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Elements
of Quality: The Sloan-C Framework
By
Janet C. Moore • $49.95
Educators have long sought
to define quality in learning. Today, the powerful reach
of online learning calls for proof of quality in all
we do, as the emerging Internet-driven economy makes
educational purpose more accessible and more visible
than it has ever been.
For a decade, the Alfred P.
Sloan Foundation has guided and funded the Sloan Consortium
(Sloan-C) of colleges with online programs. These college
programs feature faculty-led, cohort-based, asynchronous
interaction, and produce at least the same quality of
learning that the originating institutions produce in
their face-to-face programs. Sloan-C hosts channels
for online educators to share knowledge about improving
performance in what have come to be known as the five
pillars of quality: learning effectiveness, cost effectiveness,
access, faculty satisfaction, and student satisfaction.
The recently published Elements
of Quality: The Sloan-C Framework is a reference
manual that draws from these channels. It illustrates
the effectiveness of the pillar model with research
from the Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks,
the Sloan-C catalog, listserv, books, workshops and
conferences, and an online exchange of effective practices.
The framework uses the principles of continuous quality
improvement as tools for measuring progress toward the
goal of affordable, accessible education for all. |
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As
institutions make decisions about the best ways to improve
quality, the framework helps make comprehensible multiple,
simultaneous perspectives about value, priorities, gaps,
tradeoffs, capacity management, and more. Quality, as
defined by Sloan-C, is the dynamic, relational character
each institution creates according to its mission and
the people who embody it. The democratizing influence
of online communications means the framework itself
is a collaborative work in progress. Readers are welcome
to contribute to its refinement as pedagogy responds
to the new possibilities of information technology.
The Sloan-C framework is distinctive
because its simplicity serves as a heuristic, easily
memorable and readily adaptable to diverse institutional
missions. Elements of Quality provides replicable
examples of effective practices and strategies that
work. It tells the story of a paradigm in progress.
Coming Soon: New Issue of JALN
In "Dominant or Different?" Cathy
Gunn of the University of Auckland, New Zealand,
analyzes international research about gender issues
in online learning and concludes that women often perform
better despite lower professed confidence and observable
interaction style.
In "Does One Size Fit All?" Ken
Morse of the Waikato Management School, New
Zealand, identifies cultural learning styles and finds
new issues for research in a geographically limitless
environment.
In "Influence of Non-moderated and
Moderated Discussion Sites," Deborah Kashy
of Michigan State University reports on backfiring results
for physics students who tried an easy out.
In “Examining Social Presence
in Online Courses,” Jennifer Richardson
of Purdue University finds that students with high overall
perceptions of social presence also scored high in perceived
learning and perceived satisfaction with instructor.
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In “Asynchronous Discussion
in Medical Education,” Martin Oliver
of University College London finds tutor enthusiasm
and expertise are major factors in engaging students
in online discussions.
In “Considerations for Developing
Evaluations of Online Courses,” Sue Achtemeier
of the University of Georgia analyzes 13 online course
evaluation instruments to design a new instrument that
better reflects the principles of effective learning
online.
JALN is available online at http://www.sloan-c.org/
publications /jaln/index.asp
New and Noteworthy in Effective
Practices
James
Theroux, of the Isenberg School of Management,
University of Massachusetts Amherst shares an effective
practice that uses internet communication to enable
real time case studying among students in 4 schools:
U. Mass, University of New Brunswick, Florida Atlantic
University, and Worcester Polytechnic Institute.
The Real-Time Case Method (RTCM)
was part of either blended or fully online entrepreneurship
study, depending on the university; it enables teachers
to team teach. share teaching tips, and share responsibility
for preparation and delivery. RTCM was designated by
a ten-judge panel of the Decision Sciences Institute
as one of the three best instructional innovations of
the year 2002. Visit http://www.sloan-c.org/effective/index.asp
to read more details about this and other replicable
online practices.
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