Quality Assurance in E-Learning: A Proposal from Accessibility to Sustainability

Cristian Timbi-Sisalima, Mary Sánchez-Gordón, José Ramón Hilera-Gonzalez and Salvador Otón-Tortosa
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Cristian Timbi-Sisalima: GI-IATa, UNESCO Chair on Support Technologies for Educational Inclusion, Universidad Politécnica Salesiana, Cuenca 010102, Ecuador
Mary Sánchez-Gordón: Department of Computer Science, Østfold University College, 1783 Halden, Norway
José Ramón Hilera-Gonzalez: Department of Computer Science, Universidad de Alcalá, 28805 Alcala, Spain
Salvador Otón-Tortosa: Department of Computer Science, Universidad de Alcalá, 28805 Alcala, Spain

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 5, 1-27

Abstract: Given the importance of developing and offering accessible education for all, indispensable aspects of education for sustainable development (ESD) are needed. This study addresses that need by proposing a quality self-assessment for virtual education from an accessibility perspective. This proposal is based on previous literature about quality assurance in e-learning that considered accessibility and its application in the field of higher education. The bibliographic review was conducted by following Multivocal Literature Review (MLR) guidelines. The initial search returned 999 items from 5 academic databases and 32,200 professional sources from Google. After reviewing the sources, 37 of them were included. Then, the accessibility criteria were identified and integrated into an evaluation model. Such a model is divided into four dimensions: (1) organization, (2) student body, (3) teaching, and (4) infrastructure. The model also includes a set of standards (16), requirements (48), and evidence (63) that apply to each dimension. Moreover, self-assessment guidelines for accessible virtual education were proposed. They included a conceptual and theoretical framework, a self-assessment model, and a methodology for applying the model. The methodology included five phases: planning, model tuning or refinement of the model, evaluation, results, and continuous improvement. As future work, the implementation and validation of the guidelines will be carried out.

Keywords: e-learning; accessibly; quality assurance; quality in e-learning; access for all; sustainable development (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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