quality
Digital Literacy: the core of an international study
The IEA International Computer and Information Literacy Study (ICILS) will examine the outcomes of student computer and information literacy (CIL) education across countries. Computer and information literacy refers to an individual’s ability to use computers to investigate, create, and communicate in order to participate effectively at home, at school, in the workplace, and in the community.
The assessment of CIL will be authentic and computer-based. It will incorporate multiple-choice and constructed response items based on realistic stimulus material; software simulations of generic applications so that students are required to complete an action in response to an instruction; and authentic tasks that require students to modify and create information products using “live” computer software applications.
The student questionnaire will gather information about computer use in and out of school, attitudes to technology, self-reported computer proficiency, and background characteristics. Teacher and school questionnaires will ask about computer use, computing resources, and relevant policies and practices. A number of items will link to SITES 2006. The national context survey will collect systemic data on education policies and practices for developing computer and information literacy, expertise of teachers, and digital technology resources in schools.
Target Population
The main population to be surveyed will include all students enrolled in the grade that represents eight years of schooling, counting from the first year of ISCED Level 1, provided that the mean age at the time of testing is at least 13.5 years. For most countries the target grade would be Grade 8. In addition, the assessment will be offered (using a modified set of assessment modules) as an option for Grade 4.
Participating Educational Systems
Educational systems considering participation in ICILS: Canada, Chile, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Hong Kong SAR, Israel, The Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain (Catalonia), Thailand, United States.
Schedule
ICILS was inaugurated at the National Research Coordinators meeting in Amsterdam, June 21–25, 2010. The project aims to elaborate the assessment framework in 2010 and finalize it in 2011, develop and pilot survey instruments over 2011, conduct a field trial in the first half of 2012, and collect data at the beginning of 2013 (Northern Hemisphere) and at the end of 2013 (Southern Hemisphere), with reporting in November 2014.
CONCEDE User-Generated Conference
What is it about?
- Sharing experience on user-generated content (UGC) in higher education
- Improving the effectiveness of teaching and learning by enhancing the quality of user-generated content
- The CONCEDE Quality Framework
- The CONCEDE Quality Label
- Discussion policy recommendations to further boost quality and quantity of UGC
European Qualifications Framework (EQF) portal
The EQF portal provides the results of the national process for relating national qualifications levels to the levels of the EQF. In "Compare Qualifications Frameworks" page, it is possible to compare how national qualifications levels of countries that have already finalised their referencing process are been linked to the EQF.
New online tool on quality assurance in vocational education and training
A new online tool offers national and regional policy makers guidance on how to approach quality assurance in vocational education and training. The aim is to make vocational education and training more attractive across Europe by ensuring that courses respond to the needs of the labour market and today's high quality standards.
The new online tool provides guidance on how to build and monitor a quality assurance system in vocational training. It is based on examples of different approaches from EU countries.
For those Member States that are building their system on a series of interdependent ‘building blocks’ the website gives clarity on what has already been achieved and what more could be done.
The tool has been developed by quality assurance experts from 33 European countries participating in the EQAVET network.
Making vocational training more attractive
More than half of all students in Europe choose to follow vocational training, which provides them with a qualification that enables them to easily get a job later. While in some EU countries vocational education and training are educational choices with a high standing, in others they suffer from the image of being dead-end paths or linked to low quality training.
Across the European Union policy-makers and education providers agree that it is important to offer high-quality vocational education and training so as to make this option attractive for students and parents. Since the middle of the 1990s expert groups have been working on joint European guidelines on quality assurance in vocational education and training.
A shared understanding across Europe of the significance of quality and quality assurance for qualifications and education and training systems in general will create mutual trust and recognition and make it easier for Europeans to move between countries.
Improving quality assurance
In 2009 the European Parliament and the Council backed the creation of a European quality assurance framework for vocational education and training (EQAVET). Under this voluntary scheme Member States have pledged to improve national quality assurance systems where appropriate, making best use of the European framework.
EQAVET is backed by a network of experts and one of the first results of this co-operation is the new online guidance tool.
To know more
- EU Quality assurance in vocational education and training: online tool
- More information on quality assurance in vocational education and training
Self-Evaluation of Quality in Technology-enhanced Learning
SEVAQ+ aims to engage in wide-reaching dissemination and exploitation of the results of a Leonardo da Vinci pilot project: the SEVAQ tool and concept for the Self-Evaluation of Quality in eLearning.
Technology-enhanced learning is developing in diverse forms in Higher Education (HE) and Vocational Educational Training (VET) across Europe, reflecting the complex interrelation between cultures and education. As Ehlers states in the SEVAQ handbook: “…overarching approaches and strategies are needed in order to develop quality in a holistic way, taking into account organisational contexts and stakeholders in a participatory way.”
The original SEVAQ project merged two widely recognised evaluation and quality approaches – the Kirkpatrick and European Foundation for Quality Management models - to produce a dynamic, multilingual tool for the generation of learner-centred self-evaluation questionnaires.SEVAQ has great potential to support quality assurance in technology-enhanced learning, pinpointing areas for improvement, tracking evolution and enabling benchmarking. Yet market research clearly shows the need for a 360° evaluation, identifying widespread recognition and certification as critical success factors for the extensive take-up of SEVAQ.
To achieve this, 3 of the original members have joined forces with 2 new partners and 2 solidly implanted European networks, EDEN and EFQUEL. The tool and concept will be extended to new stakeholder groups and localised in 3 additional languages (DE, IT and PL) with a focus on interculturality.SEVAQ+ aims to reach a critical mass of 5000 users in HE and VET, mobilising partner and associate networks to disseminate results through a judicious mix of events, publications and social networking, involving stakeholders and experts in the dual evaluation cycle of extensive user feedback and online Delphi consensus to carry SEVAQ+ through to certification, and contributing to policy via a widely-circulated white paper.
Launch of SEVAQ+ v2.0
Feedback gathered between June 2010 and January 2011, from nearly 2000 users around Europe, has resulted in key improvements to ensure SEVAQ+ best meets the needs of managers, teachers, trainers and learners in both HE and VET. The result is SEVAQ+ v2.0, launched in April 2011.
New features and improvements include:
- A brand new, user-friendly interface;
- The streamlined ‘designer’ area for quicker and simpler questionnaire administration;
- More options for questionnaire designers, including:
- distributing a single questionnaire in several languages,
- defining comments as obligatory or optional,
- automated functions for communicating with questionnaire respondents
See for yourself http://www.sevaq-plus.preau.ccip.fr/
Forthcoming SEVAQ+ events
In the coming months, SEVAQ+ will be running a series of public webinars, finalising the validation process with a group of international eLearning and quality experts and holding an expert workshop at the EDEN 2011 Annual Conference in Dublin, Ireland. For details of these events and more, please visit the SEVAQ+ website http://www.sevaq.eu
Extracted from SEVAQ+
Launch of SEVAQ+ v2.0
SEVAQ+ aims to engage in wide-reaching dissemination and exploitation of the results of a Leonardo da Vinci pilot project (2005-2007): the SEVAQ tool and concept for the Self-Evaluation of Quality in eLearning.
Feedback gathered between June 2010 and January 2011, from nearly 2000 users around Europe, has resulted in key improvements to ensure SEVAQ+ best meets the needs of managers, teachers, trainers and learners in both HE and VET. The result is SEVAQ+ v2.0, launched in April 2011.
New features and improvements include:
- A brand new, user-friendly interface;
- The streamlined ‘designer’ area for quicker and simpler questionnaire administration;
- More options for questionnaire designers, including:
- distributing a single questionnaire in several languages,
- defining comments as obligatory or optional,
- automated functions for communicating with questionnaire respondents
See for yourself http://www.sevaq-plus.preau.ccip.fr/
Modele şi instrumente de evaluare a mediilor de învăţare asistate de tehnologie în învăţământul superior
Evaluarea acestor medii de învăţare, văzută ca o modalitate de certificare a calităţii lor, dă naştere câtorva iniţiative şi experienţe europene. Cu toate acestea, mecanismele de definire a parametrilor de calitate variază în funcţie de contexte diferite. Dacă evaluarea va fi folosită ca instrument de gestiune, aceasta ar trebui să încerce să fixeze nişte criterii şi indicatori precişi care să-i permită să răspundă întrebărilor în contexte bine definite. În acest studiu, rezultat al unei cercetări aprofundate a documentaţiei existente în domeniu, prezentăm liniile directoare de bază pentru o evaluare continuă a mediilor de învăţare asistată de tehnologie (ca instrument de gestiune). De-a lungul întregului articol este evidenţiată importanţa evaluării permanente, în context. Sunt prezentate modele, metode şi instrumente de colectare a datelor care le permit instituţiilor să contextualizeze mai bine procesul de evaluare.
Enhancing the quality of distance learning at Western Balkan higher education institutions
The DL@WEB project has been designed to improve the quality and relevance of distance education (DL) at Western Balkan higher education institutions and to enable easier inclusion of partner country institutions into European Higher Education Area.
The main project objective is to improve, develop and implement accreditation standards, guidelines and procedures for quality assurance of DL study programs at national system levels in WB countries. Those standards will assimilate the quality of DL courses offered by higher education institutions in WB countries.
Developed standards would be incorporated into existing legal and sublegal acts at the national levels and also at the HE institutional levels, in University regulatory documents. In order to provide solid base for the implementation of newly developed accreditation standards, the DL@WEB project will build the necessary capacities trough establishing a framework for improving eLearning methodology and DL quality assurance at HE institutional level, which will be incorporated in University regulatory documents in Western Balkan beneficiary countries. Furthermore, the DL@WEB project will provide extensive training for all levels of staff involved in accreditation or delivery of DL study programs, from teaching staff, trainers, evaluators, official accreditation reviewers and HE public authorities from each beneficiary PC.
Quality Control and Monitoring of project activities and results by internal and external mechanisms will be realized continuously throughout the whole duration of the project and evaluated at several levels. The project is aimed to make a wide impact on the national accreditation systems in WB partner countries, and thus the synergy of Western Balkan higher institutions and national Ministries of Education, National Councils for Higher Education and Commissions for Accreditation from Serbia,Montenegro and FYRM is the best guarantee of the sustainability of project results beyond its life time.
Extracted from DL@WEB