.jisc.ac.uk/reports/beyond-blended
2023

31. 3. Lessons for European Standards and Guidelines

32. Final comment…
Chocolate is always
the answer no matter what
the question!
Quality remains an elusive concept but…

33. Staring, F., Brown, M., Bacsich, P., & Ifenthaler, D. (2022). Digital higher
education: Emerging quality standards, practices and supports, OECD Education
Working Papers, No. 281, OECD Publishing, Paris,
https://doi.org/10.1787/f622f257-en.
Volungevičienė, A., Brown, M., Greenspon, R., Gaebel, M., & Morrisroe, A.
(2021). Developing a High-Performance Digital Education System: Institutional
Self-Assessment Instruments. European University Association, Brussels.
Ossiannilsson, E., K. Williams, A. Camilleri and M. Brown (2015), Quality models
in online and open education around the globe: State of the art and
recommendations. International Council for Open and Distance Education, Oslo,
Norway. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED557055.pdf
Esfijani, A. (2018), “Measuring quality in online education: A metasynthesis”,
American Journal of Distance Education, 32/1, pp. 57-73, DOI:
10.1080/08923647.2018.1417658
Brown, M. (2022). The quest for quality in digital higher education: A critical
analysis of QA frameworks. Full paper at EDEN Digital Learning Europe Annual
Conference, Tallinn, Estonia, 20th June.
Key references
2022
https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007/978-981-19-0351-9_41-1

34. Go raibh maith
agaibh!
Thank you