Quality Practices in Higher Education Distance Learning

Abstract

This chapter is an attempt to systematize the available knowledge in quality assurance and assessment in higher education distance learning, taking into consideration that information is consubstantiated mostly in grey literature produced in the past decade. It begins by framing the historical and the political approach to quality and accountability and then opts for an approach the outline the analyses, using the concept of distance learning as a system. This approach, which is a classical theoretical framework, considers the following sub-systems: management and administration; instructional design; teaching, provisions on teaching and learning; the teacher and the tutor; and students. As for the procedural aspects, it looks at the official information issued by specialized agencies that develop standards, benchmarks, audit and accreditations schemes, and to the information of the institutions themselves, in order to identify the most important topics and practices concerning quality assessment development and assurance.