Theme

Promoting Quality in Distance, Flexible and ICT-based Education

Theme structure:

1. The Value of Distance, Flexible and ICT-based Education in Relation to:

1.1. National Development Needs
1.2. Educational Capacity Building
1.3. Lifelong and Workplace Learning
1.4. International Collaboration

2. Promoting Educational Quality Regarding:

2.1. Faculty (recruitment, credentialing, training, evaluation)
2.2. Pedagogy (methods of delivery and communication, students and teachers roles etc.)
2.3. Student Learning Outcomes Assessment
2.4. Technology and Delivery
2.5. Cultural and Linguistic Diversity

3. Institutional Quality Issues Regarding:

3.1. Developing Quality Standards
3.2. Developing Methods for Promoting Quality (evaluation, benchmarking, incentive systems, user involvement, international collaboration etc.)
3.3. Accreditation Issues and Cross Border Regulation
3.4. Meeting the Challenge of Non-Quality (fake universities, false on-line degrees, etc.)

4. Research and New Developments Regarding:

4.1. Methods of Evaluation and Quality Assurance
4.2. Pedagogy
4.3. Technology and Communication
4.4. Services

Comments

 

The Value of Distance, Flexible and ICT-based Education

This will address Distance, Flexible and ICT-based Education (DFICTE) from a national/international perspective, focusing on the political and philosophical aspects: WHY and WHERE does it make sense to use DFICTE as an integral (and effective/ efficient/ value-added) part of a national system of education and training?

 

Promoting Educational Quality

This will address DFICTE from a planning perspective, focusing on pedagogical, technological and organizational aspects: WHAT should be done, and HOW, in order to build quality into the system? This sub-theme should be further subdivided into the macro level of overall programme or course planning, and the micro level of planning the teaching and learning activities.

Institutional Quality Issues

This will address DFICTE from a management perspective, focusing on  client-system preparation (change management), implementation (project management) and long term sustainability (process management): WHAT should be done, and HOW, in order to ensure that an original "good idea" actually delivers the expected results to the expected quality standards, and continues to do so over time?

Research and New Developments

This is a supportive and catch-all sub-theme. It is in some respects implied in all three of the above sub-themes. Keynote speakers will inevitably cite research and recent practice to support their arguments in the plenary sessions and many other conference papers submitted to the parallel sessions will follow suite. But it also allows one to include interesting and important topics addressed in some of the papers that will be submitted, that may not have a strong and direct link to the principal theme of  promoting quality, but are nevertheless worthy of inclusion in the programme.