An institutional approach to embedding quality in e-learning : developing staff capacity at UWS

![CDATA[At the University of Western Sydney, 90% of its undergraduate programs have e-learning sites. Whilst this indicates high usage, reviews of sites have shown variable quality of sites. The university, despite managing the e-learning system centrally, has never adopted a prescriptive, top down templated approach to the development of sites. Rather, staff have been expected to use the staff development opportunities to learn how to develop quality sites and how to incorporate the technology into their teaching practice. This approach has resulted in some excellent e-learning sites as well as some poor quality sites. The recent upgrade of our e-learning system (LMS) involved a significant change to the suite of e-learning tools available for staff to use, including access to the range of Web 2.0 technologies. Once the transition to the new infrastructure had been completed there was a strategic decision to focus on improving the quality of e-learning sites. The Teaching Development Unit, as the central unit managing the e-learning system, initiated an institutional project, Developing Quality e-Learning Sites, to implement this strategic decision. The project adopted a distributed, bottom-up approach to improving the quality of e-learning sites through developing staff capabilities and engagement with the process. Whilst it was important to have the support of the University leaders for the project, the process focussed on using fellow travellers to engage academic staff in both the development and implementation of e-learning standards. This tiered approach to involving stakeholders assured better take-up of the initiative and helped ensure ongoing sustainability of the quality assurance process.]]