Why Quality Is Important And 4 Checkpoints To Ensure Quality In eLearning Courses

Why Quality Is Important And 4 Checkpoints To Ensure Quality In eLearning Courses
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Summary: Probably, editors and the quality control specialists enjoy an undisputed hatred over other members of a courseware development team. Nevertheless, quality is important. But why? Why do organizations invest so much in quality assurance? Is this just for aesthetic reasons?

4 Checkpoints To Ensure Quality In eLearning Courses

"Necessity is the mother of all inventions" - Plato

The Oxford Dictionary describes the above-mentioned proverb as: "When the need for something becomes imperative, you are forced to find ways of getting or achieving it". In a colloquial form, we can say that the primary driving force for most new inventions is a need. Long ago, a Greek philosopher named Plato had uttered this philosophical quote, which formed the basis of numerous advanced research and works.

Abraham Maslow, an American psychologist, apparently extended the idea. He suggested that people are motivated to achieve certain needs, and some needs take precedence over others. Our most basic need is physical survival, and this will be the first thing that motivates our behavior. Once that level is fulfilled, the next level up is what motivates us, and so on.

In his paper, A Theory of Human Motivation, he proposed that motivation is the result of a person's attempt at fulfilling 5 basic needs, starting from physiological, safety, social, esteem, and self-actualization.

Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Maslow%27s_hierarchy_of_needs.svg

By J. Finkelstein

The first 4 levels of the hierarchy form the Deficiency (D) block, and the remaining one is the Growth/Being (B) block. Deficiency needs are caused because of lack or scarcity of material and emotional benefits, considered to be a basic necessity of an individual. Maslow suggests that the D needs are dominant over B. For example, an individual who is famished, will be more motivated (and, in fact, desperate) to fulfill the need for food (Physiological, first level) than to fulfill the need for a spouse (Love/Belonging, third level)!

I would consider the Safety and Security level of this pyramid in order to explain why quality is important in eLearning courses.

In this era of information technology, a lot of knowledge is being created. Though it is impossible to fathom the whole of it, thanks to the documentation, and Learning and Development fraternity for mending the gaps and keeping the inflow of knowledge intact. However, with the rise of more information and knowledge, the struggle for authenticity has risen too.

Let us try to understand that with the help of a triptych:

Source: Created by Sunanda Dey (self), Icons made by Freepik from www.flaticon.com

Βy Sunanda Dey

The course which offers learning without any threat of being cheated or fooled actually motivates you and propels you to meet the next levels—by ensuring a security to your knowledge. So, we can safely land on the fact that the way to a learner’s mind is through quality.

Let's now consider the next level, which is Friendship and Collaboration; Once we fulfill the need of security, we will be motivated to collaborate and share our ideas on what we learn, hence the learning process would continue—all along with quality.

To a few of us, maintaining a quality might sound a bit too subjective. If we practice the below-mentioned checkpoints that are independent of the type of industry, domain, demography, and so on, we can be assured of quality, leading to an effective learning process.

4 Checkpoints To Ensure Quality

When we adapt to these 4 checkpoints, quality no longer remains a supplement to our courses; it becomes an identity. Let us practice to attain quality, till it gets incorporated into our habits.

  1. A sensible chronology of topics and a balance of theory to practice ratio is the first checkpoint. We should also consider adequate chunking of information, and a proportional text to graphics ratio to reduce the cognitive load.
  2. Grammar and punctuation make the second checkpoint. We should review the areas where people can make most mistakes; like subject-verb agreement, usage of simple present tense, articles, and punctuation marks. Grammatically correct communication language makes a strong appeal to people who make mistakes. This is because of the fact that they look up to courses/course developers as a medium of their information. They cannot belittle themselves for recalling or conveying a wrong information, which they have learned from a course. They like to consider the source of their knowledge as an authority, who is answerable to their doubts. Ideally, if we are writing in English, the usage of a standard style document (Microsoft Manual of Style, or Chicago Manual of Style) can come in really handy. Grammarly can also be used for grammar references.
  3. Concise content consumes less of time, and so is desirable for eLearning. Simple sentences—limiting the usage of the comma (,) to a maximum of 2 in a sentence—helps to alleviate the cognitive load. With a clear objective, it is better to transfer the compact knowledge instead of beating around the bushes.
  4. Uniform text formats, graphics, fonts, style, design, and margins—commonly referred to as 'parallelism' is another major factor that gives your course a distinct identity. You can create your own style to reach out to a learner's mind; just ensure that they are consistent throughout.

A writer is always answerable to his/her readers—under all circumstances—by all means. We, actually, do not have any rights to misguide/mislead our readers anyhow. We must possess all the evidence about what we write and be reasonable for taking a decision—if required.

These 4 checkpoints should rather propel you to approach the better writing practices instead of scaring you to the bone. If your readers trust you, they will be motivated to learn more, which in turn shall fill you with a sense of satisfaction...

In my next article, I will share how Maslow's pyramid can be applied to an effective learning design process.

Stay tuned...