ABSTRACT

Both innovation and quality assurance are prominent concerns in higher education institutions but research is ambiguous with respect to the relationship between quality assurance and innovation. Specifically, it is unclear whether quality assurance supports innovation or, conversely, acts as a hindrance. As a relatively new innovation, massive open online courses (MOOCs) yield insights into the relationship between quality assurance and innovation in higher education institutions. This article explores how quality assurance is adapted to accommodate MOOCs based on case studies in five universities in the United Kingdom. Our findings suggest that quality assurance does not support innovations such as MOOCs because most universities use a relatively superficial approach that focuses on technical requirements rather than academic quality. The study provides suitable empirical evidence to support a cogent argument that universities should evaluate MOOCs through quality assurance, both to identify strengths and to expose weaknesses that need to be developed.

摘要

在高等教育机构中，创新和质量保证两者都是突出的关注点，但是关于质量保证和创新之间的关系的研究尚不明确。具体而言，目前尚不清楚质量保证是否支持创新，或者反过来，它是否会成为障碍。作为一种相对较新的创新，大规模的在线公开课程（MOOC）可以洞察高等教育机构中质量保证与创新之间的关系。本文根据英国五所大学的案例研究，探讨如何针对MOOC调整质量保证。我们的发现表明，质量保证不支持MOOC等创新，因为大多数大学都采用相对肤浅的方法，侧重于技术要求而不是学术质量。