epprobate is a new international quality label for courseware, an initiative of three organisations: The Learning Agency Network (LANETO), the Agence Wallonne des Télécommunication (AWT) and the e-Learning Quality Service Center (eLQSC).
epprobate has reviewers and partners in over 30 countries, and launches at the end of March this year.
It is currently looking for both new international partners and paid reviewers.
Organizations that are looking for independent quality assurance of their courseware will pay a fee to have the courseware assessed by epprobate. The courseware will be evaluated from the points of view of e-learning pedagogy, content accuracy, technical delivery, and acceptability by the target group by a local epprobate partner. The local (national) report will then be reviewed by epprobate‘s international review committee. Feedback is provided to the client organization, as well as recognition in appropriate cases.
Each year an epprobate award for excellence will be awarded to the courseware judged to be most outstanding amongst those awarded the epprobate label during that year.
For more information, go to: http://www.epprobate.com/
Although already accredited educational institutions are unlikely to use this service, it could be very useful for commercial e-learning software and materials created by individuals or non-formal educational organizations, such as NGOs.
This could also be a useful way to evaluate open educational resources in an independent way, but the weakness is that it is dependent on organizations paying for this review and one wonders at how independent such a review can be.
Dr. Tony Bates is the author of eleven books in the field of online learning and distance education. He has provided consulting services specializing in training in the planning and management of online learning and distance education, working with over 40 organizations in 25 countries. Tony is a Research Associate with Contact North | Contact Nord, Ontario’s Distance Education & Training Network.
[…] epprobate is a new international quality label for courseware, an initiative of three organisations: The Learning Agency Network (LANETO), the Agence Wallonne des Télécommunication (AWT) and the e-Learning Quality Service Center (eLQSC). epprobate has reviewers and partners in over 30 countries, and launches at the end of March 2012. For more information click here and here […]
Thanks for mentioning ‘epprobate’ and for your thoughtful comments, including the point that “the test will be whether epprobate is willing to deny recognition for materials that do not meet the highest standards, even though the client has paid a fee for the review”. We have been working on the development of ‘epprobate’ for some nine months now, and have identified this issue as a potential problem. We believe that the following elements of the review process should help to address the problem:
a) we will carry out an initial screening for a small fee so that we can reject any really unsuitable materials quickly before any great investment by either side
b) we will maintain standards by using a public set of indicators, and by carrying out reviews from the perspectives of multiple stakeholders, carrying out reviews at a national level under the supervision of an international awarding group
c) we will focus on providing feedback from the reviewers and on consultative collaboration with the client in improving their product, and it is this that that client is basically paying for rather than the label as such.
Harvey Mellar (Director of epprobate)
Thanks, Harvey
That’s very helpful