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1. The Application of Continuous Quality Improvement Models and Methods to Higher Education: Can We Learn from Business?

Author

Downey, Thomas E.

Abstract

Continuous quality improvement (CQI) models, which were first applied in business, are critical to making new technology-based learning paradigms and flexible learning environments a reality. The following are among the factors that have facilitated CQI's application in education: increased operating costs; increased competition from private schools and nontraditional modes of learning; students' increased awareness of what they need to succeed in the workplace; and the need to keep costs down while maintaining quality and demand. A macromodel for quality and CQI in student learning has been proposed as a comprehensive approach for strategic planning and management of "educational products." Components of the model include the following: institutional vision, primary values, and goals based on the strategic implications of using technology-based educational solutions; a program quality assurance system; a faculty development plan that includes provisions for delivering the technical and nontechnical training needed to incorporate technology into the curriculum; assessment of learning from a distance and in the classroom; enabling policies, structures, and resources; and cross-departmental, cross-functional support groups. The CQI process must promote the following items: self-paced learning; standardization; anytime, anyplace learning; reduced operational costs; and development of "virtual team" skills in students. (MN)

Published
2000

2. Transforming the early years in England.

Author

Sylva *, Kathy and Pugh, Gillian

Subjects
EDUCATION policy, EDUCATIONAL innovations, EDUCATIONAL planning, EDUCATIONAL change, EDUCATIONAL technology
Abstract

The goal of this paper is to explore the design and implementation of early years educational policy in England in the period 1997-2004. First to be described are the innovations in policy (i.e. the promise), followed by the 'evidence base' for new policy (i.e. the research), the delivery of new services (i.e. the achievement), and finally the tensions and gaps which remain (i.e. the shortfall). The paper will focus on evidence concerning expansion of services and on the benefit of early years education on children's development. It is argued that early years education in England has been transformed through the following: integration of education and care at local and national level, the introduction of the Foundation Stage Curriculum 3-6 years and its birth-3 years supplement, and the firm focus on families as well as children in the delivery of services. There are, however, gaps and tensions to be resolved before the overall vision can be achieved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Published
2005
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3. ICT and Social Justice: Educational technology, global capital and digital divides.

Author

Waller, Tim

Subjects
EDUCATIONAL technology, MARXIST analysis, INFORMATION & communication technologies, INSTRUCTIONAL systems, TEACHING aids, EDUCATION policy, EDUCATIONAL planning, DIGITAL divide
Abstract

This paper will present a Marxist analysis of the current function and role of information and communication technology (ICT) in education, with specific reference to schooling in the UK. Over the past five years the UK government has spent in excess of £2.5bn on ICT equipment for schools and in ‘training’ teachers to use the technology. Children and teachers are now clearly expected to function and develop within an online community and network, whilst schools are appraised, judged, measured and regulated through a series of online reports, league tables and data available to those with access to the internet. The paper will consider the implications of this significant increase in spending on technology and the promotion of ICT in schools, the links with global capital and the benefits for capitalism of the trend towards digital and electronic communication. Five enduring myths about the provision and use of ICT for educational ‘benefit’ are explored in order to develop a critical understanding of the ways in which ICT is used to reinforce state apparatus and redefine social and cultural practices within education. The paper will also contend that the apparent systematic exclusion of visible minorities and much of the working class from ICT orientated research is central to the maintenance of status quo and power and ‘conservative whiteness’ in technology education [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Published
2007