In 2020, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Commission for University Education (CUE), the body responsible for regulating and accrediting universities’ academic programs, released a self-assessment report for Open, Distance, and E-learning (ODEL) programs to be followed by universities in an effort to expand access to university education while at the same time responding to the learning disruption caused by the pandemic.
CUE recognized ODEL as a strategic approach to enhancing institutional reputation, ensuring educational stability, and diversifying revenue streams. The self-assessment report provides guidelines for universities transitioning to ODEL, focusing on curriculum design, course delivery, research, and technological infrastructure.
Under the Curriculum Design and Development section, CUE requires universities looking to integrate the ODEL mode to highlight:
- The policies guiding curriculum design and development for ODEL programs.
- The role of subject matter experts (SMEs) in course design and delivery teams.
- Adequacy and relevance of instructional materials.
- The policies and guidelines that promote inclusivity and equity, catering to learners with different abilities.
- The policies that ensure the safeguarding of intellectual property rights in instructional content design.
Under the Course Delivery section, CUE prescribes to universities to highlight:
- The policies and guidelines the universities have put in place for online course delivery.
- How the courses are organized in the LMS.
- The obligations of the lecturer and the learner in online teaching and learning.
- How the universities will foster innovation in online course delivery.
In addition to the above, the regulator requires the universities to indicate how the academic programs offered through ODEL will accommodate the practical aspects of learning, with a requirement for universities to clearly outline the serial number of programs, their titles, practicals required, and how the practicals will be provided for; provide evidence of facilitation for asynchronous learning; and provide policies and guidelines for research by online students
Furthermore, the policies and guidelines for research by online students should highlight the following key aspects:
- Provision of guidelines on how to conduct supervised research projects, assessment and online supervision of the research project, and software tools for supporting online supervision of projects.
- Accessibility of the instructional materials provided for the academic programs to the students, ensuring they are current, adequate, and relevant to the program learning outcomes.
- Facilitation of learners to explore additional instructional materials outside what is prescribed for online programs.
- Fostering a sense of community among learners and with instructors through collaborative learning activities.
- Fostering inclusion and equity in ODEL programs.
- Utilization of partnerships and collaborations in course delivery for ODEL programs.
In an attempt to ensure delivery of quality ODEL programs, CUE requires universities keen on integrating the ODEL mode of study to provide details concerning technology infrastructure and media.
Among the key requirements here include access to the internet; faculty-to-learner interaction; learner-to-learner interaction; access to learning/information materials; processing, storage, and access to student information; student and faculty support; and security of all online education information/transactions, including security of system for hosting, archiving, saving, and exporting data.
In line with this, the universities are compelled to describe the technologies available at their institutions that will be used to offer the ODEL programs. These include:
- Software to detect academic dishonesty, including deception, plagiarism, theft, and fraud.
- The capacity of the internet connection available to faculty-to-learners.
- The systems that the institution has for online admission and registration.
- The web-based systems through which the institution communicates with the public and avails academic resources required by learners and faculty.
- The institution’s policies and plans for business continuity and recovery from business interruptions.
- The system in place for archiving past examination questions and results for ease of retrieval.
- The mechanisms in place for integrating and sharing data and information that may be available in different systems in use at the institution, including integration between the LMS and the student management information system.
The universities are also required to describe how the design, development, and integration of multimedia materials are organized and supported. In addition, they are required to state the specific assistive facilities and adaptive technologies in place to support learners with special needs.
Furthermore, they are required to outline the electronic library resources and access mechanisms in place to support teaching and learning in the institution. This should include.
- Links to the e-library portal.
- Evidence of subscription to electronic resources.
- Evidence of subscription to off-campus/remote access software for the resources.
- Evidence of a digital repository.
- Delivery mechanisms that the institution has put in place for core texts that are not in digital format to its users.
- Evidence of interlibrary loan arrangement.
- Provision for persons with special needs.
LMS is a core element of the ODEL mode of studies. As a result, CUE requires universities to outline features of their LMS in regard to the following: scalability, ease of use, availability of online technical support, ease for the lecturer to engage learners, meeting the needs and capabilities of diverse users, and compliance with World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) standards.
In addition, CUE requires universities to give a highlight of how the universities’ LMSs support the following:
- The various operating systems, browsers, and mobile platforms.
- Privacy and data protection.
- Social presence in terms of allowing learners to connect and interact as a community of learners.
- Teaching presence in terms of facilitating instructors in the design and facilitation of learning experiences, direct instruction, and monitoring performance of learners.
- Cognitive presence in terms of engaging learners in higher-order thinking to construct and confirm meaning, receiving feedback, and monitoring progress.
- Student research and supervision in terms of monitoring, feedback, and provision of progress reports.
Find the CUE’s format for preparing a self-assessment report for ODEL via their website.
