A Conceptual Framework for Implementing Quality Assurance in Distance Education and Training Across Cultures

摘要

There is a growing tide of interest focusing on Quality Assurance in distance education and training. While explicit barriers to educational services available internationally have been considerably reduced under the influence of globalization of the world economy in recent years, Quality Assurancerelated practices of distance education institutions continue to be unstandardised due to different cultural influences. This trend has important implications for the question of how far Quality Assurance implementation will go in terms of standardisation. If the depth and width of distance education is limited by the reach of cultural boundaries, does it not logically follow that national cultures impose constraints on Quality Assurance implementation in distance education? Can a Quality Assurance framework for distance education become universal while culture remains national or local? Or, to ask a different but related question, what would Quality Assurance implementation look like in a world characterized by international growth of distance education on the one hand and the existense of different cultural contexts on the other? This paper addresses this question and seeks to provide a conceptual framework of Quality Assurance implementation in distance education across cultures.