External consultants
You can also make use of external consultants. Many service providers
have specialised in advisory services for companies that want to introduce
eLearning (for more information, see the relevant section in chapter
5).
Internal quality inspection
A company can also perform a quality check on its own. Since prerequisites
can vary significantly from employee to employee and from company
to company, there are various quality standards that should be used
for such inspections. The project EQO (European Quality Observatory)
founded by the European Commission has defined about 70 standards,
ranging from simple checklists to complex systems that take into consideration
every element involved in the production and introduction of eLearning.
All these standards are available in a database (“EQO-Repository”
at www.eqo.info)
eLearning is frequently associated with standards like LOM, SCORM,
PAS, etc. These are not exactly quality criteria or seals of approval.
Rather, such standards provide a basis for exchanging the learning
contents of different suppliers. By doing so, they make a significant
contribution to quality assurance.
When purchasing eLearning products it is important for users as well
as decision makers to assure that the products are compliant to standards
like LOM, SCORM, PAS, etc. Therefore this question should be part
of the personal checklist when buying.
Pilot testing in your own company
A good idea is to have some employees test the eLearning application
first before deciding whether to implement it or not. The
questions that are listed in the checklist “Evaluation
of eLearning application by trial users” may help you to make
the right decision. |
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