Review No. 11a

This next one is a monster, so I may do it in stages. It’s the Proceedings of the Association for Educational and Training Technology’s International Conference in 1992 in London. The editors are Malcolm Shaw and Eric Roper and they have amassed 38 conference papers as examples of different definitions of, and approaches to, quality, as “applied in a wide range of educational and training contexts” (from the abstract in the Document Resume). I will go through the papers one at a time as they are relevant to this study. While the chronology is rather distant, this collection gives a historical perspective from multiple viewpoints, rather than just one author.

     Shaw, M. & Roper, E. Editorial.

The general topic of the conference, Quality in education and training, was chosen based on three motivators: 1) the growing government initiated climate of accountability; 2) performance indicators and monitoring of quality; and 3) the developing activities of sector-specific agencies through quality audit activities and quality assessment initiatives. They acknowledge Deming’s legacy in the quality movement without specifically naming him; instead, they merely allude to the rebuilding of Japanese industry after World War II as one of the origins of the quality ‘movement’ (p. x). They refer to the British Standard 5750, the precursor of ISO 9000, as being one of many perspectives presented in the papers. The authors do comment on the wide variety (they use “eclecticism”) of perspectives in the paper with the following explanation: “They have been written by practitioners wrestling with the problems of identifying and delivering quality in specific contexts, sometimes drawing explicitly on theoretical perspectives or attempting to adapt industrial applications of quality to educational settings, but often developing pragmatic solutions in response to institutional and external demands for quality assurance or in addressing day-to-day problems” (p. x). Apparently, the more things change, the more they remain the same.

     1.  Dicks, D.J. Designing organizations that learn.

Dicks questions the wisdom of trying to import what to him is an oriental concept of quality into an occidental culture. He views total quality management practices in Japan as foreign to Western practices. Apparently, he is not very well read or he would know that W. Edwards Deming, the man who took total quality management to the Japanese, was from the United States. His methods were based on statistics, an element of the universal language of mathematics (Walton, 1986). However, the issue does not seem so much one of ethnic culture, nor even quality culture, but rather of management culture. He notes the break from the ‘Fordist’ model of mass production to “work teams, job rotation and innovation replacing centralized control, task fragmentation, and regimentation or small-firm networks replacing large corporations,” citing Piore and Sabel (1984) (p. 3). He also notes five key elements in the Japanese model that contribute to the development of human and organizational capital: formal education, recruitment, deployment, remuneration, and information transfer. Are these concepts that foreign to Western management? At the time they may have been. He contrasts this to what he calls “The Anglo-Saxon Employment Model” as he calls the Fordist model which dominated English-speaking cultures at the time. Dicks seems to do a lot of hand-wringing about why the “Japanese” model cannot be implemented in a Western paradigm, including competitors, labor unions, and government oversight. However, since this conference dealt with quality in education and training, the remonstrations seem so much bovine manure.

     2.  Alexander, D. & Morgan, J. Quality assurance in a European context.

This section is titled “Perspectives on Quality in Organisations”; yet the first two papers deal with the culture of quality. Yes, there is such a thing as organizational culture. Every organization has one, some more outstanding than others. However, the author here is looking at how different cultures perceive quality, as exemplified in the variety of grading structures among the members of an English-French-German consortium of training leading to a BA in finance and accounting. In this case, not only are the grading scales different, the student must also pass the test in the cross-culture country as well as their own native one. And then the grading scales changed from year to year. Then the authors ask the real question: “What are we trying to measure?” Obviously, quality must begin with a common basis of comparison, which ultimately is the authors’ point. Therefore, the authors are really talking about the flip-side of the quality coin. They are really talking about the characteristics of the learning environment that can be described as having or being perceived as “quality,” i.e., “good.” They are not discussing the process of production, called “quality assurance” or “quality management” that leads to this characteristic. This is a common problem in this arena. Which “quality” is the writer talking about? The “quality” of the product, or the “quality” that is a part of the process? The assumption is that the latter will lead to the former and that the presence of the former proves the existence of the latter. It is an assumption that this study will neither verify nor dispel.

     3.  Hart, C. and Shoolbred, M. “What’s in it for me?” Organisational culture, rewards and quality

Again with the culture! Is there really a quality culture? These authors seem to think so. While many try to establish what they call a culture of quality, what they really are referring to is habits that, if practiced rigorously, will lead to consistency, which is sometimes equated with quality. The problem, it seems, is in getting people to turn in their old habits in exchange for the new ones, especially lower and middle managers who are used to getting results from the way they do things (p. 16). Change is, perhaps, the greatest challenge to implementing a quality program. These authors first define culture as the acquired patterns of behavior (habits) mentioned before. The authors see quality practices as being built from quality values. They cite seven core values from Linkow (1989): 1) customer focus; 2) employee focus; 3) teamwork; 4) safety: for employees, communities, and users of products and services; 5) candor; 6) total involvement; and 7) process focus: emphasizing the continuous improvement of all processes.

     4.  Payne, C.D. Quality and the academic administrator.

Payne calls “self-evident” the relationship between product or service and the process in which they are contrived. Her focus is on the branch of quality management known as TQM, or Total Quality Management (the Deming method) and three questions it engenders: 1) How are the internal customer/supplier relationships established? 2) How are performance indicators used? And 3) How are TQM principles applied in a non-TQ environment? (p. 22) With regard to question one, external customers in an educational environment are the students; internal customers include staff members, such as managers, teachers, and administrative/clerical staff. In terms of an educational setting, question two performance indicators for educational administrators include turnaround time; 24-hour response time for standard information; accuracy; sensitivity to different perspectives, value as an information source; use of secretaries. Question 3, applying TQM principles to a non-TQ environment requires several key features, including leadership and commitment, resources, communication, participation, and team building.

References:

Linkow P. (1989). Is your culture ready for total quality? In Quality Progress, 22(11), 69-71.

Piore, M. & Sabel, C. (1984). The second industrial divide. New York: Basic.

Shaw, M. & Roper, E., eds. (1993). Quality in education and training. Aspects of educational and training technology. Vol. XXVI. London: Kogan Page, Ltd.

Walton, M. (1986). The Deming management method. New York: The Putnam Publishing Group.

Review No. 10

Here's an interesting piece by Thonhauser from 2008 on the factors that contribute to the amount of time it takes an educational institution to become ISO 9000 registered, both in the US and UK:

Rather than argue about whether or not it is right for an institution of higher learning to register with the International Organization for Standards under their 9000 series program, Thonhauser looks at the factors that relate to the time required for institutions to complete the registration process. This study revealed seven factors that impact how long it takes a school, college, or university to successfully register with ISO 9000.

The sample for the study included 30 institutions both in the United States and the United Kingdom. A previous study (Thonhauser & Passmore, 2006) had shown “...that there was no significant difference between English and US education institutions in the time required to register to the standards” (Thonhauser, 2008, p. 336). In that study, it was found that the average time necessary for educational institutions to register to ISO 9000 was 16.47 months in the US and 16.91 months in the UK.

Thonhauser sidesteps the debate on whether or not ISO 9000 is appropriate for education, but she does not ignore it completely. She notes that some (e.g., Peters (1999) and Waks & Moti (1999)) see the application of international standards as a good thing for education, not to standardize the content but to satisfy the “customer,” the student. Others  question its use. Welch (1998) wonders if “privatization and market influence may actually decrease the level of education quality…” (Thonhauser, 2008, p. 333). Alderman (1999, as cited in Thonhauser, 2008, p. 333) states “’…quality in higher education is not about satisfying the customer (i.e. the student), but is rather about changing the student, which is not the same thing at all….”

Thonhauser next introduces eleven independent variables that were gleaned from the literature review as possibly having an impact on the time to complete ISO 9000 registration for educational institutions. These included the following: type of education institution; site of education institution; status of the institution before ISO 9000; financial status of the institution; cost of ISO 9000 implementation; management commitment; ISO 9000 management representative; involvement of people; language interpretation; understanding internal processes; and industry partnership.

The methodology of the study involved a telephone survey, conducted in 2004 and 2005, including 19 institutions in the US and 11 in the UK. However, finding these institutions was, according to the author, “…the most difficult part of the study. Despite the fact that ISO functions in a highly rationalized and technical environment, surprisingly, the researchers found the central body of ISO and the national bodies to be poorly organized and vague in respect to maintaining records of ISO 9000 registered institutions” (2008, pp. 339-340).  Nor were any of several other agencies able to identify or corroborate any type of organization that is registered under ISO 9000.

The survey was a 50-item questionnaire of both closed- and open-ended varieties based on the variables extracted from the literature review. The dependent variable was the length of time required to complete the registration. Using a Spearman rank-order correlation to begin the analysis with an examination of “…the relationship between variables with at least an ordinal level of measurement and the dependent variable…” followed by “A Brown-Forsythe one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA)…to examine the relationship between the independent nominal variables and the dependent variable” (p. 341). For variables that did not meet the criteria for the Brown-Forsythe ANOVA, followup analysis was done using Kruskal-Wallis ANOVA. The researchers used an alpha level of 0.05 for relationship and correlation significance.

As mentioned previously, seven of the eleven independent variables showed a significant relationship to the amount of time required for an educational institution to complete the registration, which were as follows (pp. 346-7):

1. Time to ISO 9000 registration is decreased by schools that can be described as organized prior to implementation.
2. The time to registration is decreased if the institution has an inherent quality management practice as opposed to a different system or no system at all.
3. Time to ISO 9000 registration is decreased when there is no other major change project occurring at the institution.
4. Time to ISO 9000 registration is decreased when the person selected to lead the implementation effort (i.e., the management representative) is a highly regarded member of the institution.
5. Time to registration is decreased if the training and consultation during ISO 9000 implementation is done by internal members of the institution as opposed to external trainers or consultants. This was an interesting result, which is most likely related to the importance of having a highly regarded member in charge of ISO 9000 at the school.
6. The time to registration is decreased as the members of the institution increase their knowledge of internal processes; particularly the process of curriculum development, the process of updating curriculum, the process of student assessment, the teaching-learning support process, and the student support process.
7. Time to ISO 9000 registration is decreased when the management/administration of the institution is supportive of the ISO 9000 effort. While it does not seem to be important exactly ‘‘how’’ management supports ISO 9000, administrators may want to state a belief in the value of ISO 9000 and make sure they provide adequate resources for the implementation process.

Clearly, these seven factors as well as the eleven independent variables are items that should be taken into account in my own research and should be applicable to my situation. Additionally, seven questions flow from these results that are pertinent and adaptable to any organization prior to attempting registration (p. 347):

1. Is there administrative commitment to ISO 9000?
2. Can the school be described as organized and/or stable?
3. Is there an unspoken/unwritten quality management practice already in place at the school?
4. Will ISO 9000 implementation be the only major change project at the school?
5. Will a highly regarded member of the school be selected as the ISO 9000 management representative?
6. Is it a possibility to have internal training and consulting for the implementation ISO 9000?
7. Do the members of the school understand the following internal processes: the process of curriculum development, the process of updating curriculum, the process of student assessment, the teaching-learning support process, and the student-support process?

A positive response to most or all of these questions may decrease the amount of time to ISO 9000 registration.

References:

Alderman, G. (1999). Review of the book “Quality Assurance in Higher Education: An international perspective”. Studies in Higher Education, 24(2), 261-262.

Peters, J. (1999). Educational accreditation through ISO 9000. Quality Assurance in Education, 7(2), 85-89.

Thonhauser, T. (2008, September). Factors that relate to the time to ISO 9000 registration in education institutions. School Effectiveness and School Improvement, 19(3), 333-349.

Thonhauser, T., & Passmore, D. (2006). ISO 9000 in education: A comparison between the United States and England. Research in Comparative & International Education, 1(2), 156-173.

Waks, S., & Moti, F. (1999). Application of the total quality management approach principles and the ISO 9000 standards in engineering education. European Journal of Engineering Education, 24(3), 249-258.

Welch, A.R. (1998). The cult of efficiency in education: Comparative reflections on the reality and the rhetoric. Comparative Education, 34(2), 157-175.

Review No. 9

Here's an article by Rick Humphress and Dr. Zane L. Berge on the use of net present value (NPV) in justification of Human Performance Interventions (HPI):

In this article, Humphress and Berge (2006) have collaborated to examine what they consider the proper method for analyzing the net present value (NPV) inherent in any Human Performance Intervention (HPI) embodied in a proposal. The authors look at the appropriate NPV equations that HPI professionals should use to garner the often scarce capital resources they need to support their efforts. Humphress & Berge look at “six primary HPI interventions, identify the primary measurable benefit that can accrue to the organization from each action, and discuss the ways to quantify these benefits in the field” (p. 13).

First, the authors identify net present value as the best formula for calculating return on investment (ROI) because it “uses all the cash flows [positive and negative] for the project discounted to the present time” (p. 13). It relies on actual figures or estimates for five elements: project benefits, project costs, project life span, discount rates for all future cash flows, and estimated salvage value at the end of the project. Project benefits and costs elements also include the time frames in which they will occur. After the cash flows have been discounted and added, the result will either be a positive NPV or a negative NPV. According to the authors, all projects with a positive NPV should be accepted and all projects with a negative NPV should be rejected.

Humphress and Berge (2006) compare this method to the more commonly used Kirkpatrick’s (2006) four levels (Reaction, Learning, Behavior, and Results) and the broadened perspective of Phillips’ (as cited in Craig, 1996) Level 5 – Return on Investment (ROI). The authors identify the key difference between NPV and ROI as the time component included in NPV.

The authors also examine quality initiatives from the perspective of skill and information training. They acknowledge that any business “can be defined by the everyday individual activities that the constituent parts perform on its behalf” (p. 16) also known in quality circles as the production process. Humphress and Berge (2006) state the claim that “good processes are value-creating assets” and that “training has a direct causal effect” on processes. Thus, training, according to the authors, has a direct link to quality initiatives.

The authors segue into a discussion of three quality initiatives prevalent in business today: IS0 9000, SEI CMM, and Six Sigma. This review will focus on the first of these. They identify the purpose of ISO 9000 as helping “companies effectively document the quality system elements to be implemented to maintain an efficient quality system. They acknowledge the use of ISO 9000 by major organizations such as the federal government to discriminate among suppliers for purposes of procurement. “This certification is becoming ‘table stakes’ for firms to even play in the game” (2006, p. 16)

Humphress and Berge (2006) also note that in addition to increased efficiency and profits, quality initiatives such as ISO 9000 can actually generate revenue by opening the door to contracts that specifically require said certification. This will again be dependent on additional training.

While the authors do not appear to identify a significant positive correlation between quality initiatives and NPV, they do see a relationship between quality initiatives and training. They also identify a strong positive relationship between NPV and training. Thus, it would appear there is also a secondary relationship between quality initiatives and NPV.

References:

Craig, R. (Ed.), (1996). The ASTD training and development handbook: A guide to human resources development (4th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.

Humphress, R. & Berge, Z. L. (2006, August). Justifying human performance improvement interventions. Performance Improvement, 45(7), 13-22. Retrieved from EBSCOhost database.

Kirkpatrick, D. L. & Kirkpatrick, J. D. (2006). Evaluating training programs: The four levels, 3rd ed. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc.

Review No. 8

Here's one more from Adel Alkeaid, a Ph.D. in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on ISO 9000 and creativity in community colleges:

This article goes down a slightly different path with ISO 9000, but still within the framework of an area close to instructional design, the area of teaching and learning.  The setting is in community colleges, which is still dealing with adult education, the general umbrella that covers military training as well. Among several questions the author asks about the relationship of ISO 9000 to adult learning is one about the advantages and disadvantages of implementing ISO 9000 in community colleges. Another is whether or not ISO 9000 standards can be implemented in community colleges while preserving some flexibility. Finally, the author asks where ISO 9000 fits in the continuum from behaviorism to constructivism, of which both theories are reflected in military technical training (p. 657/para 1).

The author’s main interest is “to examine the relationship between the ISO 9000 standard and creativity” (p. 657/para 1). However, this is beyond the scope of the current study on the impact of ISO 9000 registration on instructional design and development efforts in military training. Therefore, the intent is to glean information that has more relevance to that topic. Nevertheless, one statement the author quotes from Cropley (2001) is very interesting and applicable to the general topic of military training. Cropley (2001) cites research findings in Australia that indicate 75% of all new college graduates are deficient in the skills of “creativity, problem solving, and independent and critical thinking” (p. 159). Certainly these are skills that could impact the military member’s survival on the battlefield. Alkeaid wants to know how ISO 9000 registration can impact these skills.

Alkeaid posits that from a behaviorist perspective, creativity depends on whether or not the learner faces a stimulus-rich environment. Much of military training today starts in the classroom, not usually a very stimulating environment. However, these initial training lessons often incorporate a SmartBoard display which presents the lesson in graphic form, coupled with individual computer workstations for the learners which duplicate the presentation on the monitor, followed by testing and graphically simulated application. After these initial training lessons, the learners are often presented with further training with mock-ups, active training devices for hands-on practice, and full-fledged simulators that combine the “actual equipment” with a graphical interface, such as a flight simulator (2007, para 8).

However, Alkeaid (2007) asserts that “According to constructivism, discovery learning is one of the most important techniques to foster creativity” (para 19). Thus, he puts creativity at the far end of constructivist theory rather than behaviorist. Certainly, military training is traditionally “by the book” and is built on procedures and checklists which do not usually encourage discovery learning. Alkeaid also cites Argyris (1993), the proponent of double-loop learning. Alkeaid identifies the behaviorist approach with what Argyris (1993) calls single-loop learning, which is defined as “the learning that occurs when intended goals are accomplished” and “is relevant for routine, repetitive” situations (para 20). Thus, Alkeaid (2007) surmises, ISO 9000 “is more likely consistent with the theory of behaviorism by specifying objectives and controlling the learning or working environment in order to achieve pre-specified objectives” (para 20). This one concept alone would seem to support an association between ISO 9000 standards and instructional design and development efforts in military training.

Alkeaid is pro-ISO 9000. The author feels that adopting ISO 9000 in community colleges “would help them to make sure that their graduates are qualified and meet the criteria that business and universities require” (para 24). This is based first on the organization of administrative work and procedures that flows from ISO 9000. Secondly, ISO 9000 adoption would include providing each student and parent with a quality manual to keep them informed as to the college’s goals, giving them a basis from which to evaluate achievement of those goals. Third, ISO 9000 focuses on training, which would be of great benefit to instructors and staff. Finally, businesses and universities recognize the ISO 9000 registration as synonymous with consistency and quality. Thus they are more prone to hire or accept these graduates based upon the ISO 9000 registration of the community college.

Nonetheless, while Alkeaid assembles and synthesizes a great deal of research and theory, he does not offer any new evidence based on any studies of his own. Though he logically and cogently presents his argument, that is, in the end analysis, all it is: an argument. And, after all, isn’t “argument” just another word for “opinion”?

References:

Alkeaid, A. (2007). ISO 9000 and creativity: Potential advantages of implementing ISO in community colleges. College Student Journal, 41(3), 657-667. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.

Argyris, C. (1993). Organizational learning II: Theory, method, and practice. Reading, Massachusetts: Addison-Wesley.

Cropley, A.J. (2001). Creativity in education and learning: A guide for teachers and educators. London: Kogan Page.

Review No. 7

The following is taken from Chapter 12 of The Certified Manager of Quality/Organizational Excellence Handbook, 3rd edition, published in 2006 by the American Society for Quality's Quality Press and edited by Russell T. Wescott.

Chapter 12, E. Quality Models and Theories

Feigenbaum’s (1991) definition of a total quality system is given first as a starting point. The definition characterizes a total quality system as an operating work structure that is agreed upon and that exists throughout each plant and the company as a whole. It consists of procedures for technical workers and managers that are both effective and integrated. These procedures are designed to guide the coordinated actions of the workforce and the machines. The ultimate goals of these procedures should be first assurance to the customer that they have quality satisfaction and second the economical cost of quality (Westcott, 2006, p. 292).

Going on, Westcott (2006) asserts that any organization that intends to implement a system for quality will simplify that process by using a model to guide its design, implementation, and assessment. Three models are suggested as those most widely used: The Baldrige National Quality Program (BNQP) in the United States, the Deming Prize in Japan, and the ISO 9000 Series standards used worldwide. The focus of this study is on the ISO 9000 Series (p. 292).

According to Westcott (2006), the purpose of the ISO 9000 standards is to assist “an organization in developing, implementing, registering, and sustaining an appropriate quality management system that functions independent of the specific product and/or service” (pp. 296-7). Westcott (2006) further stipulates that ISO 9000 standards differ from the traditional idea of a standard in that they are focused toward the quality management system, even more than the process of production and significantly more than the product.  The standard is predicated on the supposition that the QMS, when well-designed and carefully managed, will generate customer confidence in the quality of the product or service and that said product or service will meet customer expectations and requirements. Westcott (2006) further stipulates that “Certification of the quality management system, however, does not certify or guarantee the quality of the product or service produced” (p. 297).

Westcott (2006) lists eight principles of ISO 9000 that are intended to improve organizational performance, as follows (p. 297):

1. The organization has a focus on meeting customers’ requirements and exceeding customers’ expectations.
2. The organization’s leadership develops and sustains a working environment in which people become involved in helping the organization meet its objectives.
3. Throughout the entire organization, the people are enabled to utilize their abilities for the mutual benefit of the organization and themselves.
4. The inputs, resources, and outputs pertaining to the organization’s activities are managed as a process.
5. Within the organization, relationships among the processes are managed as a system, a system that supports organizational effectiveness and efficiency in meeting objectives.
6. The organization fosters continual improvement in everything it does.
7. The organization’s people make fact-based decisions.
8. Supplier relationships are mutually beneficial and value enhancing.

 Westcott (2006) further identifies the nature of the ISO 9001 standard as one that is broad and general, requiring each company to interpret them individually in the company’s own context as the company develops its own QMS to comply. The key requirements include items addressed by the QMS, management responsibilities, resource management requirements, production process requirements, and metric data analysis requirements (p. 298). Next, Westcott (2006) details eight conditions that must be remembered when implementing ISO 9001, including the eight aforementioned requirements; maintaining the primacy of customer requirements; getting customer feedback on satisfaction; maintaining resources to meet the customer’s needs; identifying and documenting all production processes; management review of progress; integration of the results of management review back into the system; and recognition that ISO 9000 “is considered a minimum requirement for an effective quality management system (QMS)” (p. 299).

Finally, Westcott (2006) delineates benefits and criticisms of ISO 9000. Benefits include reduction in waste, rework, and redundancy; reduction in potential for external failures; cost reductions; increased productivity; and improved performance. Criticisms include a tendency to overdo the quantity and complexity level of procedures; making no assurance about a company’s product; confusion as to what should be included in the quality manual, a major project of registration; and confusing objective evidence with records.

References:

Feigenbaum, A. V. (1991). Total quality control, 3rd ed. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Westcott, R. T., ed. (2006). The certified manager of quality/organizational excellence handbook, 3rd ed. Milwaukee, WI: ASQ Quality Press.

Review No. 6

Another article I found that I had stuffed into Ref Works is this one by Kidney et al:

Like many researchers in teaching and learning, these authors find the concept of quality to be “elusive” (2007, p. 17) and perceptual. Kidney, Cummings and Boehm even go so far as to quote Bannan-Ritland, Harvey, and Milheim (1998) who stipulated that, in education “’there is obviously no widely accepted measure of quality’” (Kidney, et al, 2007, p. 17). This only serves to support and underscore the measure of uncertainty current among instructional designers who are being told quality is in the process, not the product. Still, this is the focus of this article, an approach to quality assurance through the course production process.

Any instructional designer of merit will quickly affirm that a haphazard approach to the instructional design process will necessarily produce haphazard results. Still, the question remains, does a quality approach to the process necessarily assure that the product will reflect these measures? The authors of this article seem to think so.

Kidney et al point to the positive reputation at the University of Houston – Clear Lake (UHCL), their base of operations, with regard to e-learning courses. They see this as a measure of proof that using quality assurance produces quality courseware. They found that 43.6% of students at UHCL were enrolled in one or more online or web-assisted courses for the 2005 Spring semester. They reported mean scores for eight satisfaction categories ranging from 3.92 to 4.29 on a 5-point Likert scale with 5 representing “extremely satisfied” (2007, p. 28).

However, this and some accolades UHCL has received for their courses are the only statistical data that is offered. The rest of the article outlines the eight quality assurance strategies in three general categories, presented in Figure 1 and taken from the article (2007, p.19).

Figure 1.
Grouped Quality Assurance Strategies

Again, exploration into the impact of quality assurance/management techniques on instructional design efforts has validated once more the efficiency of said methods but added nothing to the measure of effectiveness.

References:

Bannan-Ritland, B., Harvey, D. M., & Milheim, W. D. (1998, June). A general framework for the development of web-based instruction. Educational Media International, 35(2), 77-80.

Kidney, G., Cummings, L., & Boehm, A. (2007). Toward a quality assurance approach to e-learning courses. International Journal on E-Learning, 6(1), 17-30. ISSN/ISBN: 15372456.

Review No. 5

Fresen wrote another article in 2007 on a subsequent study based on her dissertation research published in 2005. Here's the review of that article:

This article is a continuation of Fresen’s doctoral research. In Fresen’s Ph.D. dissertation at the University of Pretoria, her research constituted phase 1 and involved “the design and development of a process-based quality management system for web-supported learning (WSL) using a basic ISO 9000 approach…” (2007, p. 351). This article reported on the second phase of that research, an investigation of the factors that “directly affect the quality of the web-supported learning opportunities (products) produced” (2007, p. 351). Fresen alludes to the original taxonomy that was gleaned from her literature review and was comprised of “three components: underlying assumptions and exogenous factors; [a] refined taxonomy of factors in six categories; and [a] graphic interpretation based on Ingwersen’s (1996) model of information retrieval” (2007, p. 351).

Fresen begins by building a frame of reference for new readers through definitions of terms. Fresen also remarks that though quality assurance and web-supported learning are common topics, they are seldom viewed together. Therefore, Fresen attempts to “diminish this gap” (2007, p. 352) by applying the principles of quality assurance to the ADDIE principle (Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, and Evaluation), a staple of technical training, especially that of the military genre.

In this study, Fresen attempts to make the leap from the supposition that a better process makes a better product to an even more important proof of quality to learning theory, a better process has a positive effect ultimately on learning. The outcome of Fresen’s second phase was an even further improved “taxonomy of critical success factors, which contribute to improving the quality (effectiveness) of web-supported learning in a blended learning model” (2007, p. 352). To even stipulate to such a goal is, in this researcher’s opinion, tantamount to recognizing that though the immediate goal in instructional design is a well crafted lesson or course, the ultimate goal is (and should be) to facilitate learning.

However, rather than gathering quantitative data on students’ achievement vis-à-vis an experimental methodology, even a time sequenced experiment, Fresen once again does a literature review of other research with which to further refine the taxonomy. Table 1 presents the ten additional factors that were added to the original taxonomy.

Table 1.
Additional factors of quality assurance not included in the original taxonomy (2007, pp. 353-4)

                   Factor                                                               Category
Community and empathy                                      Lecturer factor
Layout and presentation                                       Instructional design factor
Appropriate bandwidth and download demands   Technology factor
Learner centered environment                              Pedagogical factor
Currency of learning resources and content          Pedagogical factor
Usability                                                             Instructional design factor
Multiple learning paths                                        Pedagogical factor
Reusable learning objects                                    Instructional design factor
Reusable learning designs                                    Instructional design factor
Student selection and entry into courses              Institutional factor

Fresen adds a caveat to the list: “In synthesizing such a taxonomy, it is impossible to list all critical success factors for quality web-supported learning” (2007, p. 354). Fresen also includes a second set of underlying assumptions and exogenous factors outside the taxonomy. Fresen has gone to great lengths to support the common tenet of supporters of ISO 9000, that it has great impact on efficiency when applied to the instructional design process. What still seems to be lacking is quantitative data that would support the contention that use of ISO 9000 principles and procedures has a similar impact on the effectiveness of the instructional design product. Instead, Fresen seems content to accept, like many other proponents of the standard, that process improvement equals product improvement.

References:

Fresen, J. (2007). A taxonomy of factors to promote quality web-supported learning. International Journal on E-Learning, 6(3), p. 351-362. ISSN/ISBN: 15372456.

Review No. 4

This review is of Craig Cochran's book ISO 9001 in Plain English:

Craig Cochran is the North Metro Regional Manager for the Enterprise Innovation Institute of the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) in Atlanta. As such, he “… consults, writes, and speaks extensively on management, improvement, problem solving, customer satisfaction, and quality” (n.d.) and is the author of five books, including this one reviewed here. In the introductory chapter, he relates that he is often asked “’Why is ISO 9001 so confusing?’” (2008, p. 1). His response is twofold: first, “…the standard was written to apply to any organization” (2008, p. 1); hence, when a standard is written to apply to everyone, it ends up not being “very well suited to anyone” (2008, p. 1). Second, the standard was written by a committee which necessarily makes it more complex than if one person had authored it.

 Cochran identifies ISO 9001 as an international quality management system (QMS) standard. He further admits that while “…few practices in ISO 9001 would be considered world-class,…the requirements represent an excellent foundation of planning, control, and improvement for just about any enterprise” (2008, p. 1). Cochran perceives ISO 9001 as a framework for employing other improvement models, such as Six Sigma and lean enterprise. Cochran sees ISO 9001 as the first step in a series of steps toward implementation of a system of quality improvement. Cochran clarifies this approach with the statement “I personally believe that ISO 9001 is a basic model for managing any enterprise” (2008, p. 1). Further, Cochran says “…I avoid using the word quality in relation to the standard anytime I can get away with it. ISO 9001 is a management system standard, period” (2008, p. 2).

 Cochran attempts to dispel any notion that ISO 9001 is a panacea for all business needs, that it will eliminate employee problems completely, that suppliers who are ISO 9001 registered will provide only the best materials and components, or that customers will voraciously consume one’s product. Rather, the writer seems to view it as a very complicated system that requires simplification in order to be understood; hence, he has written this book. The rest of the book is concerned with this very process of simplifying and explaining the requirements of ISO 9001 as expressed in the last four of the standard’s eight sections. Since this is beyond the scope of this study, the reader is encouraged to consult Mr. Cochran’s book for further enlightenment.

References:

Cochran, C. (n.d.). About me (Blog profile). Retrieved from http://craigcochran.blogspot.com/2008/06/iso-9001-in-plain-english.html

 Cochran, C. (2008). ISO 9001 in plain English. Chico, CA: Paton Press.