The European Quality Observatory
How to find the Most Suitable Quality Strategy?
Dr. Ulf-Daniel Ehlers
University of Duisburg-Essen/
European Foundation for Quality in E-Learning
Abstract
The role of education for todays societies is seen as crucial in order to participate in the global concert of economies, provide prosperity and well being to citizens, improve conditions of life and reduce poverty as well as build stable societal structures. The quest for quality, i.e. the very nature of this education, is thus the central question in all debates in all educational sectors today – especially for countries on the rise, trying to provide higher education to strengthen the path into a better future development. In Europe this quality debate is more and more on stake, defining quality as one of the main policy objectives for education with the aim of developing societies in such a way that individuals can advance according to their abilities, and economies can prosper.
1. Quality as a Educational Leitmotiv
There is no doubt that quality is the most decisive factor determining the future of any higher education system. This is the reason for the great variety of concepts, suggestions and debates which now encompass a large section of society and effect many social sub segments. It shows that the question of quality touches the heart of the educational debate. We can regard quality more and more as a subjectively individual and collectively influential category. How should learning opportunities look like and learning environments be structured, now and in the future? How do we meet the demand for building high quality learning capacities in higher education which are an important corner stone to transform our societies into learning societies?
The concept of quality in the public perception and debate today has gained the significance of a leitmotiv for the educational field in all European countries, having the same importance like “equality” or “scientific orientation” in the educational debates of the 1970s in some European countries. It becomes clear that the debate on quality is a debate about how learning and education should look like in the future. It is a debate about values and cultures and it takes place on basis of diverse experiences and convictions.
Such concepts do not appear as empirical accurately defined and operationalised notions but are rather constituted by a dense bundle of a broad range of arguments, objectives, convictions and procedures (Terhart, 2000, p. 809). Quality in e-learning in this sense has become a leitmotiv for educational policies, a slogan for practitioners and a huge demand for learners. Achieving high quality is a hotly debated and much-sought-after goal in all segments of society and education. It is less characterised by its precise definition but rather by its positive connotation.
What is so difficult with quality, that everybody wants to achieve and nobody can really define it? The very nature of quality is that it is a multi-dimensional concept and it is not possible to generally define a set of quality standards applicable to all countries and all educational sectors.
Quality embraces all the main functions and activities of higher education: teaching, research, staffing, students, infrastructure, and the academic environment. It is the relation between the expectations and expected outcomes and the observed results. Continuous and permanent assessment and improvement are necessary to reach this objective. Quality – as much as education – is rooted in cultural values and traditions. Therefore quality strategies and definitions always have to be specifically taking into account the very context of their application.
To find a suitable model for quality development is of crucial importance for quality development in higher education. Accreditation sets a frame for quality development which needs to be filled with more elaborated macro and micro strategies. Due to the enormous variety of divers strategies in the field of quality development it is difficult to tell which of the available concepts fit the specific needs in the given context. After having chosen a suitable model for quality development it is important that this is not implemented in a mechanistic manner into an organization but that it rather stimulates processes of pedagogical professionalisation. The utmost goal of quality development has to be to foster a professionalisation process of educational practitioners. It becomes clear in recent debates that achieving quality is not only about finding a strategy but rather about filing this strategy with life. Living the quality ideal is thus much more important than a criteria-oriented checklist like mechanistic quality understanding. It is about integrating professionalisation processes of the educational actors, like teacher, trainers and other stakeholders into strategies and reference models which are existing already.
The task to develop or to provide a high quality educational experience is, however, an extremely difficult challenge. The paper suggests to bring together the two key points of quality development in higher education: Finding a strategy for quality development and implementing it as an ongoing professionalisation process. For this purpose three developments are described: The Quality Development Cycle which describes the quality development process from the needs analysis stage to the stage where the new values and processes are incorporated into the everyday work of all stakeholders. Secondly the concept of Quality Literacy which is necessary for a continuous quality improvement in an organisation. Thirdly a Decision Support Concept (an internet based database) is described which can help educational actors to find a quality strategy which fits their specific purposes.
2. The Quality Development Cycle: Competences and Processes
Modern quality development moves from input oriented approaches to a process oriented philosophy of permanent improvement. It involves the student not as a passive receiver any longer but as an active producer of his/ her own learning process. To view quality development as such – an active process of participation and negotiation – means to challenge believes and existing values of all actors involved. The nature of quality development is then a constant adaptation process of the offered educational services to the target groups which are to be educated. Newer approaches highlight this aspect already, elaborating negotiation as important for successful quality development (c.f. Ehlers/ Fehrenbach 2004). Quality development understood in this way goes the whole way of structuring educational activities and processes AND at the same time aims at having an impact on the learning process. Only if this goal is achieved quality development can be seen as education oriented quality development – as opposed to the often implemented model of (only) organisation oriented quality development.
Figure 1: Quality Development Cycle (adapted from Ehlers/ Pawlowski 2004)
This relates especially to the open nature of quality which in itself is not a normative definition but a relation between the perceived and the offered provision. Within this open concept of quality development, we can identify four steps educational actors have to engage into, to develop quality. For each of these steps which can be conceptualised as a cycle of quality development certain competences are necessary to perform the intended processes of analysis, selection, adaptation and so on. We suggest therefore in this paper to bring together a process model with the concept of quality literacy (see chapter 3) to describe the necessary components for successful quality development. In the context of the Quality Development Cycle, the dimensions of quality literacy applies to the different steps of quality development (Fig. 1), as described below.
According to the presented model (Fig.1), quality development takes place as a sequence of four steps which involve (a) a needs analysis, (b) a decision process, (c) a realisation phase and (d) an incorporation phase.[1]
Needs Analysis: In this phase the needs for quality, the situation and the context of the educational scenario are subject of examination. The needs analysis phase includes in itself an iterative cycle which consists of an analysis phase of the current situation, a negotiation processes between the involved stakeholders (e.g. learners, teachers, administration), and a definition phase where the needs are finally defined.
Stakeholders who are involved in these processes need the ability to evaluate and define the needs of all stakeholders which are involved in the educational scenario and negotiate between them to achieve a high quality of the offered learning environment (Quality Analysis). Additionally Knowledge about the possibilities of quality development and about quality strategies or good practice examples could be of help in the needs analysis phase.
Decision Phase: In the decision phase the previously defined needs for quality development are matched with available approaches (Quality Knowledge is needed). If those approaches sufficiently meet the requirements, they have to be chosen as model for the quality development project, and the next phase can be entered. If there is no strategy which meets the needs, a new, own quality strategy has to be developed. For this phase two competences are especially important: Quality Knowledge and Quality Analysis skills. When it comes to developing an own strategy the ability of Quality Innovation, i.e. creatively and innovatively developing a fitting quality strategy, gains importance.
Realisation Phase: In the realisation phase the quality strategy is implemented into the organisation and thereby adapted to the specific organisations’ needs. The new set of rules and processes have to be “transformed” into the organisations’ “language” and be refined for the organisations’ specific context. This process to a large extent involves experiences, adaptation processes, evaluation and analysis competencies.
The usage of models and instruments for quality development like checklists, process descriptions and/or evaluation questionnaires, requires a high amount of Quality Experiences. The adaptation of these instruments and models demands for the ability of innovation and modification and is conceptualised in the dimension of Quality Innovation. Critical analysis and assessment form an integral part of this phase. Quality Analysis thus becomes important.
Incorporation Phase: The incorporation phase relates to the modification of activities and actions which have to be performed by the individual actor of an organisation as a result of the quality development process. Quality development – in the final consequence – is always directed at modifying the behaviour of individual actors of an organisation – be it the tutors or teachers or the authors of courses, the system administrators or the organisational representatives.
In the incorporation phase it is therefore examined whether the changed processes and new values which are suggested in a new quality strategy are incorporated into the activity patterns of the stakeholders. A great deal of critical analysis skills and evaluation experiences is necessary for this phase. Quality Analysis therefore becomes important in this phase.
3. Quality Literacy
As we have seen above, for each step of quality development certain necessary competences can be identified. These competencies can be referred to as quality literacy. They involve
- Knowledge about quality development for general orientation and selection,
- Experience with the usage of instruments for quality development,
- the ability of innovation and modification to adapt instruments and concepts to the own situation or develop new and
- analysis abilities for assessing own needs and evaluate existing tools and concepts.
To provide a quality enhanced environment in the above described sense, quality literate actors are necessary. The concept of quality literacy (fig. 2) aims at describing skills which enable individuals in the situation of quality development to act competently. Sometimes these situations are very complex, e.g. when it comes to restructuring whole organisational processes. Sometimes, though, there is only little complexity when only one instrument is applied to perform quality assurance, e.g. a questionnaire at the end of a program or course.
It has to be noted that quality literacy applies to all forms educational environments, like traditional and/or blended learning. The concept of quality literacy is derived from the concept of media literacy according to Baacke (1996). He explains media literacy as a concept which describes the abilities which individuals need, to act competent in a world which is mediated through media (for further elaboration see Ehlers 2005). In accordance with that quality literacy then describes the ability of educational professionals to act competent in quality development processes.
Figure 2: Dimensions of Quality Literacy
Quality literacy is a concept which can not exclusively be learned by means of books or trainings but requires experience and practice. It rather has to take into account an ongoing learning-, reflection- and negotiation process between the stakeholders involved – including the students. Quality literacy (fig. 2) can be seen as a set of competences which contribute to carrying out quality development.
1. Dimension: Knowledge About Quality
This dimension addresses the “pure” knowledge about the possibilities of today’s quality development and up-to-date quality strategies in e-learning. The term quality strategies refers to all guidelines, structures, rules, tools, checklists or other measures which have the goal of enhancing the quality of an educational e-learning-scenario.
2. Dimension: Quality Experience
This dimension describes the ability of using quality strategies. It is based on the experiences actors have with activities in quality development and applying quality measures and strategies to e-learning scenarios.
3. Dimension: Quality Innovation & Adaptation
This dimension relates to the ability which goes beyond the simple use of existing instruments and strategies. It refers to the modification, creation and development of quality strategies and/or instruments for ones own purpose. An innovative and a creative aspect are important for this dimension: Innovation in the sense of further development and adaptation processes of quality strategies within the given system, and creativity in the sense of thinking and developing new strategies for quality development.