Abstract:

The issue pertaining to the quality and the introduction of conceptual meanings related to the educational environment denotes the process of reassessment regarding the attempts for reform in the last decades, and the tendency to redefine the educational systems, particularly in Higher Education. The main objective of these reforms is not only to improve the effectiveness, but also to ameliorate their adaptation and harmonization with the increasing demands of modern societies, while taking into account competitiveness and accountability trends. The rapid and radical evolutions that add meaning to the context of education, dictate, in comparison to the recent past, revisions, rearrangements and, concurrently, more complex approaches in the management of aspects concerning education.

Concepts that only a few years ago exclusively dominated the job market and were the subject of in depth studies of the economic sciences, gradually emerged in the terminology used in public education regarding Higher Education. In the last decades, they have engaged the full interest of those responsible for the creation of policies relevant to Higher Education. Such terminology is, for example, the "guarantee of quality of products and services", the "quality and evaluation", the "accountability", the "efficiency", the "competitiveness", "the educational customers" etc. The need for constant reform in elements related to education through a systematic monitoring process which examines the improvement of the quality and effectiveness of education is imperative, as the current social, economic, cultural and technological developments greatly affect the educational area, in both its objectives and activities which are implemented in the context of education and in its results. Based on this knowledge, exploring the concept of quality in general and, specifically, the pursuit of the conceptual delimitation of the terms, Quality in Higher Education- and more precisely- Quality in Distance Education and Quality in designing courses which are offered with the methodology of distance education, are considered to be of vital importance.

The main objective of this study is to identify, analyze and evaluate the main quality assurance design standards for e-learning courses and thus share a common quality assurance framework. An exhaustive literature review was conducted to achieve this objective and the finding can be shared by different institutions that provide online programs, independently of the pedagogical model applied.

Keywords:

Quality assurance, e-learning, course design, quality standards, distance education.