Chapter 11: Standards in Higher Education Distance Learning Environments: A Sociocultural Perspective

Educational standards are key concerns of higher education providers, policymakers and accrediting bodies in many countries. These concerns are driven by the twin desires to maintain and improve educational effectiveness, and to protect students and the public from educational fraud, abuse and mismanagement.

Whilst concerns about standards are no less salient or respected in distance-learning environments compared with traditional, on-site learning environments, particular challenges exist when developing effective quality assurance and accountability procedures and mechanisms in distance learning environments. Not least amongst these challenges is the need to overcome outdated, but still widely held assumptions about what constitutes quality educational experiences—assumptions that have almost exclusively been developed in the context of on-site educational programs. Thus, typically, the presence of certain physical characteristics and resources has been assumed to indicate or ensure educational quality. These characteristics and resources include centralized management, administration and governance structures, the employment of full-time faculty with designated academic qualifications, and the presence of an adequate library and other physical teaching and learning resources. These standards, however, are clearly not appropriate—or at least not universally appropriate—in distance learning environments, many of which are characterized by decentralized management, administration and governance; the regular employment of part-time staff—many of whom may have extensive and relevant industry experience but not necessarily tertiary qualifications to match this experience—and the provision of non-physical information, teaching and learning resources, for example, through virtual information and communication technologies.