Gonzalo Bacigalupe will present on addressing the question of quality in e-learning environments. He will discuss quality criteria, best practices, conceptual principles, research, and educational efforts to evaluate whether online distance education offers quality learning outcomes. The presentation will outline points of disagreement around the relationship between delivery modes and outcomes. It will also invite dialogue on ensuring quality online education and sharing best practices from the presenter's campus and beyond.

1. Gonzalo Bacigalupe, EdD, MPH
Associate Professor & Department Chair
Counseling and School Psychology
UMass Boston
617 287 7631
gonzalo.bacigalupe@umb.edu
Preference; 50-minute presentation
Level of Expertise: Intermediate /Advanced
Key Theme: Scholarship of Teaching and Learning: Systematic Inquiry into
Teaching, Learning, and Technology
Addressing the Question of Quality in E-Learning Environments
Abstract
Online distance education continues to grow at a consistent and fast pace in
private and public universities. After a period of accelerated implementation,
fluid adaptation and evaluation of emerging technologies, and mainstreaming
of e-teaching tools, faculty and administrators are asking if online distance
education offer quality outcomes. This presentation discusses quality criteria,
best practices, conceptual principles, research, and educational efforts locally
and beyond addressing the question of learning outcomes and emerging e-
learning technologies in distance education.
Description
Online distance education programs and courses are growing at a consistent
and fast pace in private and public universities. After a period of accelerated
implementation, fluid adaptation and evaluation of emerging technologies, and
mainstreaming of e-teaching tools, faculty and administrators are asking if online
distance education offer quality outcomes.
Discussions of quality and learning outcomes are shared with on campus
offerings. However, the discourse that informs conversations about online
opportunities become muddled in the fluid and evolving nature of the
technologies. This presentation will outline the “edgy” points of disagreement
and what it is being done to ensure quality. One of the assumptions that confuse
educators is the opposing discourses about the relationship between modes of
delivery and learning outcomes.
This presentation will outline and invite a dialogue about the criteria, best
practices, conceptual principles, research, and educational efforts addressing
the question of learning outcomes and emerging e-learning technologies in
education. The author will share some of the best practices available locally at
our campus and beyond.
The question of outcomes and quality is at the center of education debates
across disciplines. Accrediting bodies, administrators, program directors, faculty,
and the public are beginning to ask these questions after a period of either
technological enchantment or skeptic acceptance. Based on discussions at
conferences, university meetings, committees, strategic planning meetings, and
the literature this workshop will assess the questions in various contexts as well as
its intersection with concerns by faculty and administrators about the ethical,
legal, and administrative challenges of making distance education as
trustworthy as traditional educational offerings.