Quality Assurance in Distance Education

Summary and Conclusion

The growth of distance learning programs over the past decade has heightened existing concerns about how to ensure that higher education programs delivered via telecommunications are of good quality.

Institutions can ensure that the programs they deliver at a distance are consistent with their institutional mission and meet high academic standards.

  States can empower the education consumer by providing information on how to identify quality programming.

  Higher education governing boards can enforce quality standards in program review and provide institutions financial incentives for the development of quality programming.

  Accrediting bodies can establish rigorous assessment and evaluation standards directed at ensuring quality distance education programming and student support services.

  Regional organizations can facilitate the sharing of quality instructional programming.

Teaching and learning technologies can be a powerful means for meeting the challenges of access, quality, and costs. For the technological revolution in teaching and learning to succeed, however, requires vigilance in ensuring that educational programming made available at a distance meets the high educational standards all students are entitled to expect.

This issue of Policy Insights was prepared by Robin Etter Zùñiga, Research Associate, WICHE; and Barbara Krauth, Research Associate, Western Cooperative for Educational Telecommunications at WICHE.  

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