A Benchmarking Exercise for Quality Blended Learning. A Challenge for European Universities in the 21st Century

Abstract

This paper shares the experiences of 5 universities involved in a Benchmarking Exercise oneLearning in 2009 through ESMU. A total of 9 European universities participated in theexercise with the purpose of evaluating their existing eLearning practices and policies andgetting advice on which areas to improve and how.Initially, the paper discusses the benchmarking concept and reasons why institutions shouldengage in benchmarking exercises. Benchmarking is viewed as a method for qualityassurance and enhancement in higher education. Self-assessment is involved at theparticipating institutions, which leads to a high level of awareness and understanding ofexisting practices and policies at different levels of the organisation. Benchmarking is thus anefficient self-improvement tool.In chapter two, the planning of the benchmarking exercise is outlined. A combination of anindividual, collaborative and expert approach to benchmarking was chosen.Chapter three deals with the creation of the benchmarking questionnaire which was acollaborative effort between all nine participating universities, ESMU and EADTU. Takingtheir starting point in the online E-xellence benchmarking tool developed by EADTU,participants reformulated, deleted and added benchmarks within the following six categories:Strategic management, curriculum design, course design, course delivery, staff support andstudent support. An effort was made to translate the E-xellence questions to the blendedlearning context of the participating universities.The internal data collection and formulation of responses are accounted for in chapter 4which also contains reflections on the challenges and benefits of the selected approaches.Chapter five presents the overall conclusions of the benchmarking exercise within each ofthe six benchmark categories.The final chapter discusses and provides examples of how participants can use thebenchmarking results to improve existing practices and policies and outlines potentialexternal collaboration opportunities between participants.