Abstract
It is clear that innovations in instructional strategies and technologies have provided significant opportunities for teachers, instructors and educators to explore ways of how to best deliver content online through the use of virtual teaching and learning (VTL) strategies in order to engage their learners in new ways of learning and interacting outside of the classroom. However, effectively pivoting from a face-to-face to a remote and/or virtual teaching and learning (VTL) model or combining elements of online and face-to-face teaching and learning (i.e., hybrid models of instruction) are fraught with challenges and difficulties, ranging from a lack of established professional benchmarking standards, quality indicators and quality assurance and enhancement mechanisms that could systematically be used to evaluate best practices and standardized approaches. To foster and enable the wider adoption of virtual teaching and learning (VTL) including the long-term strategic development and sustainability of VTL, it is imperative that clear and appropriate standards-based practices are established in order to provide a framework to ensure the quality and confidence of virtual teaching and learning (VTL) approaches within the local Hong Kong context. This paper presents findings from a review of literature and provides a comparative analysis of quality assurance frameworks and standards-based practices operationalized in online and/or virtual teaching and learning (VTL) contexts. It provides a typological lens through which existing quality assurance frameworks and standards can be reviewed and benchmarked, in addition to discussing the advantages and disadvantages of the different quality assurance frameworks in tertiary education within the domain of online and virtual teaching and learning (VTL). The key objectives of this paper are to 1) provide a comprehensive review of specific and/or generically-applicable quality assurance (QA) frameworks on virtual teaching and learning (VTL) in other sectors and regions; 2) identify best practices in respect to quality assurance mechanisms, based on internationally adapted or adopted standards virtual teaching and learning (VTL); 3) elucidate and synthesize different perspectives and insights on virtual teaching and learning (VTL) and; 4) establish a shared understanding around various emergent terminology broadly captured under the umbrella term of virtual teaching and learning (VTL). Broadly speaking, the establishment of quality assurance mechanisms is key to continuous improvement and evaluation of sustainable practices and cross-institutional standards and institutional practices for quality assurance of virtual teaching and learning (VTL), thereby ensuring accountability and ultimately future certification and recognition from accreditation and regulatory bodies.
Biography
Dr. Ronnie H. Shroff is a Principal Project Fellow with the Teaching and Learning Centre at Lingnan University, Hong Kong. His research and academic work focuses on the use of emerging technologies to advance teaching and learning in higher education, leveraging learning applications across multiple contexts, ranging from instructional design to assessment of learning, including pedagogical and technology integration to enhance the educational experiences of students and further student learning across disciplines.
Professor Peter Duffy is the Director of the Teaching and Learning Centre at Lingnan University (LU). Duffy has a demonstrated record of exemplary leadership, management and outcomes in education, curriculum renewal and compliance, digital learning and academic/institutional transformation and has been involved in the education field for the past 30 years. He is the project leader of an Inter-institutional Collaborative Activities (IICAs) Project, “Standards, Synergies and Support - establishing a shared Quality Assurance Framework and Standards for Online Learning and Teaching." This project involves a consortium of six participating universities led by Lingnan University who are working together to create a HK Quality Assurance Framework and Standards for Online Learning and Teaching.