“It goes without saying that quality assurance has to be and should always be embedded in our process, knowledge products and services.” This was what Chancellor Melinda dela Peña Bandalaria emphasized during her Keynote Speech at the recently concluded 31st Annual Conference of the Asian Association of Open Universities (AAOU) in Yogyakarta, Indonesia held on 27-29 September 2017.
UP Open University (UPOU) Chancellor and AAOU President Dr. Bandalaria tackled “Quality Assurance in Open Universities” for the second plenary speech of the conference, which carried the theme “Open University for Inclusive and Equitable Quality Education.” Dr. Bandalaria started her discussion by defining quality assurance (QA) and presenting the three open university model classifications, as well as the QA frameworks in distance education (DE).
Dr. Bandalaria mentioned the challenge of assuring quality among open universities, especially in the advocacy to mainstream open education, the use of open educational resources (OERs), and the adoption of the open education practice (OEP). According to her, QA for Open and Distance eLearning (ODeL) “must extend beyond what the institution has control of, and consider quality indicators brought about by OEP.”
As an institution with 62 member universities from all across Asia, AAOU conducted a research that looked into the quality of MOOCs and summarized what AAOU members understand as indicators of quality for MOOCs. According to Dr. Bandalaria, these are essential, “especially if we are to advocate the model of MOOCs as OERs, or MOOC in a MOOC.”
“Open Universities are in the best position to respond to the challenges or imperatives of open education,” concluded Dr. Bandalaria. What she termed as the 6th Generation DE, or ODeL, raises the challenge and discourse on quality “from framework to culture” and move the action “from access to equity”, which is a must for all open universities.
Dr. Bandalaria has more than 20 years of experience in teaching and research in open and distance elearning. She spearheaded the design and implementation of Massive Open Online (MOOCs) in the Philippines and has published numerous book chapters and journal articles on open and distance elearning, ICT for education, and learner support in ODeL.
