QA PLAN Article FOR Open University of Catalonia

Quality Assurance Plan Article for Open University of Catalonia "Universitat Oberta de Catalunya(UOC)"

Asila al-Harthi (82666) Fatma Al-Shehhi (90597) Sultan Qaboos University

QA PLAN Article FOR Open University of Catalonia

Overview: This paper aims to evaluate the quality of The Open University of Catalonia "Universitat Oberta de Catalunya(UOC)" which is an internationally recognized online university that offers Student-centered learning. This article will concentrate on investigating three main aspects of the UOC which are: the efficiency of communication tools between students and faculty, Availability of enrollment guidance and clarity of course objectives. We decided to investigate those aspects because they are the most - in our opinion- critical things needed to be declared in online learning. We found that using checklists is the most suitable tool for quick evaluation of an online educational websites. The checklist contains clear descriptions of specifications needed for the evaluation. Personnel: The university has 3,720 teaching staff who are highly qualified. The university employs are 256 professors, 3,378 part-time lecturers (consultants) and 86 researchers. In addition to other staff -491 administrative staff - related to Vice President's Office, Faculty and Academic Organization, Innovation & Research, Postgraduate Studies and Lifelong Learning, Vice President's Office, Technology and others (UOC, Goverment Committee Directory, 2013). Communication is highly considered in UOC as learning is the delivery or communication of a message between a sender (tutor, teacher) and receiver (student) and is critical to interact with other faculty members like administrators, technicians, etc . For that the UOC is present on social networks and other forums. You can find it on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Flickr, YouTube, Vimeo, SlideShare, Issuu, Delicious, Storify, Foursquare, Spotify and Grooveshark. You can also follow the UOC via RSS and

QA PLAN Article FOR Open University of Catalonia

Netvibes (UOC, Social networks and blogs, 2013). This vast number of social networks provides the student with the best possible chances for all type of communication needed before, while and after the learning occurs taken the best pros of each one and limiting their cons by using a combination of them.. Taken Facebook for example, it has updated posts of announcements, discussionsetc. While in SlideShare PowerPoint presentations of the content are available. communication tools. Curriculum/training: There are several curriculums that UOC offers and all courses are under four main domains : (Computers, multimedia and telecommunications), (Conflictology), (E-Learning (Education and ICT)) and (Food systems, culture and society) (UOC, The UOC Portal, 2013). Each course has clear description of it including: Presentation, Program, Academic pathway, Objectives, profiles and competencies, requirements and qualification, Teaching Team, Fees and enrolment. I f we want to evaluate " E-Learning Course Design and Teaching" course objectives in term of clarity. We can said that the course objectives didn't form in effective way because all of them difficult to measure and observe as all of them have more than one outcome. In addition, they didn't follow ABCD format when forming the objectives. (UOC, objectives-profiles-competencies, 2013). To evaluate this course objectives we used checklist .The UOC uses sufficient tools and resources to transfer learning to the students such as: virtual campus, educational model, virtual classroom, virtual library, websites. Moreover, it uses Computers, Labs, network connections, video, hyperlinks, browsers, modem, plug in, CD-ROM and others. This empowers the student with various and effective

QA PLAN Article FOR Open University of Catalonia

Environment: As most Online Universities in the word, UOC provide its courses with some guidance that helps students to enroll to specific course. For example, if we want to evaluate "E-Learning Course Design and Teaching" course enrollment guidance, we will find it very clear and it is listed in steps to facilitate enrollment process and encourage students to join specific course (UOC, fees-enrolment, 2013). To evaluate the enrollment guidance for E-learning Course Design and Teaching we use checklist. Moving to the learning environment that used UOC, they use Virtual Learning environment which

describe in UOC as educational model and the model is also flexible because it is open to the implementation of a very diverse range of learning activities in accordance with the competences worked, the area of knowledge or the specialization level that the student is studying. This means that the dynamics and resources that these activities also need to be very diverse, heterogenous and adaptable to a large scope of learning needs and situations. In this regard, the UOC is committed to providing the learning activity of the student with the most advanced technological and communication elements, some of which are: Social tools that facilitate collaborative work (blogs, wikis, social markers, etc.), Multimedia content that enables multidimensional content to be offered, Advanced communication systems, both synchronous and asynchronous, which provide flexible and clear communication adapted to each situation (videoconference, collective intelligence systems in forums, etc.), 3D virtual environments based on video games that permit interaction with people and objects simulating real situations and Access to teaching through mobile devices to support mobility (UOC, Description of the educational model, 2013).

QA PLAN Article FOR Open University of Catalonia

Process Diagram:

QA PLAN Article FOR Open University of Catalonia

Appendix: Personnel communication checklist:

Criteria

Description

Yes No

Availability Communications tools are available More than 5 communication tools are available Diversity (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Flickr, YouTubeetc. Update The posts are new and up-to-date Communications tools consistent with students Suitability characteristics Interactivit Students are actively interacting with the faculty y through communications tools Objectives checklist:

Criteria
Clarity Update

Description
Course objectives are clear Course objectives are updated frequently

Yes

No

Availability Course objectives are listed

Measurable Course objectives are measurable Observable ABCD Format Course objectives are observable to students Course objectives are written in ABCD format

Enrollment Guidance checklist:

Criteria
Availability Clarity

Description
Enrollment Guidance are listed Enrollment Guidance are clear

Yes

No

Organization Enrollment Guidance are well organized

QA PLAN Article FOR Open University of Catalonia

References:

UOC. (2013). Description of the educational model. Retrieved April 16, 2013, from Universitat Oberta de Catalunya: http://www.uoc.edu/portal/en/universitat/modeleducatiu/elements/index.html UOC. (2013). fees-enrolment. Retrieved 5 14, 2013, from Universitat Oberta de Catalunya: http://studies.uoc.edu/en/postgraduate-courses/e-learning/e-learning-coursedesign-and-teaching/fees-enrolment UOC. (2013). Goverment Committee - Directory. Retrieved April 16, 2013, from Universitat Oberta de Catalunya: http://www.uoc.edu/opencms_portal2/opencms/EN/universitat/contacte-seus/directoripersones/organs_de_govern/list.html UOC. (2013). objectives-profiles-competencies. Retrieved May 14, 2013, from Universitat Oberta de Catalunya: http://studies.uoc.edu/en/postgraduate-courses/elearning/e-learning-course-design-and-teaching/objectives-profiles-competencies UOC. (2013). Social networks and blogs. Retrieved May 14, 2013, from Universitat Oberta de Catalunya: http://www.uoc.edu/portal/en/viu-la-uoc/xarxes-socials/index.html UOC. (2013). The UOC Portal. Retrieved 4 16, 2013, from Universitat Oberta de Catalunya: http://www.uoc.edu/portal/en/index.html