Quality Measures in Online Education: a conversation with the Gates Foundation

Associate Director Alexandra M. Pickett was invited by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to visit with their Education Postesecondary Success staff  in Seattle for an informal learning conversation on assessing quality in online learning.  The intention of the meeting was to bring together a small number of researchers and practitioners to discuss the prospects of using quality measurement and design tools to unlock new levels of quality learning experiences in online/technology-enabled education.

The meeting held at the foundation offices in Seattle, Washington on April 5 and 6th, 2010 was a who’s who of individuals in public,  private, and for profit online education from all over the country and Canada including Karen Swan, Burks Oakley, Larry Ragan, Terry Anderson, Norm Vaughan, Ellen Wagner, Diana Oblinger, Phil Ice, Daniel Greenstein, John Ebersole to name a few.

·        A wiki was created for participant contributions and reflections. http://qualityonline.pbworks.com

· Summary notes from the meeting will be posted on the wiki.

The Gates Foundation is using themes from the conversations held at this event to inform potential ideas for their Digital Learning Initiative (exact name TBD). The participants in this conversation will continue to provide input and reactions as this initiative is developed.