Warsaw (PL), April 2010 - ELearning has been successfully developing at Polish academic institutions for many years despite the lack off system solutions or legislative support. The Association of Academic eLearning in Poland offers their viewpoint on the current state of affairs.
The Association of Academic ELearning has experts among its ranks who are both practically and theoretically involved in eLearning. It focuses on enhancing the quality of distance teaching with the use of the latest technology, setting standards and accreditation procedures, promoting good practices, as well as actively shaping the model of academic education through technology and the idea of an information society.
Standards and Accreditation
The role of e-education has been gaining importance both as a complementary form of education and in organising whole courses. eLearning is becoming an inseparable element of the education process and the virtualization of higher education. Its application may also bring benefits to the quality of education. That is why the Association's goal is to prepare accreditation standards that will allow for a comprehensive assessment of eLearning development at Polish post-secondary institutions.
Working on methods for setting accreditation standards
Work on accreditation standards and procedures was preceded by a thorough analysis of their possible scope and form. For this purpose, a special team for the methods of setting standards has been formed within the Association. The team analyses diverse variants of accreditation standards and their possible relations to two other projects concerning the place of eLearning in academic education and designing a questionnaire for a good online course.
Questionnaire for a good online course
Organising and conducting an online course means meeting specific conditions in respect to both methodology and technology. The Association has therefore started to develop assessment criteria for course contents, form, and technical requirements in the form of a special questionnaire.
These criteria cannot only help to evaluate the existing solutions, but also serve as a model for those just beginning to design their online courses and who are in search of reliable standards and good practices in this field. These criteria are being developed by four AAE teams - each responsible for one of the key areas: organisation, course development, conducting classes, and evaluation.
Working on key assessment areas of online courses
The development of a questionnaire and assessment criteria was preceded by a comprehensive analysis with respect to possible key assessment areas of an online course. For this purpose, a special team for online course key assessment areas was formed within the Association that identified and defined the key areas.
Resolution on distance education
The Ministry of Science and Higher Education has been working on requirements that must be met in order to hold academic classes with the use of distance learning methods and techniques. A draft resolution was distributed in the academic community for consultation (August 2006), in response to which the Board of the AAE took its stand. A subsequent opinion was sent by the Board to the Ministry in October 2006. According to the AAE, the document needs further improvement, and in view of this, a team for the draft resolution was established within the Association.
The draft resolution developed by the AAE contains a general outline of placing eLearning in higher education. Thus there is a need to prepare a more comprehensive study based on the above-mentioned document.
