181th AUN-QA Programme Assessment at Chulalongkorn University (Online)

The 181th AUN-QA programme assessment at Chulalongkorn University was held online from 21 to 25 September 2020. Two study programmes were assessed: Doctor of Dental Surgery Programme and Master of Science Programme in Periodontics.  Mr. Johnson Ong Chee Bin, AUN-QA Expert led the programme assessment for the Doctor of Dental Surgery Programme with Dr. Kiran Kaur as co-assessor. This was the 4th online/remote programme assessment held by AUN-QA Network in the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Quality Assurance of Course Evaluation and Teacher Quality Workshop at University of Santos Tomas

The 2-day online workshop on "Quality Assurance of Course Evaluation and Teacher Quality" was held on 25 and 26 August 2020 for the University of Santos Tomas (UST), the Philippines. The online workshop was facilitated by Mr. Johnson Ong Chee Bin, Principal Consultant of Educational Quality International via UST Blackboard learning management system. 

The workshop was attended by 36 CITED Facilitator, Pedagogical Lead and e-learning Specialist. The learning outcomes of the workshop are:

• Apply the “ABCDE” facilitation process and “GROWTH” coaching to clients in seeking improvement on course plans and materials;
• Distinguish competences and learning outcomes;
• Apply the principle of outcomes-based education and constructive alignment to evaluate course plans and materials;
• Evaluate the constructive alignment of instructional and assessment methods to achieve learning outcomes;
• Assess validity and reliability of assessment rubrics and marking schemes for constructive alignment; and
• Enhance the evaluation of course plans, materials, teacher quality and the roles of CITED

The 2-day online workshop was a success and the feedback was:

"We cannot thank you enough for the very fruitful learning experience that we had with you for the past two days.  It was very insightful and we were able to gather a lot of inputs from the participants, with your facilitating skills".

"We have learned so much from your workshop and we plan to immediately come together as a team and synergize our efforts in applying all the concepts, ideas, strategies, and tips you shared with us".

Writing Learning Outcomes (Online) at the Faculty of Law (FLP), NUOL

The online workshop on "Writing Learning Outcomes" was organised by the LuxDev Project Office and the Faculty of Law (FLP) on 22 July 2020. The workshop was attended by 33 faculty members and administrative staff from FLP and NUOL.

The learning outcomes of the workshop are as follows:

• Explain the purpose of educational taxonomy
• Describe revised Bloom’s Taxonomy and its uses
• Explain the category of learning domains
• Relate the level of learning to learning outcomes
• Apply revised Bloom’s Taxonomy in writing learning outcomes

An exercise to review the existing learning outcomes was carried out by the departments as part of the online workshop to improve the learning outcomes of the programmes and courses offered by FLP.

The workshop was facilitated by Mr. Johnson Ong Chee Bin, International Curriculum Development Specialist and Dr. Nguyen Thi My Ngoc (Jenny), Regional Curriculum Development and Quality Specialist with Dr. Thanongsack Duangdala as the translator.

Quality Assurance Framework for Online Learning and Teaching

The European Union Support to the Higher Education in the ASEAN Region (SHARE) Programme hosted the SHARE Policy Dialogue Webinar Series on “Looking Ahead to an ASEAN Higher Education Space”, to be held between 10-25 June 2020. 

Mr. Johnson Ong Chee Bin, AUN-QA Expert (Singapore) was invited as one of the three speakers at the Policy Dialogue, Session F on "Quality Standards for Online and Distance Higher Education" on 25 June 2020. He shared the quality assurance framework for online learning and teaching in the context of AUN-QA framework at the webinar which was attended by more than 300 international participants.

The webinar can be viewed at https://youtu.be/Cx2P9Kht8_E

Assessor Training Workshop for Programme Assessment (Online) at the Faculty of Law (FLP), NUOL

The Assessor Training Workshop for Programme Assessment (Online) was jointly organised and hosted by LuxDev LAO/031 and the Faculty of Law (FLP), National University of Laos. The 3.5-day workshop was held at Donnokkhoum Campus via online facilitation from 2 to 5 June 2020. 

The workshop aims to equip participants with the strategic competencies in carrying out quality assessment of study programmes based on the AUN-QA programme framework. 

The expected learning outcomes of the workshop are:

1. Explain the principles of quality assessment;
2. Distinguish between rules-based and principles-based quality assessment;
3. Demonstrate the competences to carry out the PDCA approach to study programme assessment;
4. Formulate questions for study programme assessment and stakeholders’ interviews;
5. Conduct a desktop assessment for a study programme;
6. Conduct a site assessment including stakeholders’ interviews, site tour and documentation review; and
7. Write quality assessment feedback, presentation and report

The workshop was graced and opened by the Vice Dean, Assoc. Prof. BounTheing Phommachanh on the first day of the workshop followed by a group photo.

The workshop was facilitated online via zoom platform by Mr. Johnson Ong Chee Bin, International Curriculum Development Specialist and Dr. Nguyen Thi My Ngoc (Jenny), Regional Curriculum Development and Quality Specialist with Dr. Thanongsack Duangdala as the translator. The workshop was attended by 30 participants and 11 observers including Dean, Vice-Deans, Heads and faculty members and staff of administrative offices from FLP and the National University of Laos. 

The workshop was closed by the Dean, Assoc. Prof. Viengvilay Theingchansay with a closing speech after the certificate presentation on the final day of the workshop. The workshop was the first and ever assessor training facilitated online which ended successfully in presenting the participants with a hyper-real experience.

The Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Higher Education: Quality of Online Education - The "New Normal"

Mr. Johnson Ong Chee Bin, Founder & Principal Consultant of Education Quality International and AUN-QA expert was invited as one of the four speakers at the International Webinar - The Impact of Covid-19 Pandemic on Higher Education. The webinar was hosted by Universitas Sebelas Maret, Indonesia on 13 May 2020, 9 - 11am and attended by more than 600 participants from universities and agencies in ASEAN.

In the webinar, Mr. Johnson Ong shared the topic on "Quality of Online Education - the New Normal". It covers:

• The four waves of covid-19 disruption
• The disrupted education
• The "new normal"

The "live" stream of the webinar is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SoAh2nCJdQQ&feature=youtu.be

SAR Clinic - Writing a Good SAR (Self-Assessment Report)

In serving the mission of raising the quality assurance of higher education in ASEAN, the AUN-QA Network and Education Quality International (eqi) collaborated to hold online training workshops to raise the quality of SAR as part of their community service to the AUN-QA community in this unprecedented times of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The “SAR Clinic: Writing a Good SAR” was mooted and due to the overwhelming demands, the online training was held in two batches. The first batch was held from 20 to 24 April 2020 daily over 5 sessions (9.00 -10.30am - BKK Time) and the 2nd batch from 27 April to 1 May 2020 daily over 5 sessions (9.00 - 10.30am - BKK Time). A total of 73 participants from 46 universities and agencies in Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam attended the SAR clinic which was facilitated by Mr. Johnson Ong Chee Bin, the Principal Consultant of eqi and AUN-QA Expert and assisted by Dr. Nguyen Thi My Ngoc (Jenny), Vietnam National University-Ho Chi Minh City . 

The learning outcomes for the SAR Clinic are listed and all of them were fully achieved at the end of the training.

1. Identify the AUN-QA Criterion requirements for writing

2. Apply the techniques for writing a good SAR

3. Improve the quality of good SAR for AUN-QA assessment

A survey was held at the each of each SAR clinic and at the survey showed a gain between 55% and 63% in knowledge and skills in SAR writing after the training. Feedback from the participants was positive and some of their feedback are listed below.

"After attending the course, I understand deeply the requirements of writing criteria, such as: defining life-long learning activities, doing internal and external benchmark for research activities, illustrating the constructive alignment, I will share these knowledge to my QA staffs and the faculties of our university so that they have a good preparation for the coming AUN-QA assessments and effective quality improvement plans as well."

"The discussion from the facilitator, the sharing on the difficulties in writing the different criteria of assessment and the examples given are good insights for me to consider in writing the SAR. In spite of the very short training time, the direct to the point suggestions are very enlightening that I can apply in my institution in writing the SAR for the upcoming assessment visit in the university."

"I benefited greatly from attending the writing a Good SAR training. AUN-QA Criteria, Challenges and suggestion learned from the course will be linked to the University's IQA team and will continue to be discussed."