Zygouris-Coe, V., Swan, B. & Ireland, J. (2009). Online Learning and Quality Assurance. International Journal on E-Learning, 8(1), 127-146. Chesapeake, VA: AACE.
Retrieved from http://www.editlib.org/p/25228.
International Journal on E-Learning
ISSN 1537-2456
Volume 8, Issue 1, January 2009
Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE) Chesapeake, VA
More Information on IJEL
More and more we are seeing the online medium being used to deliver teacher training, and the need for effective evaluation strategies for these programs is crucial. This study investigated the impact of instituting a well-structured quality-assurance process for monitoring a large-scale, statewide online professional development model: Florida Online Reading Professional Development (FOR-PD). FOR-PD is Florida's first large-scale online reading professional development project, and has served 37,000 educators since 2003. Findings from the implementation of this situated model suggest that, although implementing an effective system of quality assurance checks (QACs) in an online professional development program can be expensive and time consuming, it can be well worth the effort. Not only can QACs help to reaffirm project goals and keep major roles and responsibilities intact, they also provide a mechanism for measuring and communicating student progress on a broad-to-narrow scale. Other benefits include improved online teaching methods and learning; a significant increase in course-completion rates; and better communications among and between the project's staff, facilitators, and students.