The European Foundation for Quality in eLearning was a not-for-profit organisation which was legally established on June 30, 2005 and is based in Brussels, Belgium. It was a worldwide membership network with over 120 member organisations including universities, corporations and national agencies. The purpose of the foundation was to create a European community of users and experts to share experiences of eLearning. Two of the main initiatives of the foundation were the "UNIQUe" accreditation for Quality in e-Learning and the annual EFQUEL Forum.
History
The European Federation for Quality in E-Learning was a Non-Profit Association which had its origins in three successful European eLearning projects, all in the field of quality in E-Learning in Europe. EFQUEL approached quality in E-Learning from complementary perspectives and developed full-scale services for all educational fields, regional contexts and target groups. The Federation provided support, transparency, open participation and leadership for a broad range of topics. Over the years, EFQUEL developed a quality portfolio that covered the quality of both products and programmes in the field of technology-enhanced learning:
The UNIQUe quality label focuses on the use of ICT to enhance educational provision and learning support, throughout the entire breadth of activity of the Higher Education Institution. This sophisticated approach demands an applicant to meet high quality standards for programme objectives, programme structure, content, resources and learning processes.
Also EFQUEL hosted ECBCheck which is a new accreditation and quality improvement scheme for E-Learning programmes and institutions in international Capacity Building. It supports capacity building organisations to measure how successful their e-learning programmes are and allows for continuous improvement though peer collaboration and bench-learning.
EFQUEL was governed by a board of directors of currently 12 people. There is a at the time that EFQUEL closed.
Activities
EFQUEL's main activities involved the creation and operation of e-learning tools and labels, as well as the organisation of the yearly EFQUEL Innovation Forum - a multidisciplinary conference which brought together experts in learning from around the world to discuss the latest innovations in learning and teaching. Quality certifications and tools EFQUEL operated the following quality tools and labels:
UNIQUe - a label for quality use of ICT by Higher Education Institutions
ECB-Check - a quality label for e-learning programmes
Sevaq+ - a tool for designing and running self-assessment and shared-assessment processes in e-learning.
Project partnerships EFQUEL participated in European projects both as an initiator as well as an active project partner. EFQUEL was mainly involved in projects that focus on innovation, open access and quality assurance within various educational models and sectors. EFQUEL supported the process of developing and implementing quality frameworks and tools, assisted in research and content development, and set up peer review processes and other quality assurance processes and disseminates results among its network. Policy and research papers During the past few years, EFQUEL developed a series of papers to enter into the discussion regarding quality and technology enhanced learning.
