Developing and validating a comprehensive scale for accreditation standards and quality assurance in e-learning institutions

INTRODUCTION
 There are several socio-political challenges facing the choice of multi-media and ICT use for the implementation and acceptance of electronic education and export education (e-education) as new smart technologies are applied to the teaching-learning process of higher education (HE) institutions. As a result of a proliferation of smart technologies use in this domain, there is a need for smart educational institutions to export education through electronic education across their international boundaries and for them to assess the socio-political problems facing this form of digital education.
 This study will examine and identify the socio-political challenge facing smart technology use in e-education through electronic education across international boundaries.
 This is important as HE institutions have witnessed a growth of technological expansion and uses as helpful means to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of digital education and the changed academic lives and perspectives of digital world.
 It will support and suggest improvements to the continuous development of ICT use for e-education that will result in an efficient and cost effective means of teaching-learning in HE institutions.
 HYPOTHESES
 
 How does the socio-culture attitude and political policies affect the expansion and multi-media technology uses for e-education and electronic education in HE institutions?
 How do we promote this continuous expansion and multi-media technology use in digital education through a transformation of users’ socio-cultural attitude and political policies affecting its effectiveness and efficiency?
 
 H1 – Users’ socio-cultural attitude and government-political policies have considerable effects on the expansion and multi-media technologies’ uses for e-education through electronic education.
 H2 – Users’ socio-cultural attitudes can be modified and improved towards more effective and efficient digital education for e-education in HE institutions.
 LITERATURE REVIEW
 The essence of this research study is based on the derived assumptions that:
 
 Multi-media technologies’ use in web-based learning environments are carried out within the influence of societal culture and cultural adaptation in creating successful ICT tools for use in digital education.
 Uses of web-based learning environments are carried out within the influence of social culture and learners’ learning culture (Senouci et al 2015; Ogunbase, A. 2016; Ogunbase, A. & Raisamo, R. 2017).
 
 These researches highlighted the techniques that were expected to be relatively easy to use and could be adopted by many students and teachers. These techniques include an elaborative learning culture, learning styles and acceptability designs for digital education.
 This new study will focus on previous studies’ results/findings and examine/identify expected new results of users’ socio-cultural attitude and political policies affecting effective and efficient technology use for e-education.
 METHODOLOGY
 Mixed-methods methodology will be used that will involve a questionnaire and interview questions. In analysing the data collected, relevant statistical techniques will be adopted to report results.
 RESULTS
 It is expected that this study will get to the extent at which socio-cultural attitude and political policies affect the expansion and multi-media technologies’ use for e-education in HE institutions which will help learning management systems, researchers and education actors in using new smart technologies in the teaching-learning process of HE institutions.

Distance and online education are popular training modes in the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and open education. Accreditation is one of the approaches that many countries across the world have implemented to assure the quality of higher education, including distance learning programs. This study investigates the rationale and future directions for quality assurance and accreditation of distance education programs in Vietnam. First, the paper presents concepts of distance education, and quality assurance and accreditation of distance education. Second, the research reviews experiences of implementing quality assurance and accreditation for distance education from several countries in the world. Next, the paper analyses the rationale for conducting accreditation of distance education programs in our country. Finally, the study proposes three groups of recommendations for the national quality assurance organization, accreditation agencies and higher education institutions to be able to implement the quality assurance and accreditation of distance education in Vietnam successfully.
 Keywords
 Quality assurance; Accreditation; Distance education; Online learning; Higher education
 References
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ПРОФЕСІОНАЛІЗМ ВИКЛАДАЧІВ ВВНЗ ЯК СКЛАДОВА ВНУТРІШНЬОЇ СИСТЕМИ ГАРАНТУВАННЯ ЯКОСТІ ВИЩОЇ ВІЙСЬКОВІЙ ОСВІТИ

The massive global growth of private sectors transforms higher education. It naturally sparks great interest and debate. But analysis lags far behind, as does cross-national documentation. Promoters glorify roles (e.g., access), while critics demonize roles (e.g., moneymaking). Policy makers tend to hold simple views of what private higher education does or what they want it to do, while participants tend to generalize from their own institution. Public discussion thus often revolves around narrow and misleading declarations. The gap is large between self-serving or ill-informed views and more complex reality. Private higher education is least understood where it has just recently become prominent—and that is in much of the world. A few decades ago, private higher education was absent or marginal in most countries. Today, it captures a major or fast-increasing portion of enrollments in Eastern and Central Europe, the Middle East and northern and sub-Saharan Africa, East and South Asia, and Latin America. Furthermore, new forms of private

Background: The advent of emergency remote teaching has significantly transformed the landscape of higher education through the Internet environment. The online learning environment elicits varying student engagement, apathy, and frustration. Nevertheless, digital literacy is not the exclusive factor determining students’ academic participation in online learning during an emergency. Students need an extra compelling element. Purpose: To investigate students’ motivational urges and attitudes toward emergency online learning scenarios that impact their academic engagement. Method: An explanatory research design was implemented in the research method to quantify the intensity and direction of the relationship between variables and elucidate the impact of a single variable on another. Two hundred-eight undergraduate students from a private higher education institution comprised the research's respondents. The structural equation modeling and Hayes' bootstrapping technique were employed to analyze the data further, which was collected through an internet-based poll. In addition, the Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) method was employed to assess the reflective measurement models. This included the internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha, composite reliability), the convergent validity encompassed indicator reliability and average variance extracted (AVE), and the discriminant validity conducted using the cross-loadings approach and the Fornell-Larcker criterion. Results: The research findings suggest that driven students are more inclined to participate in online learning during an emergency remote teaching scenario by actively controlling their study time and autonomously gaining a deeper comprehension of the academic content. Their active participation in online learning is further evidenced by their motivation derived from attention, relevance, confidence, and satisfaction in emergency remote teaching scenarios. The attitude towards online learning (AOL) fostered by these motivational elements had a negligible impact on the student effort. Furthermore, students residing in rural areas exhibit prevailing motivational elements, such as self-assurance and focus, that motivate them to invest time in creating and understanding educational resources. Concurrently, students residing in metropolitan regions exhibit a prevailing driving force in attention and satisfaction, resulting in a favorable disposition towards active academic participation in online learning by fostering the acquisition of time management abilities. Conclusion: The results have implications for teachers developing teaching activities to encourage active student academic participation in online learning setting, considering the students’ specific needs, backgrounds, characteristics, and abilities.

The article discusses the main approaches to quality assurance in higher education in Finland. The relevance of studying the experience for Ukraine is determined. Quality assurance in higher education is governed by the legal framework of the country. External evaluation is carried out by the Finnish Education Evaluation Center (FINEEC). The objectives of the FINEEC are: evaluation of education, teaching, teachers and activities of higher education institutions; development of educational evaluation; evaluation of the results of training in basic education, higher secondary education and training, basic education in the arts. Finnish higher education institutions are primarily responsible for the quality of education. Self-esteem is accomplished through a digital platform. Program accreditation aims to increase international recognition. The author notes that Higher Education Institutions are actively involved in external evaluations. The quality assurance mechanism of education is constantly being improved. The results of the external evaluation are used as a benchmark for internal evaluation. Higher education institutions select a national or international team to audit. Particular attention is paid to the accreditation of programs. The analysis of the quality assurance system of higher education gives grounds to claim that it is an effective organization, which provides the necessary resources (academic and administrative staff, students, scientific and administrative leaders, financial, material, information, scientific, educational resources, etc.); effective activity of relevant bodies that ensure the quality of higher education of the country; designation of audit teams; identifying audit objectives; undergoing appropriate procedure; defining clear evaluation criteria that demonstrate the effectiveness and quality of the evaluation. The outlined approaches and methods of quality assurance of education serve as an example of imitation for quality assurance of higher education of Ukraine and a guideline for its development.

Purpose This paper aims to investigate how global university rankings interact with quality and quality assurance in higher education along the two lines of investigation, that is, from the perspective of their relationship with the concept of quality (assurance) and the development of quality assurance policies in higher education, with particular emphasis on accreditation as the prevalent quality assurance approach. Design/methodology/approach The paper firstly conceptualises quality and quality assurance in higher education and critically examines the methodological construction of the four selected world university rankings and their references to “quality”. On this basis, it answers the two “how” questions: How is the concept of quality (assurance) in higher education perceived by world university rankings and how do they interact with quality assurance and accreditation policies in higher education? Answers are provided through the analysis of different documentary sources, such as academic literature, glossaries, international studies, institutional strategies and other documents, with particular focus on official websites of international ranking systems and individual higher education institutions, media announcements, and so on. Findings The paper argues that given their quantitative orientation, it is quite problematic to perceive world university rankings as a means of assessing or assuring the institutional quality. Like (international) accreditations, they may foster vertical differentiation of higher education systems and institutions. Because of their predominant accountability purpose, they cannot encourage improvements in the quality of higher education institutions. Practical implications Research results are beneficial to different higher education stakeholders (e.g. policymakers, institutional leadership, academics and students), as they offer them a comprehensive view on rankings’ ability to assess, assure or improve the quality in higher education. Originality/value The existing research focuses principally either on interactions of global university rankings with the concept of quality or with processes of quality assurance in higher education. The comprehensive and detailed analysis of their relationship with both concepts thus adds value to the prevailing scholarly debates.

This Special Issue was conceived and developed following a series of international conferences held in Asia, with a particular focus on critically reflecting upon higher education development in the region from broader social and political economy perspectives. Some of the papers in this Special Issue were selected from presentations in the East Asia Social Policy (EASP) Research Network Conference successfully held in Taiwan in 2018, while others were chosen from international events held at Lingnan University in Hong Kong presenting critical reviews and reflections on internationalization, marketization and graduate employment of higher education in Asia. This introductory article puts the discussions of the selected papers in this issue in context, with critical reflections on the key issues being examined in these papers. The Special Issue is published when the world is still confronting the unprecedented global health crisis resulted from the outbreak of the COVID‐19 pandemic. This article discusses the higher education development trends in Asia through the massification, diversification and internationalisation processes in transforming the higher education system and examines how these development trends are affected by the COVID‐19 crisis.

The context of education has changed dramatically as a result of the information and communication technology (ICT) revolution, particularly as it relates to online learning. In order to better understand how innovation management is impacted by ICT usage and online education in China's higher education institutions, this study will look at how both micro and macro-level elements play a significant influence. The study uses a quantitative, cross-sectional methodology to collect information from 390 individuals from both public and private universities. The study aims to comprehend how faculty members, students, and educational administrators view the use and integration of ICT tools and online learning platforms through a standardized survey questionnaire. The collected data were subjected to statistical analysis using SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) software. The findings reveal significant insights into the interplay of various factors affecting innovation management in the rapidly evolving landscape of online education and ICT adoption in China's higher education institutions. The purpose of the study is to gain an important understanding of the intricate relationships between micro and macro-level variables and how these interactions affect innovation management in online learning and ICT usage in China. The study's conclusions are anticipated to provide policymakers, university leaders, and educators with useful counsel for fostering an atmosphere that is supportive of technological integration and cutting-edge practices in higher education. A wide range of participants from both public and private universities are included in the study's scope, guaranteeing a complete representation of the higher education environment in China.

COVID-19 has caused major disruptions in higher education systems worldwide. In Mauritius, during the 2020 and 2021 national lockdowns, local universities had to pivot to online/blended learning and emergency remote teaching. However, few higher education institutions (HEIs) in Mauritius were prepared for online learning, resorting mostly to emergency remote teaching. It was observed that there was a dearth of quality assurance guidelines and standards for Online/blended Learning, hence underlining the need to support HEIs in their transition from face-to-face to online delivery, while simultaneously upholding the quality of the programmes delivered. With funding from the Mauritius Research and Innovation Council (MRIC), a project was submitted jointly by the University of Mauritius and the Open University of Mauritius to help mitigate the impact of COVID‑19 on Mauritius’ higher education sector and its students, by providing short-term solutions in the form of quality assurance rubrics and an ODL handbook, so that HEIs can ensure the continuity of high-quality education with minimal disruptions during the pandemic and beyond. These tools were validated at national and institutional levels in order to capture specificities of the local context while meeting international standards (benchmarks). Based on interviews of key stakeholders, policy makers, CEOs of HEIs and the research team’s knowledge and experience in this field, a number of recommendations emerged. This paper will present the methodology, major findings, recommendations and tools developed under this project. It is also hoped that online learning becomes part and parcel of the DNA of HEIs, to build the robustness and resilience of their online learning provisions so that they can confidently face any future disruptions.

The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic significantly affected the mode of delivery in higher education worldwide, with Zimbabwe not being an exception. The goal of this study was to understand how the coronavirus pandemic positively and negatively affected teaching and learning in higher education in Zimbabwe. Literature on how higher education in Zimbabwe has been operating before the pandemic was reviewed. A further attempt was made to understand how COVID-19 changed teaching and learning in higher education institutions in Zimbabwe. In order to understand this, firstly an effort was made to appreciate how the Government reacted in a bid to control the spread of the pandemic. Secondly, the effects of the actions of the government on teaching and learning in higher education institutions were assessed. Thirdly, adaptation techniques adopted by higher learning institutions in order to survive in the new normal situation were probed. The inevitable, new strategies, which include an increase in the use of distance education, e-learning, online teaching, were appraised in order to realize their positive and negative effects on the achieving of student outcomes. The study concluded that the most significant effects of COVID-19 on teaching and learning in higher education in Zimbabwe are delayed syllabus coverage by instructors, compromisation of students’ right to quality education, lack of sufficient resources for standardised learning of students, level of literacy in the computer technology on both instructors and learners and additional costs in learning such as acquiring e-learning gadgets, WIFI and internet accessibility. However, higher education benefited from the emergence of COVID-19 in advanced use of ICT, globalisation in networking by students in various Institutions through online learning and innovation by students through opening of learning forums such as Google classroom and student mobile libraries. The study advocates for continued use of E-learning methods in teaching and learning to counter COVID -19 consequences, adoption of all teaching strategies in Higher and tertiary education and maximum use of ICT in teaching and learning for sustainability. The findings will benefit Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education, Universities and other institutions of higher learning and research boards in Academic Institutions. Being only based on the review of literature carried out as a snapshot of an ongoing situation, the study recommends an empirical inquiry for further research, to potentially more deeply interrogate the effects of COVID-19 on both students and educators.

The Covid-19 pandemic is a new challenge for the world of education, currently higher education institutions (PT) are required to develop creativity and innovation in the use of technology in order to ensure that the learning process can still be conveyed properly. We can see and feel the continuity of the world of education in the future from this pandemic situation, with the help of technology, we can carry out the learning process anywhere and anytime. Higher education has an important responsibility in order to produce human resources who are able to compete in an all-digital industrial era. This makes universities continue to make improvements in terms of service quality, quality of learning, and quality of graduates in order to create a positive image of the college which will have an impact on student satisfaction and increase the productivity of consumer interest in higher education. This research is a quantitative research. The purpose of this study was to determine whether the quality of service and quality of online learning had an effect on student satisfaction during the Covid-19 pandemic, and it is hoped that from this study, it could provide information on online learning methods that were effectively used during this pandemic in improving higher education management Based on this, research has been carried out on 200 samples of respondents (active students) who were used to provide information by distributing questionnaires that were processed with data analysis of validity tests, reliability tests, Average Variance Extracted (AVE), and R square analysis. Based on the results of the analysis and discussion, it can be concluded that service quality has a positive and significant effect on student satisfaction, likewise the quality of online learning also has a positive and significant effect on student satisfaction. Improving the quality of learning with face-to-face learning provides more student satisfaction, to facilitate the absorption of courses.
 Keywords: Service Quality, Online Learning, Satisfaction, Students

The higher education and training sector focus on lifelong learning, world of work and the future. With regard to this, the current focus of higher education sector is on quality assurance procedures that emphasise accountability, compliance and standards which could be acquired through quality assurance of student’s assessment. This paper demystifies the quality of students learning in further education training college and higher education sector. Quality assurance of student’s assessment is the most important activity and further education and training college is also the specialisation that needs to be natured for economic development of any global community. But in contrary quality assurance of student’s assessment is the most overlooked activity further education training college sector within the holistic higher education paradigm – the academic culture that has endangered and alienated students and staff to the detriment of the system as a whole. If quality assurance system as pertained to higher education assessment of students learning parameter of further education and training college are to be recognized, the increasing diverse nature of higher technical and vocational education institutions, in the millennium, accountability, high standards and compliance will need to be balanced by a greater emphasis on encouraging and promoting innovation, self-improvement and credentials of higher calibre of individual student’s ability and competence in combating local and regional poverty. It is of salient phenomena for both quality assurance agencies and institutions themselves to operationalise viable mechanism and adapt their policies, procedures and culture if higher education and training system is to respond positively to student’s quality assurance assessment and be provided with essential required skills in lifelong learning, work and the future framework for the new millennium. This paper argues that whilst quality assurance of student learning assessment is understandable within the theoretical and practical academic framework in higher education institutions, there have erupted heuristic issues that deserve immediate and particular attention in the 21 century. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2013.v4n14p447

Designing and psychometric evaluation of disease-related fear scale (D-RFS) in adults with epilepsy: A sequential exploratory mixed methods design

This mixed-methods study explores the effects of adaptive leadership on faculty engagement in online learning in higher education. The higher education environment is rapidly changing due to students seeking more flexible and online learning opportunities. This change which was already developing in response to the 2025 enrollment cliff (when the number of high-school graduates in the United States will drop significantly) and has only been accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of adaptive leadership on faculty engagement in online education at institutions of higher education. This study was conducted through a pragmatic paradigm with a constructivist lens . The conceptual framework for this research study was built upon a thorough review of the literature, examining three research streams: (a) faculty perception of online learning, (b) change management, and (b) adaptive leadership. Seventy-seven faculty from four colleges at a large university in the northeast completed a survey and then eight faculty participated in follow-up interviews. The quantitative data were analyzed using SPSS to look at descriptive and inferential statistics. The qualitative data were analyzed using NVivo for open and axial coding. The research revealed five results: (a) the climate of a school/college effects perception of and participation in online learning; (b) faculty want to be acknowledged and rewarded for participation in online learning; (c) Institutions of Higher Education looking to move online need to secure faculty buy-in and provide faculty support (d) faculty's perception of online learning has shifted over time, and exposure to online and remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic shifted perceptions in a positive way; and (e) faculty's perception of online learning is not affected by participation in professional development or by working with an instructional designer; however, instructional design support was highly valued. Based on these results, five recommendations were made for institutions wishing to move into online learning: (a) faculty should decide to opt-in to online teaching; (b) protect faculty time; (c) recognize faculty contributions (d) provide support to faculty; (e) invest in instructional designers.