The document discusses quality assurance challenges with digital higher education. It explores questions around the quality standards and processes needed for blended, hybrid and online learning models. It also examines whether existing quality assurance standards are sufficient or need to differ for more traditional delivery modes. Several quality assurance initiatives are highlighted that aim to address these issues, but there remains a lack of implementation guides and research on the use and effectiveness of related guidelines. The document advocates for closing the evaluation loop to provide data feedback as digital education quality assurance standards continue to evolve.

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Mark Brown
Eamon Costello & Prajakta (Lily) Girme
27th January 2023
The Quality Challenge of Digital Higher Education:
How are Institutions and National QA Agencies Responding?

2. “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)
The Quality Challenge of Digital Higher Education:
How are Institutions and National QA Agencies Responding?
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3. What does a quality student
learning experience look like in the
new Artificial Intelligence era?
BIG question…
The Quality Challenge of Digital Higher Education:
How are Institutions and National QA Agencies Responding?
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4. • What QA standards and processes are required for
blended, hybrid and online learning?
Three sub-questions…
The Quality Challenge of Digital Education:
Enabling [Tertiary] Education Providers to Make it Work
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5. • What QA standards and processes are required for
blended, hybrid and online learning?
• Are our existing QA standards sufficient?
Three sub-questions…
The Quality Challenge of Digital Education:
Enabling [Tertiary] Education Providers to Make it Work
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• What QA standards and processes are required for
blended, hybrid and online learning?
• Are our existing QA standards sufficient?
• Do they need to differ from those already in place for
more traditional delivery modes?
Three sub-questions…
The Quality Challenge of Digital Education:
Enabling [Tertiary] Education Providers to Make it Work

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• Quality concerns are not new
• Delivery mode is not the key factor
• Definition wars are largely unproductive
The Quality Challenge of Digital Education:
Enabling [Tertiary] Education Providers to Make it Work
Three assumptions…

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Quality concerns are not new…
https://www.irishtimes.com/news/education/why-we-need-to-reconsider-the-value-of-the-virtual-classroom-1.4059247
Oct
2019

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2004
Quality concerns are not new…
https://markbrown.blog
https://www.timeshighereducation.com/campus/will-online-education-lead-death-conversation
December 2022 January 2023

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2002
2004 2005
Quality concerns are not new…

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Delivery mode is not the key factor…
https://eddl.tru.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/PreparingDigitalUniversity-George-Siemens.pdf
2015
“Distance education, when properly
planned, designed, and supported by
the appropriate mix of technology and
pedagogy, is equivalent to, or in
certain scenarios more effective than,
traditional face-to-face classroom
instruction” (p. 11).
2004
2022

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Delivery mode is not the key factor…
“The overarching paradox is
that online and distance education
systems with their digital content and
the persistent record of online
transactions provide a rich source of
evidence to enable quality assurance
and audit processes.
https://www.pedocs.de/volltexte/2015/10879/pdf/Ossiannilsson_et_al_2015_Qualitymodels.pdf

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

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Definition wars are largely unproductive…
K
I
S
S On-campus
Off-campus

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QA / QE
Gap
Digital
Education
- Macro-Level
- Meso-Level
- Micro-Level
- Nano-Level
 Multifaced and
multifunctional
 Highly contextualised
 Institutions are central
 Owned & distributed
across institutions
 Conversational,
shares experiences
and involves feedback
loops
 Dynamic as part of a
living and thriving
quality culture
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The Quality Challenge of Digital Education

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• EUA Digi-HE Project
• OECD Digital HE Project
• QQI QA Statutory Guidelines Project
The Quality Challenge of Digital Education
Three QA initiatives…

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2021
https://eua.eu/downloads/publications/digi-he%20desk%20research%20report.pdf

18. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/08923647.2018.1417658
• An abundance of QA frameworks
• Many common dimensions shared across
the different QA frameworks
• Absence of output measures of QA
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Only 12%

19. 2022
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https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/education/digital-higher-education_f622f257-en

20. Including Ireland
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21. https://mfhea.mt/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Guidelines-for-FHEI-V1.pdf
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22. (Brown, 2022)
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• Lack of
Implementation
Guide
• Lack of Action
Plan
• Limited research
on whether they
are used by
institutions and
if so, how
• Lack of
alignment with
mainstream QA
requirements

23. Most
Common
Least
Common
(Brown, 2022)
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Aggregated summary…

24. Closing the evaluation
loop by giving data back
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2018

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What in a single word is the most
important quality consideration
that you would like to see in the
new QQI guidelines?

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What else is missing?
Gap analysis…

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Where to from here…
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Where to from here…
What does a quality student
learning experience look like in the
new Artificial Intelligence era?

32. Photo by Rae Wallis on Unsplash
Where to from here…
Chocolate is always
the answer no matter what
the question!

33. Key references
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.

34. Go raibh maith
agaibh!
Thank you
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