Learning quality in Switzerland with a special focus on online learning and BFH Bern University Of Applied Sciences

Abstract EN

Quality management has many dimensions, especially at a university of applied sciences: It is undertaken by a whole range of professionals in many different environments.

It involves lectures, research papers and consultation projects.

Online and blended learning add even more technical and didactic dimensions to quality management.

Hence the research question of the present paper is two-dimensional: Firstly, how does quality management work in Swiss academia, are there any recurrent patterns? And, secondly, are these patterns appropriate to online and blended learning? This research question is addressed in six chapters: In the first and second chapter, the present paper provides an overview of current quality management practices in Switzerland.

The focus is on our university, which is BFH University of Applied Sciences in Bern: we consider the motivation for undertaking quality management, the quality management system as a whole, cultural issues and also the various details within the system.

In the third chapter, we provide an overview of the blended learning projects that are currently being offered by BFH and by other Swiss universities.

In the fourth chapter, we look at the quality management elements, and consider if and how they can be applied to the current online courses at BFH.

The analysis will be based on the system defined by Donald Kirkpatrick.

The first four chapters allow us to draw some interesting conclusions about best practices in quality control in Switzerland.

These conclusions are shown in the last two chapters of the present paper (one chapter with general conclusions, another chapter with a special focus on online learning).

The findings of the present paper are based on a detailed analysis of various documents such as Swiss law and the e-learning strategies of several universities, also the quality management principles, questionnaires and processes used by BFH.

In addition to the document research, the authors conducted interviews with staff members involved in quality assurance, and the research findings were discussed in several reviews with selected members from the university management.