The need for quality in education

All education courses should be of good quality.

Poor quality makes it difficult to learn.    It may leave the student not wanting to learn, or convinced that he or she cannot learn.

So quality is a key issue in education, in the classroom, at the workplace, or at home.    Quality means that the learner can learn successfully from the opportunities on offer.

Assessing quality is just as vital, both by providers and by regulatory and accrediting bodies, from Ofsted to ODLQC.

And so is pointing the potential learner towards good quality.    It can be hard to assess in advance if a course is right for you;   it must be taken on trust.    And courses, whether face-to-face or at a distance, can be expensive.

Quality in open and distance learning

The emphasis on learning for oneself is a great strength of open and distance learning.    But it means that materials, advice and support must all be relevant, reliable and consistent.

New, and often inexperienced, providers moving into distance learning may not understand how to monitor and maintain quality.    Techniques are different, as are funding regimes and organizational infrastructure.

Assessing quality

Methods of quality assessment familiar from face-to-face education, in schools and universities, are not always helpful in other areas.   

Yet quality assurance in open and distance education, when done properly, is both more thorough and more trustworthy than for traditional, face-to-face methods.

Different measures of quality are available, not just pass and participation rates, but a variety of more sophisticated standards and procedures.

Whether it's e-learning or a correspondence course, home study or work-based learning, quality assurance, when undertaken by experts, can be both robust and reliable.

ODL QC are the experts

With 40 years experience in the assessment and accreditation of open and distance learning, ODL QC has a unique expertise in this area.

The standards published by the Council set out a framework which shapes quality in the sector.

And our quality mark is a guarantee to both learner and provider that the opportunities on offer reach those standards.

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