Introduction
The purpose of the guidelines
These guidelines offer advice on assuring the quality and academic standards
of higher education programmes of study provided through distance learning.
The practice of 'distance learning'has been developing and evolving
in many different forms in recent years, so that the phrase is now routinely
applied to a very wide spectrum of activities. Distance learning is increasingly
being looked to by many institutions as an economical way of expanding their
activities, widening opportunities for students around the world, and making
effective use of the new technologies which are rapidly emerging. The guidelines
have been produced at the request of the distance learning community in the
United Kingdom, which has recognised not only that the continued development
of this form of higher education and its worldwide acceptance depend upon
rigorous quality assurance, but also that there are many areas in which the
usual ways of doing things for 'on-campus'provision are not necessarily
appropriate in the context of distance learning.
For the purpose of these guidelines, 'distance learning' has been taken to mean a way of providing higher education that involves the transfer to the student's location of the materials that form the main basis of study, rather than the student moving to the location of the resource provider. There is considerable debate, nationally and internationally, about appropriate terminology, and a number of different terms are commonly used which refer to the same or similar sort of activity. There is also great diversity in the large number of actual arrangements - and even more in potential arrangements - to which these guidelines are directed. As the nature of institution-centred and of collaborative provision develops and changes, and as the potential for distance learning is explored further, the boundaries between different forms of higher education are becoming less easy to recognise. These guidelines do not assume that distance learning is a separate and unique form of higher education around which there are clear, let alone fixed, boundaries. Nor is it assumed that all distance learning has uniform characteristics. Nevertheless, a large and diverse body of current provision, although often described using different terms, is readily identifiable.
Programmes of distance learning have some basic features in common which broadly distinguish them from institution-centred modes of learning: physical proximity is not a requirement of study and programmes made available through distance learning all involve some degree of physical separation of the student (the learner) from the institution responsible for providing the teaching and making the award. There are also a number of ways in which teaching and learning activities to support students on distance learning programmes of study involve distinctive divisions of labour and allocations of responsibilities.
System design, programme design and delivery, student development and support, student communication and representation, and student assessment all raise particular questions for institutions about the ways in which they 'manage' teaching and learning to ensure that the quality of provision and security of academic standards are as they need to be. The purpose of the present guidelines is to help institutions to check the soundness of their arrangements for these aspects when the programmes of study are offered through distance learning.
The guidelines have been developed with the assistance of a working group initially convened in 1997 by the former Higher Education Quality Council (HEQC), and continued by the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA). They build on the generic Guidelines on quality assurance produced by the HEQC in 1996 and on institutional quality audit reports, undertaken in the first instance by the HEQC and latterly by QAA. In the preparation of the guidelines the working group has also drawn on advice from colleagues with an active involvement in, and experience of, a variety of forms of distance learning, and has taken into account existing guidelines and codes, both generic and specific to individual institutions. Appendix 3 provides details of the groups involved. A list of generic publications offering additional advice on quality assurance with particular reference to distance learning, and which the working group has found helpful, is given in Appendix 4.
The form and status of the guidelines
As part of its development of a comprehensive quality assurance process for higher education, QAA is producing a Code of Practice for Quality Assurance in Higher Education in the form of a series of self-contained sections covering the management of quality and standards in all teaching and learning activities. As part of this work, these present guidelines (which do not in their current form have the status of a section of the Code of Practice) will in due course be reviewed and become the starting point for a code of practice for distance learning which will be incorporated into the wider QAA Code. To this end they have been designed to resemble the QAA codes in format, extended by the inclusion of additional 'exemplifying questions'. Users of this publication are invited to offer their comments and opinions on the usefulness or otherwise of the guidelines, and on their coverage. There will be further consultation with the higher education sector in the course of preparing the formal Code of Practice.
TThese guidelines are concerned with arrangements made by UK universities and colleges to provide programmes of study by means of distance learning, whether in the UK or overseas. The guidelines focus on those aspects where the 'distance element'presents a special challenge to the assurance of quality of provision and the security of academic standards of programmes of study and awards. In these particular areas the guidelines build on principles which apply generally to higher education and relate those principles to distance learning provision. In other areas, guidance relating generally to higher education is equally applicable to provision through distance learning. Precepts and guidance for higher education on aspects, for example, of admissions requirements and external examining, apply equally to distance learning provision.
Distance learning must rely on a sound and effective logistical and administrative infrastructure to ensure that all participants' activities are co-ordinated and engage with the programme as designed by the provider. There is likely to be a distinct division of labour both in teaching and administration. An integral part of the teaching and administrative system is the timing of action and the lead times needed to meet deadlines. The guidelines place particular emphasis on these points.
Definitions and dimensions of distance learning
Throughout these guidelines, the terms 'providing institution' and 'provider' are used to indicate the higher education institution that is responsible for designing the distance learning system, for designing and delivering programmes of study and for the academic standard of the award granted upon successful completion of that programme. Other terms are used which are intended to convey a function - such as local agent (where the function is normally limited to administrative or organisational activities), local tutor, travelling teacher - for which other words could be substituted according to choice but which are expected to be readily understandable.
Distance learning is approached in many different ways. These guidelines have not been designed to apply equally in all respects to every individual arrangement. They take a generic view based on underlying principles or precepts. But in doing so they also take particular account of a number of approaches which, while not necessarily present in all arrangements, do frequently occur in many of them. The component elements of these approaches, and the meaning given to them, are set out below as four dimensions of distance learning. The dimensions do not refer to different models of distance learning and should not be construed as setting out alternative forms or distinct systems of distance learning. They refer to certain distinguishable aspects that are commonly found, under varying labels, as components within systems of distance learning.
The terms used to refer to four dimensions of distance learning are as follows:
Materials-based learning. This dimension of a system of distance learning refers to all the learning resource materials made available by the programme provider to students studying at a distance. The range and diversity of materials provided can be great. It may include printed, audio or audio-visual material, experimental equipment and material on the world wide web and other electronic or computer-based resources. Materials forming the basis of study may also be drawn from local public providers or resources accessible locally - as with local libraries, local book suppliers or information on the world wide web. The scope of materials provided may range from statements simply of syllabuses and learning outcomes to complex collections of multi-media materials structured to support self-study. The methods for distributing materials to form the basis of study include personal delivery to students by travelling teachers, despatch to the student through the post, distribution through electronic communication and personal collection by the student from a distribution point.
Programme components delivered by travelling teachers. This dimension refers to staff of the providing institution travelling on a periodic basis to the location of the student to deliver components of the programme. The delivery may be concentrated into a period of intensive classroom-based study for a group of students or be arranged on a scheduled basis for an individual student. The scope of the functions carried out by travelling teachers may include initial orientation; delivery of learning materials; intensive teaching of the programme; tutorial support; student development and guidance; assessment; and gathering feedback. The operations of travelling teachers may be supported and supplemented by a local agent.
Learning supported locally. This dimension involves the providing institution employing persons specifically to undertake certain defined functions for the local support of students following the programme. It may involve administrative tasks for which a local agent is contracted and/or specified teaching functions for which a local tutor is engaged. An example of the latter might be the provision of residential weekend workshops or the like.
Learning supported from the providing institution remotely from the student. This dimension refers to defined support and specified components of teaching provided remotely for individual distant students by a tutor from the providing institution. The forms of communication between the tutor and student may include postal correspondence in print or by audio or video-cassette, telephone, fax, email and the Internet. It may be solely between tutor and individual student or may include voice, video or computer-based conferencing. The scope of the teaching may be limited to defined components of the programme or form a larger and more open-ended component.
The terms set out above refer to dimensions that are common components within systems of distance learning but for which there are no uniform labels. They have been briefly elaborated here so that the content of the guidelines is more readily understandable. They may also help readers to understand better some of the structural aspects of distance learning. In practice, different distance learning systems will rely more on one dimension than another and may not contain some of the dimensions at all, such as that of 'travelling teacher'. Other aspects or dimensions of distance learning systems that are dealt with in the guidelines, such as assessment and examining, do not need to be explained.
How the guidelines are structured
- System design;
- Programme design, approval and review;
- The management of programme delivery;
- Student development and support;
- Student communication and representation;
- Student assessment.
Each section contains generic precepts and outline guidance. The precepts identify those key matters which an institution might reasonably be expected to be able to demonstrate that it is addressing effectively through its own relevant quality assurance mechanisms. The purpose of the accompanying outline guidance is to offer suggestions on quality assurance and control which institutions can use, elaborate, and adapt according to their own needs, traditions, cultures and decision-making processes.
At the end of the guidelines, in Appendix 1, are a series of exemplifying questions which have been included to provide further prompts to the detailed consideration of matters covered by the precepts and outline guidance, They are grouped by guideline and are formulated as a series of questions that an institution might wish to ask itself, before it establishes distance learning activities or as it considers and reviews its current arrangements.
These guidelines need to be considered in conjunction with the various sections of the formal Code of Practice for Quality Assurance in Higher Education which QAA is in the process of preparing, especially the section dealing with the quality assurance of collaborative provision. The six sections in these guidelines build on the wider principles that apply generally to higher education. They pre-suppose and assume that the general precepts and guidance contained in the QAA Code of Practice will directly underpin the distance learning activity.
The combined attention to the guidelines set out here, and to the more generally applicable precepts and outline guidance, is intended to support total quality and effectiveness. The strength of the chain of system and programme design, implementation, delivery, support, student communication and assessment, and the matters addressed in more general precepts such as those concerning external examining, lies in its weakest link. Those responsible for the overall management of a programme of distance learning should monitor all aspects of provision for weakness, and should be able to take timely corrective action at that point. The effectiveness of programme management will depend upon the infrastructure for distance learning activity which exists in the providing institution. This infrastructure may be integrated with, or be separated from, that established for institution-centred provision (where this exists), and may be more, or less, sensitive to the funding arrangements associated with distance learning programmes of study. These guidelines do not cover general management practice in the providing institution, but users will not wish to lose sight of the fact that poor general management or an inadequate administrative infrastructure can negate otherwise good practice in the provision of distance learning.
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