Paris (FR), March 2007 - The European Foundation for Quality in eLearning (EFQUEL) has nominated two innovators to be honored with the first eQuality Awards, for using ICT to improve the quality and organisational relevance of learning. The prizewinners are the organisations that have demonstrated the highest quality of innovative use of learning technologies in support of learning and development.
The awards were validated by a jury composed of European eLearning experts on the basis of the guiding criteria of the EFQUEL eQuality Maturity Model, which was designed to provide a framework for self-assessment of organisations willing to measure their own advancement in the use of ICT to support quality improvement of their internal learning processes. "We received many good entries presenting very well-documented concepts for quality improvement in eLearning for the award, and it was a tight decision," Ulf-Daniel Ehlers, Vice-President of the EFQUEL observed. "There seems to be a sound understanding for the concept of eQuality throughout Europe already."
The winner in the EFQUEL eQuality Award in the category "Providers of eQuality solutions and services" was Chaîne éditoriale Process, an editing tool developed by ICS (Ingénierie des Contenus et Savoirs, Université de Technologie de Compiègne) represented by Manuel Majada and Stéphane Crozat. In the opinion of the jury: "This documentation tool is an excellent approach to eQuality and a key component of the learning process. Chaîne éditoriale Process is therefore a very useful initiative to support quality of learning".
The winner in the category "eQuality users and implementers" is the E-Learning Center of the University of Zurich, represented by Schewa Mandel. "The University of Zurich's Quality Management in eLearning initiative is a very robust tool for project monitoring, self evaluation, and strategic controlling. This approach will certainly improve and increase the quality of eLearning projects and courses", concluded the jury.
The objective of the EFQUEL eQuality Award is to provide a framework for the use of digital technologies in the management of quality assurance processes, making the quality process an organic part of organisational learning activities. It aims at providing recognition to the providers of eQuality solutions and systems as well as to organisations implementing eQuality systems.
The finalists nominated for the EFQUEL Equality Award were:
Providers of eQuality solutions and services
Chaîne éditoriale Process - Manuel Majada/ Stéphane Crozat from the University Technologie de Compiègne
Peer & ICT Organization (PICO) - Paolo Lippi/ Giacomo Gensin from SAGO Spa
Self-study course for the technical Swedish - Maria Katajamäki/ Anu Telkkinen from Promentor Solutions Ltd.
Users and implementers of eQuality solutions
Quality Management in eLearning - Schewa Mandel from the ELearning-Center, University of Zurich, Switzerland
EFMD CEL - Accreditation for Technology-Enhanced Learning - Jim Herbolich/ Matthew Wood from the European Foundation for Management Development
Quality management strategy in the FODEPAL project - Santiago Gonzalez/ Luis Lobo Guerra from Fodepal Fao-Aeci
