2. What Do We Mean by Quality When Teaching in a Digital Age?
2.6. Quality Assurance: Fit for Purpose in a Digital Age
At the end of the day, the best guarantees of quality in teaching and learning fit for a digital age are:
- Well-qualified subject experts also well trained in both teaching methods and the use of technology for teaching
- Highly qualified and professional learning technology support staff
- Adequate resources, including appropriate teacher/student ratios
- Appropriate methods of working (teamwork, project management)
- Systematic evaluation leading to continuous improvement
Much more attention needs to be directed at what campus-based institutions are doing when they move to hybrid or online learning. Are they following best practices, or even better, developing innovative, better teaching methods that exploit the strengths of both classroom and online learning? The design of xMOOCs and the high drop-out rates in the USA of many two year colleges new to online learning suggest they are not.
If the goal or purpose is to develop the knowledge and skills that learners will need in a digital age, then this is the ‘standard’ by which quality should be assessed, while at the same time taking into account what we already know about general best practices in teaching. The recommendations for quality teaching in a digital age that follow in this lesson are based on this key principle of ‘fit for purpose.