Quality Criteria for Online Distance Education in the Philippines: A Delphi Study
Abegayle Machelle M. Perez-Chua
University of Batangas, Philippines
Recognizing the need to continually ensure quality, higher education institutions and accrediting agencies have conducted studies to establish quality criteria for distance education in general and for online distance education in particular. However, in the Philippine setting, aside from the guidelines issues by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED), there are no other instruments available to monitor the quality of distance education in the Philippines.
As can be seen from the literature, there are several quality frameworks and standards for online distance education that are available for adaptation. The dilemma lies in which one/s would be most relevant to the local setting. While there are international standards of quality for educational provision, especially given the spread of ‘transnational education’, it is equally important that national standards of quality that are fit for purpose are specified for online distance education providers in the Philippines.
This paper presents the outcomes of a Delphi study to determine which dimensions of quality and quality criteria for online distance education are applicable in the Philippine setting. The first phase consisted of a review of the literature on quality criteria, standards, or benchmarks for online distance education courses and programs, including relevant policy documents such as CMO 27, Series of 2005 (Policies, Standards and Guidelines on Distance Education), and CMO 2, Series of 2008 (Policies, Standards and Guidelines on Transnational Education). The second phase was a Delphi survey involving local distance education experts in the identification of relevant dimensions of quality and quality criteria for online distance education in the Philippines. The Delphi survey consisted of two rounds. In the first round, the experts used a four-point Likert scale to rate seven dimensions of quality and 56 quality criteria. Items that did not receive a 70% consensus and a mean of 3.0 were eliminated before proceeding to the second round. All items received a mean of 3.0, and four new quality criteria suggested by the experts were included in the second round. The final results were seven dimensions of quality and 58 quality criteria that the Philippine experts in distance education agree are relevant to Philippine distance education institutions offering online courses. The study resulted in a more comprehensive set of quality criteria than what is now available in the Philippines. This set of quality criteria can be used by institutions to assess their own online distance education programs and perhaps also by external accrediting agencies, in order to ensure the quality of online distance education in the Philippines.
Keywords: online distance education, quality assurance