What is quality management in distance education?

The purpose of quality management in distance education is to ensure that the organization's resources are focused on customers' needs. Quality management efforts should be directed not only at students, but at all other stakeholders-instructors, institutional administrators, remote-site coordinators, and community leaders.

Quality management activities that promote the success of distance education programs include conducting ongoing needs assessments (formal and informal), developing teamwork among people and institutions necessary to meet needs, establishing feedback mechanisms to gauge the effectiveness of marketing and program delivery and allow corrections and adjustments, and organizing communication among stakeholders.

• Bernadette Robinson, The Management of Quality in Open and Distance Learning

• Kari Lampikoski, Who Determines Quality in Distance Education?

• C.N. Reid and M. Robertshaw, The Quest for Quality, East and West

• Dhanarajan, Gajaraj. 1997. "Globalization, Competitiveness and Open and Distance Education: Reflections on Quality Assurance." Paper presented at the Asian Association of Open Universities Eleventh Annual Conference on Quality Assurance in Distance and Open Learning, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, November 11-14, 1997. Available at http://www.col.org/speeches/aaou11th.htm. Link established with permission.