Quality assurance issues and processes relating to ICT-based learning

Many Australian universities differ from those in other parts of the world in their administration - their students live and work over large geographical areas and various state-based structures are well entrenched in Australian experience. Quality assurance of distance education using traditional methods with little or no face-to-face contact is therefore not new. However, the appropriate adoption of the various types of ICT for flexible delivery poses a new challenge to build on what has been learned in the past and to develop relevant new processes which will satisfy students by delivering high-quality learning outcomes. It involves for the first time a reliance on robust technology which is simple for students to use and easy for academics to adopt and integrate in ways which enrich learning. The demands ICT places on staff development accompany the need to rethink ways to assess and assure the quality of the courseware produced using these technologies, and of assessing and evaluating student learning outcomes.