Quality Matters for Turkish Higher Education

Abstract The paper examines global developments in quality assurance (QA) in higher education and the imperatives that are driving these. It argues that universities need to respond to the growing calls for accountability, national and international competition in higher education, availability of quality open courseware and expectations that graduates should demonstrate the generic attributes required for the twenty-first century. The paper discusses how quality should be monitored and measured. It posits that quality can never be taken for granted, but has to be continually worked for. It also suggests that innovators in on-and off-campus pedagogy and e-learning need to evidence that they can achieve better outcomes than the more time-honoured approaches. At a time when Turkish universities are becoming increasingly engaged in QA and there is an ongoing debate on the governance issue, the paper is designed to raise issues for further consideration by managers and academics

Quality Assurance in Higher Education for Flexible Open Distance Education/Learning in Papua New Guinea

This thesis is a case-study of Quality Assurance (QA) practice and policy discourses for Flexible Open Distance Education/Learning (FODE/L) in the Papua New Guinea (PNG) Higher Education (HE) sector. From a global to local sensemaking perspective, analysis was applied to QA for FODE/L in PNG Universities. The main argument is that PNG FODE/L has the potential to bloom providing QA is supported as an inclusive organisational culture. PNG FODE/L currently exists within a fragmented, broken and unstable QA system. The study utilised a qualitative research design approach using multiple data collection methods. Four primary data sources were used: first, semi- structured individual interviews with selected leaders of PNG universities; second, focus group interviews with FODE/L practitioners; third, open-ended questionnaires administered to students and finally, documentary evidence – FODE/L QA policy documents collected for analysis. Qualitative data analysis involved an exploratory approach for thematic coding through an interpretive process. Findings highlight existing QA grey areas. First, inclusive QA practice for FODE/L is yet to be established and sustained within QA cultures and frameworks at meso (national) and micro (institutional/individual) levels of practice. Second, meagre QA policies exist at national and institutional levels. Third, QA leadership and management lack visionary leadership for an innovative, sustainable ethical and positive FODE/L for a harmonised PNG HE sector. Given the findings, this study identifies opportunities for a sustaining QA culture and proposes a QA framework based on ethics, integrity and moral standards, called The Ethics Enterprise QA Model for PNG FODE/L. This proposed model might shape and improve the current PNG FODE/L system, hence providing research data for relevant planners and policy makers of PNG HE. Significant to research, this study fills a gap in PNG FODE/L literature. Whilst PNG FODE/L blooms, informed practice and policy through research remains vital for HE

Open and Distance Education in Australia, Europe and the Americas

This book is open access under a CC BY 4.0 license. This book describes the history, structure and institutions of open and distance education in six countries: Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, the UK and the US. It discusses how open and distance education is evolving in a digital age to reflect the needs and circumstances of national higher education systems in these countries, and explores the similarities and differences between the ways in which they are organized and structured. It is the first book to make such comparisons and draw conclusions about the nature of open and distance education in the context of various national higher education systems. In a digital era with growing use of online education as well as open and distance education, this book is particularly useful for policy-makers and senior administrators who want to learn about organizing and expanding open and distance education provision. It is also a valuable reference for researchers, academics and students interested in understanding the different approaches to open and distance education

Die Internationalisierung der deutschen Hochschule im Zeichen virtueller Lehr- und Lernszenarien

Der Einsatz von offenen und kostenlosen Onlinekursen, "Massive Open Online Courses" (MOOCs) wird seit einiger Zeit an Hochschulen diskutiert. Ob MOOCs die Internationalisierung der Hochschulen befördern können, hat eine Arbeitsgruppe des DAAD thematisiert. Der Band informiert über Anfänge, Status Quo, Auswirkungen und das Internationalisierungspotenzial der virtuellen Lehr-/Lernszenarien und stellt die Ergebnisse und Schlussfolgerungen der Projektgruppe vor.Third level education institutes have been discussing the implementation of open access, free online study courses, aka "Massive Open Online Courses" (MOOCs) for quite some time. A work group of the DAAD looked at whether MOOCs could additionally promote the internationalisation of third level education institutes. The volume offers information about the starting points, status quo, effects and the internationalisation potential of virtual teaching/learning scenarios and presents the findings and conclusions of the project group

Open and Distance Education in Asia, Africa and the Middle East

This book is open access under a CC BY 4.0 license. This book describes the history, structure and institutions of open and distance education in six countries: China, India, Russia, Turkey, South Africa and South Korea. It describes how open and distance education is evolving in a digital age to reflect the needs and circumstances of the national higher education systems in these countries. It also explores the similarities and differences between how their open and distance higher education systems are managed and structured. This book is the second in a series, following Open and Distance Education in Australia, Europe and the Americas (Springer 2018). Both books compare and draw conclusions about the nature of open and distance education in the context of various national higher education systems. In a digital era characterized by the growing use of online, open and distance education, this book will prove particularly valuable for policy-makers and senior administrators who want to learn about establishing or expanding open and distance education services. In addition, it offers a valuable reference guide for researchers, academics and students interested in understanding the different approaches to open and distance education

Pengalaman belajar pendidikan agama Islam masa pandemi covid-19 di SDN Ngaliyan 05 Semarang

Pengalaman belajar siswa dimasa pandemi COVID-19 sangat dipengarui faktor infrastruktu dan kultur. Tujuan penelitian ini adalah untuk mengetahui dan menganalisa pengalaman belajar siswa pada matapelajaran Pendidikan Agama Islam dimasa pandemi COVID-19 dalam segi infrastruktur, struktur dan kultur. Penelitian ini menggunakan metode kualitatif yang mencakup latar belakang kehidupan nyata dan kondisi kontekstual untuk menafsirkan fenomena yang terjadi serta menghasilkan penemuan atas jawaban terhadap suatu fenomena. Hasilnya menunjukan bahwa dengan adanya perubahan pembelajaran ini pastinya berpengaruh juga pada pengalaman belajar siswa, baik dari faktor infrastruktur seperti siswa harus akrab dengan aplikasi pembelajaran yang masih asing, kuat lemahnya sinyal jaringan internet, dan kuota internet yang mahal, sehingga menyebabkan literasi digital siswa berkurang, orang tua yang ekonominya lemah merasa terbebani. Faktor struktur seperti siswa harus membiasakan diri belajar tanpa didampingi guru dan teman sehinnga menyebabkan siswa yang regulasi dirinya belum stabil menyebabkan tingkat pengetahuannya berbeda karena interaksi antara siswa dan guru secara langsung berkurang, dan orang tua yang seharusnya bekerja harus mendampingi anaknya belajar. Faktor kultur siswa harus terbiasa dengan kelas online contohnya google classroom, Sehingga hal tersebut mengakibatkan orang tua, siswa juga harus siap dan koneksi harus lancar. ABSTRACT: Student learning experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic are greatly influenced by infrastructure and culture factors. The purpose of this study was to determine and analyze student learning experiences in Islamic religious education subjects during the COVID-19 pandemic in terms of infrastructure, structure and culture. This study uses qualitative methods that include real-life backgrounds and contextual conditions to interpret phenomena that occur and produce findings on answers to a phenomenon. The results show that this change in learning will certainly have an effect on the student's learning experience, both from infrastructure factors such as students having to be familiar with unfamiliar learning applications, strong and weak internet network signals, and expensive internet quotas, causing students' digital literacy to decrease. economically weak parents feel burdened. Structural factors such as students have to get used to learning without being accompanied by teachers and friends, so that students whose self-regulation is not stable will cause different levels of knowledge because direct interaction between students and teachers is reduced, and parents who are supposed to work must accompany their children to study. The cultural factor of students must be familiar with online classes, for example google classroom, so that this results in parents, students also having to be ready and the connection must be smooth

Concept Mapping Strategy For Academic Writing Tutorial In Open And Distant Learning Higher Institution

Universitas Terbuka (UT) an open and distant higher education institution of Indonesia conducts the in-service teacher education program. In order to complete the program, the students – mostly teachers - have to submit the final academic paper. In fact, most of the UT students have difficulty to write this academic paper. UT offers an academic writing course to solve this writing program. Most of the student view academic writing still as a difficult assignment. Most of the students view academic writing as a difficult assignment to complete. UT has to find an appropriate instructional strategy that can facilitate student to write the academic writing assignment. One of the instructional strategy that can be selected to solve the academic writing problems is concept mapping. The aim of this study is to elaborate the implementation of concept map as an instructional strategy to facilitate the open and distance learning students io complete academic writing assignments. A design based research was applied to measure the effectiveness of using concept mapping strategy in helping students to gain academic writing skills. The steps of research and development model from Borg, Gall and Gall which consist of instructional design and development phases were implemented in this study. The result of this study indicated that students were facilitated and enjoyed the process of academic writing used the concept map strategy