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Learning Abstract - Elements of Quality: The Sloan-C Framework by Janet C. Moore


The powerful reach of online learning calls for proof of quality in all education practitioners do, as the emerging Internet-driven economy makes educational purpose more accessible and more visible than it has ever been. Read about a new reference manual from Sloan-C can help community colleges contribute to the quality framework in the December Learning Abstracts.
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Elements of Quality: The Sloan-C Framework
Janet C. Moore: <mailto:Janet.Moore@sloan-c.org>
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. <https://www.sloan-c.org/effectivepractices/> The framework uses the principles of continuous quality improvement as tools for measuring progress toward the goal community colleges share: affordable education for all.
Community colleges are the nation's largest providers of online education. And in these days of diminishing funding and human resources, many community college practitioners are contributing to the quality framework through dialogue and research. They also contribute in workshops Sloan-C designs for eArmy U partners and other practitioners.
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.
In brief, these are the framework's guiding ideals:

LEARNING EFFECTIVENESS
1. The provider demonstrates that the quality of learning online is comparable to the quality of its traditional programs. *Interaction among instructors, classmates, content, and interface is crucial and takes various forms.
*Metrics are used for comparing online and traditional courses. *Online course design takes advantage of capabilities of the medium to improve learning (testing, discussion, materials).
*Courses are instructor-led.
*Communications and community building are emphasized.
*Swift trust characterizes the online learning community. *Distinctive characteristics of programs are highlighted to demonstrate improved learning.
*On-campus and online instruction achieve comparable learning outcomes, and the institution ensures the quality of learning in both modes by tracking instructional methods, student constituencies, and class size.
COST EFFECTIVENESS
2. Institutions continuously improve services while reducing cost.
*Cost effectiveness models are tuned to institutional goals.
*Tuition and fees reflect cost of services delivery.
*Scalability, if an institutional objective, can be accommodated. *Partnering and resource sharing are institutional strategies for reducing costs.
*Mission-based strategies for cost reduction are continuously formulated and tested.
*Intellectual property policies encourage cost-effective strategies.
ACCESS
3. All learners who wish to learn online have the opportunity and can achieve success.
*Diverse learning abilities are provided for (at-risk, disabilities, expert learners).
*The reliability and functionality of delivery mechanisms are continuously evaluated.
*Learner-centered courseware is provided.
*Feedback from learners is taken seriously and used for continuous improvement.
*Courses that students want are available when they want them. *Connectivity to multiple opportunities for learning and service is provided.
FACULTY SATISFACTION
4. Faculty achieve success with teaching online, citing appreciation and happiness.
*Faculty satisfaction metrics show improvement over time.
*Faculty contribute to and benefit from online teaching. *Faculty are rewarded for teaching online and for conducting research about improving teaching online.
*Sharing of faculty experiences, practices, and knowledge about online learning is part of the institutional knowledge-sharing structure.
*There is a parity in workload between classroom and online teaching. *Significant technical support and training are provided by the institution.
STUDENT SATISFACTION
5. Measurement of attitudes finds that students are successful in online learning and are typically pleased with their experiences. *Discussion and interaction with instructors and peers is satisfactory.
*Actual learning experiences match expectations. *Satisfaction with services (advising, registration, access to materials) is at least as good as on the traditional campus.
*Orientation for online learning is satisfactory.
*Outcomes are useful for career, professional, and academic development.
Many of the ideals outlined here are familiar as the legacy of constructivist pedagogy. And several national organizations have provided guidelines for online programs, for example:
American Distance Education Consortium:
<https://www.adec.edu>;
Southern Regional Electronic Campus' Principles of Good Practice:
<https://www.electroniccampus.org/student/srecinfo/publications/principles.asp>;
Western Cooperative for Educational Telecommunications' Principles of Good Practice for Electronically Offered Academic Degree and Certificate Programs:
<https://www.wiche.edu/telecom/projects/balancing/principles.htm>.
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.
Janet C. Moore <mailto:Janet.Moore@sloan-c.org>: is managing editor for the
Sloan-C annual book series on quality online education, and co-editor of
the Sloan-C View. Her book, Elements of Quality, is available at Sloan-C:
<https://www.sloan-c.org/publications/view/v1n2/coverv1n2.htm>
REFERENCES
Preparing for the Revolution: Information Technology and the Future of the Research Universities (2002). Panel on the Impact of Information Technology on the Future of the Research University, Policy, and Global Affairs, National Research Council. October, 2002. Viewable at:
<https://www.nap.edu/catalog/10545.html>.
Workshops at the 7th and 8th Sloan-C International Conferences on Asynchronous Learning Networks (ALN): "Building the Quality Framework" and "Improving Student Success."

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Dr. Susan Salvador
Office for Student Services
01/02/2003