Having a validated quality framework to evaluate your e-learning courses is crucial and essential. During our yearly Lifelong E-learning course we have evaluated several quality schemes such as:

Quickscan : “A quick orientation to all the relevant aspects of e-learning as part of a full assessment procedure including the entire manual that gives you access to 33 e-learning benchmarks.

Open ECBcheck: A new accreditation and quality improvement scheme for E-Learning programmes and institutions in international Capacity Building.

The last quality scheme is exactly focused on E-learning programmes in International Capacity Building. It is based on a low cost concept of assuring and certifying quality for technology enhanced learning activities.  It provides international e-learning benchmarks that can be consulted through several interesting tools. ITC-ILO is actively contributing to this initiative. Have a look at the:

–         Open ECBCheck Toolset for self assessment of institutions which are running programmes.

The most visited post on this blog is about self-guided e-learning. For us a connection point to provide you with additional elements about this topic. We do it based on three questions you have sent to us in the last months:

1. Where can I find interesting resources on self-guided e-learning or rapid e-learning?

The Rapid E-learning blog of Articulate is an interesting starting point. You can download a free e-book with e-learning basics or you can consult their massive collection of interesting blogposts on practical e-learning tips.

2. Are there any interesting pedagogical models to shape self-guided e-learning in a more interactive way?

There are several initiatives that move self-guided e-learning beyond the linear slide-based approach. It mainly depends on what type of e-learning course you want to design. Two interesting approaches we can refer to are:

the scenario based learning approach & action mapping (see presentation below)

[slideshare id=398877&doc=actionmappingbasics-1210528860465639-9]

3. What does it cost and what kind of return of investment do I get ?

Difficult question and a lot of interesting answers. To start with you can consult the following article which collects data on “the cost to develop one hour of training“, based on a benchmarking exercise within the e-learning industry. For articles on return of investment we do refer to Tony Karrer, who posted an interesting collection of articles on his e-learning blog.

Feel free to send us any additional questions or comments.