Quality Assurance in Open and Distance Leaarning

 Overview 

These materials support a discussion on the topic of the methods, approaches, and issues concerned with quality assurance in open and distance learning.

Source materials for this topic

Commonwealth of Learning. Perspectives on distance education: student support services. Vancouver: COL, 1992.
Evans, T. Understanding learners in open and distance education. London: Kogan Page, 1994.
Mills, R., and A. Tait (eds). Supporting the learner in open and distance learning. London: Pitman, 1996.
Paul, R. Open learning and open management. London: Kogan Page, 1990.
Perraton, H. Administrative structures for distance education. Vancouver: The Commonwealth of Learning, 1991.
Posner, G., and A. Rudnitsky. Course design: a guide to curriculum development for teachers. 4th ed. London: Longman, 1994.
Robinson, G. Training and staff development for distance education: a strategic perspective. Vancouver: The Commonwealth of Learning, in press.
Rowntree, D. Preparing materials for open, distance, and flexible learning. London: Kogan Page, 1994.
Tait, A. Introduction: international perspectives on quality assurance in open and distance learning, the importance of context. In A. Tait (ed.), Quality assurance in higher education: selected case studies, pp. 1-17. Vancouver: The Commonwealth of Learning, 1997.

 Applying quality assurance techniques in open and distance learning 

Distance educators as 'early achievers'

Alan Tait (1997) points out that while quality assurance may be a recently applied term in the educational context, there is nothing new in open and distance learning about systematic review and inspection of products and services to ensure their quality.

This is the case for both the production of course materials and for presentation systems for learner support.

Major quality assurance methods are in place in most open and distance learning programmes, including:

· peer review;
· performance indicators;
· customer feedback; and
· a philosophy of continuous improvement.

Thus quality assurance measures have been in place in open and distance learning programmes from the beginning. 

Example: The experience of the Open University in the United Kingdom provides a number of examples of long-standing quality assurance activities that have become standard practice in a number of distance teaching universities around the world. These include:

· the course team, who collaboratively and without hierarchy work and rework drafts of 

  materials  
· developmental testing of course materials before general availability;
· monitoring of correspondence teaching;
· monitoring of learner assignment turnaround times;
· inspecting and supporting tutorial and counselling staff face-to-face activities; and
· collecting feedback from learners.

Why have distance educators been 'early achievers' in this field? Tait argues that there are a number of factors involved, some systemic, some value-driven.

Systemic factors

The characterisation of distance learning as an industrialised form of learning (Peters 1983) has meant that the move from the 'craftsperson' approach to the division of labour that characterises open and distance learning brought with it the need for inspection of process.
This 'industrialised' process is applied primarily in large scale institutions such as the Indira Gandhi National Open University, Universitas Terbuka, Sukhothai Thammathirat Open University, and the Open University UK, where learner numbers have reached unprecedented levels.
Here the industrialised system creates greater transparency than is characteristic of conventional universities, where lectures are essentially private; in contrast the course units produced by open and distance learning providers are published documents that are widely available and therefore open to criticism and review.

In addition, because open and distance learning has had to fight for parity of esteem with more conventional educational providers, distance educators have had to work that much harder. 

Value-driven factors

It has long been part of the ideology of the open learning movement of which so many open and distance learning programmes are a part that learners should drive what is provided by the institution to a greater extent than is true in conventional higher education institutions.

This 'learner-centredness' is to be found in the way in which instructional materials are designed as well as in the provision of tutorial and counselling support, which is often one-on-one.
Discussion: Do your participants agree that a concern with quality assurance is more characteristic of open and distance learning providers than it is of conventional provision?

 Aspects of quality assurance in open and distance learning 

Monitoring instruction

In open and distance learning, unlike more conventional learning, instruction tends to be carried by instructional materials that have been designed to structure and facilitate learning as learners work through them. 

A variety of media are used: print, radio and television broadcasts, audio and video cassettes, and computer-based programming.

Aspects of the instructional design process

The following aspects of the process that is used to design these learning materials make an appropriate focus for quality assurance monitoring and evaluation:

· the planning process by which the materials were produced;
· the proposed aims, objectives, and content of the materials being designed;
· the proposed teaching strategy; and 
· the appropriateness and effectiveness of the media chosen for implementing the strategy.

Preliminary evaluation

All of these aspects might be examined before the learners ever begin studying the materials. It can be valuable to have an outside 'expert' look over your materials before you make them available to learners, paying attention to aspects such as academic credibility and likely effectiveness.

Academic credibility

You might want to ask some expert in the subject matter questions about your materials such as those in the following checklist.

Checklist to Evaluate the Academic Credibility of Learning Materials

q       Are the aims and objectives sufficiently explicit?

q       Do the aims seem relevant to the needs of the target audiences?

q       Do the objectives support the aims?

q       Should any additional aims and objectives be included?

q       Is the content up-to-date?

q       Is the content accurate?

q       Are the content and presentation culturally appropriate?

q       Are there any important omissions?

q       Do there seem to be any faults of emphasis?

q       Are the assertions made adequately supported by evidence?

q       Do the materials avoid oversimplification or overgeneralisation?

q       Are they true to the nature of the subject or discipline?

q       Are they balanced, and at pains to present opposing points of view when appropriate?

q       Are the media that have been selected being exploited appropriately and to their full potential?

Likely effectiveness

The questions in the following checklist can be asked about how educationally effective the materials are likely to be.

Checklist of to Evaluate the Likely Effectiveness of Learning Materials

q    Does the structure seem sensible and coherent, using introductions or previews, and summaries or reviews where appropriate, and providing a means that allows learners with different needs to use the lesson in different ways?

q    Are adequate steps taken to motivate the learners and make clear to them what they are to do with the material and to get out of it?

q    Are the materials pitched at the right level of difficulty and matched to the assumed prerequisite skills and understandings of learners?

q    Is the tone that of a rigorous but friendly tutor, lively and interesting?

q    Is the language plain and straightforward?

q     re analogies, examples, case studies, and illustrations used where appropriate to develop understanding?

q    Are questions, exercises, and activities properly integrated into the materials to encourage learners in the self-assessment and practice of relevant skills?

q    Are print and electronic media effectively integrated?

q    Is the form of presentation conducive to effective learning?

q    Are learners given sufficient information and practice of a kind likely to help them achieve the objectives?

q    Is the relationship between assessment items and aims and objectives clear?

q    Are assessment items clear in what they demand of learners?

q    Are assessment items likely to result in answers that can be marked with reasonable consensus of agreement among different markers?

q    Is the likely learner workload reasonable for the topic?

Discussion: A useful exercise at this time is to have sample course materials available for participants to assess against these checklists for appropriateness to their own contexts.

Developmental testing

Developmental testing involves trying out materials with learners in the hope of developing or improving those materials for the benefit of other or future learners. Methods of developmental testing include:

· tutorial tryouts: trying the materials out on one learner or a small group of learners; and
· field trials: using larger numbers of learners (20 to 30) in circumstances as similar as

  possible to those in which your eventual learners will work.

Continuous monitoring

Once the learning materials are in delivery, you will want to 'keep an eye on things' to see what problem areas need addressing, what good things are emerging and should be enhanced, and what to prepare for end-of-course evaluation.

Mechanisms available for this kind of formative evaluation include:

 

·    a course log book: used to record the main things you notice in the running of the course and the main in-course corrections you have used;

·    casual evaluation: appraising what is happening in day-to-day situations and responding to it; and

·    deliberate evaluation: actively seeking specific kinds of information, through discussions, interviews, and questionnaires.

Summative evaluation

When the course is completed, a summative evaluation of its effectiveness may address questions such as:

· Did the course attract enough learners?
· Were they sufficiently qualified?
· Did enough of them last the course?
· Was the standard high enough?
· Was the course cost-effective?
· Were the learners satisfied?
· Were other stakeholders satisfied?
· What needs to be changed?

Typical instruments and sources for obtaining this information include:

· questionnaires: for learners, for tutors, and for others involved in delivery; and
· interviews: with selected learners, with tutors, and with others involved in delivery.

The results of these evaluations can then be fed back into the design process as a basis for improvements to both the process and the results.

Monitoring learner support 

Issues in providing learner support

The issues involved in providing support to distance learners emerge in answering questions like the following:

·    What are the characteristics of open and distance learning that determine the support needs of distance learners?

·    What are the main roles of learner support in the light of these needs?

·    What are the different stages in the learning process at which learners require support?

·    What are the essential characteristics of a successful support system?

 

Problems distance learners face

Distance learners face unique problems, including:

 

·   isolation in that distance learning participants may have little or no opportunity for face-to-face contact with the institution, their tutor, and fellow learners;

·   difficulties organising studies and finding sufficient time to study;

·   difficulties balancing work, study, and family commitments;

·   lack of motivation;

·   lack of resources and equipment in that learners may not have access to specialist libraries or practical equipment needed for studies;

·   difficulties in developing appropriate study techniques such as note taking and essay writing; and

·    difficulties receiving feedback on assignments that is timely and useful.

 

Discussion: Encourage a discussion among participants identifying the unique features of distance learners, their special needs and the strategies which can be adopted to address these needs to ensure a successful learning experience. What services are in place at their respective institutions? How can these be improved?

Special needs of distance learners

Distance learners have special needs, including:

 

·    a need for information to help learners relate to the institution and understand its system;

·    a need for contact, specifically human contact with tutors to help maintain motivation and overcome learning problems;

·    a need for institutional identity, or some means of helping learners identify with a remote institution and to feel that they are part of a learner body rather than studying in isolation; and

·    a need for advice on how to study; as well as that provided within the course itself, learners often need additional support to develop good study techniques.

 

Instructional support

Role of instructional support

Usually the key support function in open and distance learning is that of providing tuition and academic advice. The cost of providing tutorial support often represents a substantial proportion of the distance learning unit's overall budget. Careful organisation in this area is therefore important for the efficient running of the distance learning unit as a whole.

Academic advice

All tutorial methods allow learners and tutors to interact, so learners can benefit from the advice of tutors and get the most from their materials.

At a minimum, in all learning systems ways have to be found

· to inform learners of who is their tutor;
· to inform tutors of who their learners are; and
· to enable learners and tutors to communicate.

Because of the differences in the media used for communication, tutorial models have different characteristics, as summarised in these questions:

 

·   Does the tutor–learner dialogue take place synchronously or asynchronously? That is, do the tutor and learner need to interact in real time or can a response be delayed?

·   Do learners interact solely with a tutor or do they also interact among themselves?

·   Can learners access the tutorial service from home or do they need to travel to an access centre?

 

Non-instructional support

Though less visible than instructional support and less central to the actual process of learning, non-instructional support is vital to the smooth operation of distance learning and must be integrated with instructional support.

Generally speaking, the following types of learner support are available.

 

Admissions and registration
The admissions and registration support subsystem includes the following functions:

· marketing;
· facilitating applications;
· making offers;
· registering learners; and
· matching learners appropriately with courses by level, subject, and so on.

 

Counselling

Learner problems that require referral to counsellors include:

· financial difficulties;
· family problems;
· difficulty in maintaining motivation;
· problems in finding sufficient time to study; 
· balancing conflicting commitments; and
· physical difficulties or barriers, including limited mobility, hearing, or sight impairment.

Administrative support

A distance learning unit or institution needs to inform learners of the following kinds of information:

· the office hours;
· the best times to call for advice;
· any days when the office is closed;
· the name of the learner's tutor;
· how to contact the tutor;
· who to write to or telephone about different matters;
· deadlines for sending in tutor-marked assignments; and
· dates of examinations.

Depending on the tutorial system that is in place, other required information may include:

· location and hours of nearest learning centre;
· facilities available at learning centre;
· names and addresses of other learners (with their permission); and
· updates on curriculum changes, procedures, and so on.

Finance

Part-time learners are typically disadvantaged in awards schemes. Distance learning programmes therefore typically seek scholarship and bursary funds, which entails fundraising as a function.

Discussion: Provide an example of a working support system, preferably one that is familiar to your participants or at least relevant to their situation. The case studies that accompany this training kit also contain brief descriptions of a variety of learner support systems.

Checklist for successful delivery and support

If your support system is successful, you should be able to answer 'Yes' to the questions in the following checklist.

Checklist for Successful Delivery and Learner Support

q    Do you know your learners’ geographical location, age range, access to facilities, academic ability, gender, and so on?

q    Are staff sensitive to gender, societal, and cultural differences?

q    Are staff sensitive to the frustrations and time constraints adult learners often face?

q    Do staff have up-to-date knowledge about the institution and its courses?

q    Are your support systems flexible and learner-oriented, available to learners when and where they need them?

q    Are the resources allocated to learner support adequate?

q    Is there an appropriate balance of resources allocated to the development of materials and subsequent support of learning from those materials?

q    Does your support function provide support to the internal functions of the distance learning unit as well as to learners?

q    Is your decision to keep support services centralised, or to manage them on a regional or decentralised basis, appropriate to meeting the needs of your learner population?

q    Does your learner record system contain the following information:

-       personal details, including name, address, age, family circumstances, and employment?

-       academic and professional qualifications?

-       special requirements such as specially adapted materials for disabled learners?

-       tutorial record, including dates when assignments were received, grades, and copies of tutor comments?

-       list of materials sent, including date of dispatch?

-       record of attendance at face-to-face sessions?

-       fees paid?

q    Are your records detailed, accurate, and up-to-date? Do you ensure that:

-       records systems are regularly monitored to ensure they are functioning efficiently?

-       information is disseminated to the right people at the right time?

-       records are kept in a secure fashion so that only authorised personnel have access to them?

-       legal requirements governing the handling and storage of information are met?

 

Monitoring learner achievement

Assessment in open and distance learning may have any of three main purposes:

·    formative assessment: to give learners feedback on their progress so that they know how well they are doing and can, if necessary, change the way they are tackling the course;

·    summative assessment: to provide the basis for marks that may contribute to the learner’s eventual certification; and

·    as part of the overall evaluation process: to help the open and distance learning institution to monitor the effectiveness of its courses.

 

Who should assess?

Assessment may be carried out by any of a number of people, including:

·    the learner him or herself: generally called self-assessment;

·    other learners: called peer assessment;

·    the learner’s tutor: –often through tutor-marked assignments that are built into the course;

·    examinations: an examiner or assessor, as may sometimes be the case with summative assessment; and

·    course evaluations: someone else does the assessment, perhaps a researcher evaluating the course.

 

How can formative assessment help learners?

Formative assessment can help learners learn in a number of ways:

 

·   diagnosing learning needs: early on in a course, assessment can help learners decide which parts of the course they need most, and may form the basis of a learning contract;

·    checking progress: self-assessment questions during or at the end of study units enable learners to check how they are getting on and provide immediate reinforcement of learning;

·    increasing motivation: reinforcement helps to keep learners going;

·    providing feedback: tutor comments on tutor-marked assignments ensure the learner knows what to do next;

·    encouraging a deep approach to learning: particular types of assessment such as questions that call for reflection, analysis, or application; projects; and practical assignments can help learners improve their approach to learning;

·    facilitating contact between learner and tutor: tutor-marked assignments are often the main point of contact between a learner and his or her tutor, and are therefore an invaluable way of reducing learner isolation; and

·    increasing learner control: giving learners the means to assess their own progress can increase their control over their own learning.

When to assess?

In deciding at which times during your course assessment is appropriate, here are some points to bear in mind:

 

 

·    Early in the course, learners may not have learned anything significant enough for testing.

·    On the other hand, an early assignment provides an opportunity for early interaction and feedback and thereby builds the relationship between learner and tutor.

·    Relate assessment to major sections of content.

·    Spread assessment evenly to spread the load and generate regular feedback.

·    Keep in mind the turnaround time and capacity of your tutors.

·    If an assignment is prescribed very late in the course, learners are unlikely to receive feedback before any end-of-course examinations.

How to assess?

Learning can be assessed using a number of possible methods, each appropriate for testing certain kinds of aims and objectives.

Assessment Methods

Assessment	Assessed	Advantages	Disadvantages
Essay questions in exams (learners do not see questions before sitting the exam)	Memory for facts, understanding ideas, ability to organise material, ability to develop an argument, original thinking	Easy to set	Time consuming to mark, marking may be unreliable, limited coverage of syllabus, favours fast and fluent writers
Pre-set essay exams (learners are given questions in advance of the exam)	Same as for essay questions. Ability to use references in preparation, sustained reflection	Produces better level of thinking	Same as for essay questions. More difficult to assess validity
Open-book essay exams	Same as for essay questions. Use of reference skills	Reduces emphasis on memorisation	Same as for essay questions. Heavy emphasis on speed
Essay or term paper in mid-course	Same as for essay questions. Use of reference skills	Life-like task if carefully set. Reduces stress on memorisation	Same as for essay questions. Possibility of collusion, plagiarism, or regurgitation

Short-answer written questions	Memory for facts. Understanding of ideas, theories	Broad coverage of syllabus, fast marking, more reliable marking, more feedback to learners	Limited opportunity to show argument or originality
Multiple-choice questions	Memory for facts, understanding of ideas, application of principles, analytic thinking	Fast marking, reliable marking, broad coverage of syllabus, more feedback to learners	Difficult to prepare without faults, cannot assess skills of organising or originality
Oral assessment of tutorial contributions	Oral fluency, assess reasoning behind personal thought, assess personal qualities	Flexible, useful to confirm other assessments, more valid in subjects with oral components	Very time-consuming, low reliability of marking, difficult to standardise questions, ‘halo’ effect introduces bias
Practical exams	Practical (manual) skills, application of principles	Only valid method for assessing skills	Time-consuming, difficult to standardise questions
Field-work	Field-work skills, application of principles	As for practicals	As for practicals, only more so
Projects, theses	Ability to plan original work, ability to seek relevant information, ability to develop an argument, ability to draw appropriate conclusions	Develops important skills in the learner, reveals depth of thought	Difficult to assess objectively

External requirements

As a learning materials designer, decisions in assessment are frequently not in your hands alone. You may also have to take into account:

·    institutional policies and procedures on assessment: for example, the requirement that an invigilated examination be given for every course

·    requirements of employers: for example, a requirement for demonstration of competence in some particular skill

·    policies and other requirements of accrediting agencies or associations: for example, accountancy designations, nursing registration, and teachers’ certification

·    examination boards: for example, in the British context, gcse (General Certificate in Secondary Education) and ‘A’ (Advanced) level examination boards, nvqs (National Vocational Qualifications)

Discussion: Ask your participants for examples of external requirements that they may have to meet in assessing their learners' performance.

 Issues of quality assurance in open and distance learning 

Programme structure

Curriculum development

A curriculum or programme needs to ensure as far as possible that the range of topics covered, the structure of the courses, and their length, level, workload, teaching approach, and format are what is needed and wanted by the potential learners and other stakeholders. These stakeholders can include:

· the providing institution;
· the funding agency;
· employers;
· course developers;
· tutors and course support staff;
· existing learners or trainees; and
· potential learners.

Discussion: You will want to add other stakeholders to this list in relation to the programmes offered in your own and your participants' contexts.

Identifying learning and training needs

The methods that are available for identifying learning and training needs include:

· organising a task group or working party that represents the spectrum of interests;

Example: A small group of key people are typically charged with developing a plan. In the case of the development of a primary teacher upgrading programme, for example, the group is likely to involve Ministry of Education officials and district supervisors, teacher training colleges, teachers, and community representatives.

· consulting experts, clients, and target audiences;

Example: This approach generates high quality and quantity of information, but those consulted may not be typical of the people whose views and opinions you seek. For example, an expert in teaching at the tertiary level may not be an appropriate expert to consult even though he is readily accessible.

· accurately measuring knowledge and skill shortage areas;

Example: A researcher may be contracted to conduct a desk study of national trends, other training opportunities, and related developments, using documents that are available from government ministries, think tanks, research institutes, and libraries.

· monitoring and analysis of demand for existing courses;

 

Example: You may have data on trends in registration and learner profiles over time available in your own records.

· studying employers to identify current and anticipated training needs; and

Example: Existing case studies may be available, or you can conduct your own focus group discussions or surveys, depending on the resources and time you have available.

· studying existing and potential learners to identify their current and anticipated needs. 

 

Example: Again, depending on the time and resources you have available you can collect case studies, or conduct focus group discussions or surveys.

What will be taught?

Useful distinctions can be made between:

· knowledge-oriented courses;
· methodological courses; and
· mixed courses that are issue-based or problem-based or interdisciplinary.

Examples: A course on the history of open and distance learning is primarily knowledge-oriented, whereas a course on how to design effective instruction is primarily methodological. 
A course on instructional design may be mixed, however, combining learning theory with application. 
Such a course may also be problem-based (for example, where the outcome of the coursework is a design for an actual course), or interdisciplinary (drawing on principles from psychology, sociology, and anthropology for course design).

Is the course really necessary?

Out of your needs assessment may emerge the existence of an established curriculum that you could adopt or adapt.

Rather than give into the 'not-invented-here' syndrome, ask the questions from the following checklist about this curriculum.

Checklist for Choosing an Existing Curriculum

q       How suitable is it? Are its objectives, methods, and outcomes appropriate to your learners?

q       How effective is it? Does it achieve satisfactory results?

q       How big is it? How much time, staff, and resources does it need? How many subjects? What range of learners?

q       How complete is it? Does it need extra supporting material?

q       How flexible is it? Is there room for innovation and adaptation by teachers and learners?

q       How different is it? Is it sufficiently distinct from other approaches in outcome, method, and cost?

q       How repeatable is it? Do any special factors such as unusual teachers or local resources hinder repetition elsewhere?

q       How compatible is it? Would it interfere or fit in with the rest of the existing system?

q       How ready is it? Can it be started this week, term, or year?

q       Can it be sampled? Could you give it a trial run and abandon it if unsuccessful? Or would the decision have to be all-or-nothing as with a computer system?

q       How expensive is it? What are the initial costs, installation costs, and running costs?

Validation of programmes 

Validation of programmes is carried out by means of programme evaluation.

The three steps of evaluating can be labelled:

· measuring;
· comparing; 
· correcting.

Each presents special problems in an open and distance learning programme.

Measuring

Measuring the learning activity of learners is complicated by openness and distance.

Openness makes problematic the definition of what constitutes learner success. Whose definition does one use: the learner's? the institution's? that of other stakeholders?

Distance delivery makes determining such apparently straightforward indicators as rates of learner progress or drop-out surprisingly difficult to do on a continuous basis, especially in programmes which enrol learners throughout the year.

Only in the vital areas of academic quality is measurement in a distance programme easier than elsewhere, for the team approach to course development and services delivery both encourages quality and ensures a wide awareness of any shortcomings.

It is rather ironic that, although the team approach gives distance courses more quality, and usually quantity, than their conventional counterparts, the notion that distance study is substandard dies hard in traditional circles.

Comparing

Comparison of distance programmes with conventional ones in terms of performance is also problematic. 
In the area of economic performance, standards borrowed from conventional education should be used with caution.

Example: Capital-to-operating cost ratios tend to be considerably higher for conventional than for distance programmes (except in cases where a distance programme has had to make a major investment in technological infrastructure).

In the area of learner performance, especially in terms of retention and graduation rates, comparing distance with conventional learners may be difficult given probable differences in entry qualifications and circumstances of study. Even comparing one distance programme with another is difficult, since different programmes tend to adopt different definitions of who counts as a 'learner'. 
Example: Some programmes count as learners all those who have enrolled in a course, whereas others limit the use of the term to those who actually sit the exam, and discount the fact that only a small percentage of those initially registered have actually stayed with the course long enough to write the exam.

Correcting

Because the standards of conventional programmes may often not be appropriate to open and distance learning programmes, the proper response to a gap between the measure and the standard may be to revise the standard rather than to initiate corrective action.

Where corrective action is required, however, the highly integrated and complex nature of an open and distance learning programme may make implementation somewhat problematic.

In addition, although open and distance learning programmes tend and need to be flexible they can respond effectively to learners' needs and circumstances, this flexibility should not be abused. Staff and learners do not appreciate being part of a continuing experiment in which all the variables are undergoing constant modification.

Finally, the cost implications of corrective action may be more far-reaching in an integrated system of the kind that tends to characterise open and distance learning programmes. 

Example: The introduction of a new technology for delivering the teaching component of the programme, even if it is confined to one course in the programme, will have consequences for all aspects of the programme, from recruiting and marketing to staffing and training to development, production and dispatch of materials.

Monitoring staff at a distance

Needs

The management of open and distance learning programmes will almost always involve managers in the monitoring and support of staff who are at a distance from central office. 

These staff may include regional centre staff, tutors, and learning materials producers (for example, writers of print materials and scripts for media production).

It has become somewhat of a truism in open and distance learning that learners in open and distance learning programmes need continuing contact with the programme and support from programme personnel as they undertake and work through their studies.

Staff at a distance need the same kind of support and contact, especially since they are frequently working under conditions such as the following:

·    they lack proper orientation and training;

·    they tend to be part-time, with major affiliation and commitment to some other institution;

·    they tend to be on short-term or annual contracts;

·    they likely have no regular face-to-face contact with supervisors and colleagues;

·    their roles are frequently diffuse and ill-defined; and

·    too often the adage, ‘Out of sight, out of mind’, means not just isolation but invisibility for distant staff when it comes to decisions on policies and procedures, which tend to be made without due attention to their particular circumstances and needs.

Mechanisms for managing staff at a distance

Because of the distance factor, it is even more important with distant staff to practice effective staff relations, by means of:

·    clear role descriptions, expectations, and reporting lines;

·    a thorough induction into the programme, its history, goals, policies and procedures;

·    frequent and effective two-way communication (e-mail is an excellent medium for this where available);

·    opportunities for face-to-face meetings;

·    frequent performance review and monitoring;

·    accurate and efficient records systems;

·    continual updating on changes in policies and procedures; and

·    opportunities for input into decisions that affect their work.

 

Collaboration and resource sharing

Why collaborate?

Collaboration between educational institutions, agencies and programmes is becoming increasingly the order of the day, both in industrialised and less affluent countries. There are a number of reasons, among them: 

·    public funding for education at all levels is decreasing, and governments are requiring institutions to work with each other and in many cases with industry in order to qualify for funding; and

·    institutions and agencies are responding to decreasing levels of funding by seeking collaborative arrangements that can make scarce resources go further.

Collaboration in open and distance learning

Open and distance learning programmes are far from the only ones affected by these pressures. Nonetheless, they are among the foremost seekers and implementors of collaborative arrangements, because of the nature of their work. For example:

·    Learning materials development represents a major cost to distance programmes. Producers of such materials can share costs through co-development arrangements, or recoup costs by sales and leases of materials. Low-resource programmes can save on staffing and other recurrent costs by purchasing materials rather than developing their own.

·    Learners are seeking flexibility, especially in terms of being able to apply credits taken in one programme to the completion of requirements for another. Credit transfer arrangements place great demands on institutional collaborative arrangements.

·    The technologies used in delivery of distance programmes are forcing collaboration, partly because delivery agencies need to share the costs, and partly because of the nature of the technologies themselves, which increasingly make distinctions between ‘distance’ and ‘conventional’ programmes irrelevant and meaningless.

 

Examples: Collaborative arrangements in open and distance learning are many and varied. Here are examples of only a few.

A number of international organisations have been created to foster course-sharing and other kinds of collaboration among their members, including The Commonwealth of Learning, CIFFAD (Consortium d'institutions francophones de formation a distance) and the Consorcio-red de educacion a distancia.
Colisa is a consortium of distance teaching universities and organisations in South Africa, including Vista University, the University of South Africa, Technicon SA, the South African Institute of Distance Education, and the SACHED Trust , that have joined together to share course materials and programmes.

Some postgraduate degrees in open and distance learning have been the results of collaboration, for example between Deakin University and the University of South Australia, and between the University of London Institute of Education, the International Extension College, Deakin University and the Open Learning Agency.

The Contact North network in northern Ontario, Canada, makes delivery facilities available for a number of institutions to offer secondary and tertiary-level programmes to widely scattered populations.

Required skills and knowledge

For managers of open and distance learning programmes, this increasing collaboration means a need for the following kinds of skills and knowledge:

· a heightened awareness of and sensitivity to differences in institutional cultures;
· skills in building effective trust relationships; and 
· the ability to define, perceive and monitor mutual benefits in collaborative arrangements.

In many ways these are skills similar to those required for members of teams. Managers of open and distance learning programmes need skills not only in managing teams but also in being part of them on a wider scale.

Quality assurance in collaborative ventures

Ross Paul in his book, Open Learning and Open Management (Kogan Page, London, 1990) draws the following lessons for managers of programmes who are involved in collaborative projects:

 

·    ensure that clear benefits from the collaboration are established and understood by all partners;

·    ensure that clear and specific objectives and measures of achievement are spelled out;

·    remain open to renegotiation if necessary;

·    keep the number of partners involved to the fewest possible to make the collaborative venture successful;

·    delegate clear authority and responsibility to specific partners and individuals;

·    take seriously the need to understand differences in corporate cultures;

·    scrutinise the collaborative venture on a regular basis and disband if it is no longer meeting its objectives; and

·    ensure that agreements have the full support of the executive officers of all the partner institutions.

Staff training and development

Why is training needed?

Training of both new and existing staff in open and distance learning programmes is essential to the development of the competencies listed above.

It is important that senior managers see training as an investment rather than a cost, and give it high priority in organisational plans and funding allocations.

It is also important for senior managers to ensure that when training is provided, the organisation is ready to utilise the new learning so that opportunities for capacity building are not lost.

When is training needed?

The practice of open and distance learning generates a variety of roles and needs. Staff are often required to learn new work practices and skills. Individuals and groups have to:

 

·    take on new roles, especially if open and distance learning is unfamiliar;

·    adapt to new ways of teaching and communicating;

·    use new technologies which alter familiar processes of teaching and communication;

·    manage dispersed and decentralised organisations or complex processes;

·    be responsible for supporting learners at a distance;

·    develop better skills in teamwork, co-ordination, and the management of schedules and records; and

·    take on unaccustomed roles as trainers.

What kinds of staff need training?

The categories of staff who need training can be grouped as follows:

·    newly-appointed staff, needing routine induction and orientation to open and distance learning in general;

·    staff taking on new responsibilities and roles;

·    staff in traditional institutions adapting existing knowledge or skills to open and open and distance learning applications;

·    all staff periodically, to ensure maintenance of skills and standards and their continuing professional development; and

·    staff who face specific changes in their work as a result of change within the organisation as a whole (for example, the introduction of a new technology; see the Deakin and Murdoch Universities case studies).

What problems do organisations face when implementing staff training?

A number of concerns about staff training are commonly experienced by open and distance learning programmes. These include:

 

 ·    the difficulty of getting institution commitment and resources;

·    the inconsistency in training provision within organisations;

·    the slowness of organisations to develop policies and plans for staff training, especially for part-time and field-based staff;

·    weak integration of training with institutional policy and plans;

·    uncertainty about where to locate responsibility for staff training within the organisation;

·    the status of training and perceptions of its value amongst staff and management;

·    the limited nature of the needs analysis commonly done;

·    the weak use of evaluation; and scontinuity between training given and its application to ‘real life’ on the job.

Discussion: Take advantage of the wealth of examples available both from your own and your participants' experience. Participants may also have problems they wish to add to this list, either from their own experience or from reading the case studies.

How closely is training linked to strategic goals in your organisation?

Here is a checklist of questions to ask about the links between the training your programme offers and your programme's goals.

Staff Training Checklist
 

q    Is there a training/staff development policy? Is it widely known?

q    How are decisions made about training provision? Who decides? Who are consulted?

q    What methods are used to identify staff development needs in your programme:

               – at the organisational level?

               – at the job level?

   – at the person/individual level?

q    How well are these levels integrated? Which dominates? Why?

q    In what direction does the balance need to change, in your view?

q    How are priorities decided? On what basis?

q    What is the effect of this on training provision?

q    In what ways is staff development provision linked to organisational objectives?

q    How well is it linked? Could the link be strengthened?

q    Who is responsible for this? Who should be responsible at the different levels, in your view?

q    Do training objectives and programmes change as soon as there is a change in the organisation’s strategic decisions?

q    When did this last happen in your organisation? What was the outcome?  

 

Discussion: Work through these questions with your participants.  

What are the steps in implementing a training and staff development plan?

Whatever policy and strategy for staff training are adopted, the same steps are involved in implementing the plan. These steps are:

·   define and agree within the organisation the general and particular needs for training, based on a systematic needs analysis;

·   review possible ways of meeting needs and the availability of financial resources;

·   establish priorities;

·   select appropriate training events and interventions;

·   construct a coherent training plan in the light of available resources;

·   communicate to all concerned and build a supportive climate for training;

·   prepare an evaluation approach and plan;

·   provide the training and evaluate its efficiency and effectiveness; and

·   use the evaluation data to assess its impact, to improve training provision and to inform future plans.

What modes of training are available?

Training of staff in open and distance learning programmes can happen in a variety of ways:

·    on-the-job training: more experienced or senior staff can be assigned to work with new or junior staff on a project to mentor and assist them; this is particularly the case for course authors who are trained in open and distance learning techniques in the context of the course team;

·    face-to-face training sessions: can happen one-on-one or in small groups, using in-house or imported trainers. They are usually rather formally structured and scheduled; and

·    courses offered face-to-face and at a distance: a growing number of formal courses are available for training staff in a wide variety of aspects of open and distance learning. Some of these courses require staff to travel to the site where the course is offered, but increasingly these courses are offered at a distance, some of them on-line via the Internet and the World Wide Web. For example, there are a number of programmes available at the postgraduate diploma and master’s level in open and distance learning, including those offered by Indira Gandhi National Open University, Deakin University and University of South Australia, University of London and International Extension College, Athabasca University, and the Open University in the United Kingdom. The latter two programmes provide tuition and support to learners primarily on-line.

How is a training needs analysis conducted?

Training needs can be assessed on three levels, at the level of

·      the organisation;

·      the job; and

·      the individual.

An effective strategy is to start at the organisational level and work towards the individual level, although the diagnosis of training needs at an organisational level requires quite sophisticated skills of analysis and evaluation as well as access to a wide range of information.

Transfer of skills acquired during training to the actual job to be performed is not automatic. A number of factors affect the effectiveness of this transfer, including:

·    the nature of the skills learned; for example, interpersonal skills transfer less well than psychomotor skills;

·    the time lag between learning something and using it in a ‘real-work’ context; new skills need to be used in practice before they deteriorate;

·    the number of elements common to the training and the job situation; that is, the greater the number, the stronger the transfer;

·    perceptions of relevance and quality of the training by participants; and

·   attitudes of colleagues, departments, and the organisation as a whole towards the training.

How can training be evaluated?

Here are a number of questions that can be asked of the training process in order to evaluate its effectiveness.

Context in which the learning event takes place

·   How accurately were needs initially diagnosed?

·   What information was used? How was it analysed to establish these needs?

·   Was training an appropriate solution to the problem?

·   Why was this particular kind of event and form chosen?

·   How were learning objectives selected?

·   What learning objectives were set? At which level of outcomes?

·   How does this learning event link to others in the participant’s experience, and to other training events provided? Does it fit with an organisational plan for training?

Inputs to the training

·   What resources were available for the training event?

·   What were actually used (personnel, physical, and financial resources, time)?

·   What were the learning structure, content, media, and methods? Did they incorporate sound principles of learning?

·   What was the final cost?

·   Was the selection of participants appropriate?

·   Did they attend the training provided? What was the take-up?

·   Was this the best and most appropriate way of training?

Reactions to the training

·     What reactions to the learning event did participants and trainers have?

·     Was it perceived to have achieved its original objectives?

Outcomes from the training, as input to planning for subsequent training

·     Was it efficient?

·     Was it effective?

·     Was it cost-effective?  

 Practice exercise 

Aspects of quality in open and distance learning

Instructions: Divide participants into four working groups.

Make available to each group a copy of the framework accompanying this exercise, which outlines four major aspects of quality in open and distance learning.

Assign one aspect to each group.

Ask each group, in terms of the aspect of open and distance learning that they have been assigned, to develop for presentation to the group as a whole the following lists:

·    the major issues facing organisations in assuring quality in this aspect of open and distance learning provision;

·    the strategies and techniques available for assuring this quality of provision; and

·    the ways in which this quality can be demonstrated.

Timeframe: Allow approximately three-quarters of an hour to an hour for the exercise. In the discussion that follows, make sure to emphasise the fact that these are all aspects of the same system and the ways in which all four aspects are integrated.

Materials required: Flip chart paper or overhead transparencies and marker pens.