Promoting quality of e-learning and ICT use in Mongolian education:

NGO involvement

Sanjaa Baigaltugs

baigaltugs@csms.edu.mn

Mongolian University of Science and Technology

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

Insung Sung

isjung@icu.ac.jp

International Christian University

Tokyo, Japan

ABSTRACT

Since 1992 distance education (DE), especially e-learning, has found wider usage in the field of

higher, formal and vocational education in Mongolia as available technologies, including the Internet,

have greatly facilitated teaching and learning methods. In recent years some NGOs and higher education

institutions have been collaborating with foreign partners in developing and delivering quality e-learning

programmes in Mongolia. This paper will discuss how an NGO, Mongolian e-Knowledge (MeK) has

assured the quality of its e-learning development and delivery. It will look at the MeK’s quality assurance

(QA) mechanism, analyze various QA measures taken during the e-learning process, and discuss issues

and challenges of QA in e-learning.

Keywords: Accreditation, Distance education, E-learning, Quality assurance

DEVELOPMENT OF DISTANCE EDUCATION IN MONGOLIA

Since 1998, more than 10 DE projects have been implemented by a number of national higher

education institutions (HEIs) and NGOs. Most of these projects are funded by international agencies such

as the World Bank, ADB, the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) of Canada and Japan-

Funds-in-Trust. The following are projects that are related to DE or to the use of ICT in education.

Knowledge Network, funded by the IDRC and supported by the Ministry of Education,

Culture and Science (MOECS), was initiated in 1998 by an NGO, the Internet and

Information Centre, with the aim to provide news and information for teachers and

students through its website. Under this project, two schools (one in Ulaanbaatar and

another in a rural area) were provided with internet connections.

Education Sector Development Programme, funded by ADB, was implemented by

MOECS in 1998. It contributed to furnishing over 90 secondary schools in rural and urban

areas in Mongolia with computers, offering training courses for ICT education teachers and

providing technical support.

Internet Based Distance Education Project, initiated and funded by the IDRC between

2001 and 2002, introduced internet-based DE methodologies to selected Mongolian

learning communities. Outcomes of the project included several Web-based courses on

specific subjects such as English Language, ICT and computer skills, gender issues and

legal rights. A Mongolian consulting company, InfoCon Co., Ltd. was responsible for

managing and coordinating all activities of the entire project implementation, and

developing training materials in ICT. In addition, it recommended national strategies to

develop technology-based DE, based on its project experience.

Mongol Education is the first educational portal site providing a variety of educational and

training resources for teachers and students in Mongolia. Funded by MFOS and managed

by InfoCon Co., Ltd., it provides educational information to the Mongolian education

community and contributes to increasing public awareness of education reform issues.

Video conferencing centres across 12 rural provinces have been established and facilitated

jointly by the ICT Training Centre and MOECS within the framework of the ‘Capacity

Building for Civil Servants’ project funded by ADB. It is anticipated that these video

conferencing facilities will be utilized for the training of postgraduate teachers through

distance mode.

E-learning Centre was established at the Computer Science and Management School

(CSMS) of the Mongolian University of Science and Technology (MUST) in 2003, with

support from the Center for International Cooperation for Computerization of Japan. Its

mission has been to develop online content for DE. So far more than 300 content modules

have been developed in areas of engineering study and used by learners from MUST.

Whilst these developments concern various DE projects, in 2000 the Mongolian government

adopted ICT Vision-2010 as a blueprint for ICT development in the country (Government of Mongolia,

2000). The major activities undertaken in ICT Vision-2010 included:

the development of a structure to provide ICT education to all citizens;

the establishment of high-tech centres in Ulaanbaatar and major cities of other socio-

economic development areas to offer ICT education;

the creation of infrastructure for education;

the development of a detailed human resources development plan to meet ICT competency

requirements for users, trainers and specialists;

the development of electronic library systems;

the promotion of lifelong learning through open and distance learning; and the introduction

of electronic services for leisure and entertainment activities

Further, in 2002 the Mongolian government approved a National Programme on Distance

Education with the main goal of providing its people with an opportunity to engage in lifelong learning

for the improvement of their living standards, and to build a national DE system (Uyanga 2005). The

objectives of this Programme included 1) the establishment of a national DE strategy, coordination and

management; 2) the creation of a mechanism for DE services and activities; 3) the development of human

resources capacity to train DE specialists; 4) the creation of a quality distance learning environment; and

5) the selection of the most appropriate methods of distance learning to deliver content.

In 2005, the ICT Vision-2010 was further elaborated in the E-Mongolia National Programme to

establish a knowledge-based society in Mongolia by enhancing ICT applications in all sectors of society

(Government of Mongolia, 2005). In education, the E-Education Project was initiated:

to achieve an average international ICT literacy level of 80 percent of all capable people by

2012;

to ensure that 70 percent of all ‘soums’ (a primary administrative unit like a county) and all

provincial capital cities will have access to the DE system by 2012; and

to create a model ‘e-school’ and ensure that 50 percent of schools will have e-school

capability by 2012.

Since 2006, many more ICT development projects, including online and mobile content

development and the expansion of fiber optic cables, have been implemented. However, as Bates (2011)

notes, DE in Mongolia remains new or underdeveloped and national policies to support the development

of quality DE and effective ICT integration in education are still lacking.

In recent years some NGOs and HEIs have been collaborating with foreign partners in developing

and delivering quality e-learning programmes in Mongolia. The following section introduces one such

case and highlights QA efforts with respect to a strategic partnership with an established foreign e-

learning provider.

MeK NGO AND ITS QUALITY ASSURANCE

MeK QA mechanism

The NGO Mongolian e-Knowledge (MeK) was established in 2007 to promote e-learning in

Mongolia through the use of ICT. Its main objective is to contribute to the country’s development by

providing opportunities for individuals and organizations to share and manage knowledge using

electronic means. MeK is the only NGO which adopts QA standards in developing and delivering e-

learning. MeK’s main advantage lies in its collaboration with an international institution, Inwent of

Germany (now GIZ, as of 2011), that offers practice-oriented e-learning with SQS (Software Quality

System) certification.

MeK’s QA mechanism follows Inwent’s quality management system, which was developed by the

European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM). Under the Inwent-MeK agreement, MeK

courses adopt instructional design strategies and course content used in Inwent courses, although MeK

courses are delivered in the Mongolian language. New courses are developed to meet the demands of

Mongolian market, following Inwent’s quality standards. Developers of these new MeK courses include

staff from private and public universities and colleges in Mongolia.

QA in course design and delivery: MeK’s QA system adopts an holistic systems approach

when designing its courses. Academic quality standards in course design are established

and approval and review procedures are specified. Prior to the beginning of each course, a

face-to-face orientation meeting is organized to help the MeK team develop the course

syllabus and become familiar with its e-campus functions, such as how enter to a training

site and participate in discussion forums and chatting. During the course, regular and

systematic monitoring of learner support services is conducted to facilitate continuous

improvement. After the course is over, a process evaluation report is compiled and used to

make adjustments and improvements of the course.

QA in learner support: The MeK team constantly strives to improve the quality of learner

support services that currently include online consultations, asynchronous communication

via email feedback, and synchronous support via telephones and chatting. Free ICT

training courses are also provided to learners who demonstrate a lack of ICT skills in using

Moodle, before a class begins. In addition, counseling is provided by dedicated guidance

teachers on campus to those MeK learners who need to be motivated and helped to keep up

with their course schedule.

QA in evaluation and assessment: An important component of MeK’s QA process is the

development of survey questionnaires to evaluate learner satisfaction with regard to how

the courses are delivered, how the learning materials are received and utilized, how much

time is taken to complete each course, and other quality elements considered important by

the learners. Such surveys are administered at the end of each course using Internet-based

online survey tools. Survey results provide useful feedback on the courses as well as the

students’ perceptions of the quality of the course content.

Quality as process

As part of the aforementioned Inwent-MeK agreement, all courses from MeK must comply with the

‘Quality as Process’ (QaP) management system. The QaP system helps the entire organization to be

involved in the development process of both individual and group learning environments, and provides

feedback about the effectiveness of all activities during the process. MeK also adopts Inwent’s planning,

monitoring and evaluation system (PriME) for assuring the quality of its programmes. In addition, MeK

independently strives to manage its QA process beyond use of the Inwent QA tools by employing self-

assessment, external observation, assessment and verification procedures as tools to assess its

productivity. All of these measures are designed to ensure that both positive and negative experiences are

considered when strategies or quality policies are updated.

Issues and challenges

MeK has encountered several issues and challenges related to its quality management.

Lack of internal capacity: Some staff members are unable to deliver good quality courses due to

their lack of understanding of the quality aspects of e-learning. To address this issue, MeK has

provided staff training prior to the launch of the courses. However, there is still need for

continuous training opportunities, written manuals, and good communication between staff and

the organization.

Increased competition: With the increasing number of institutions adopting Moodle to deliver e-

learning in Mongolia, MeK faces competition from other organizations. Their courses use the

same open source content but are delivered over longer durations, which are more attractive to

students. MeK should develop a clear, long-term plan, which includes clear standards for quality

courseware development and support.

Low students’ e-learning readiness: Many students are unfamiliar with e-learning approaches

and have not experienced this form of learning before. Some expect lectures to be delivered, as

in the case of face-to-face delivery. This mismatch of expectations of students and providers

often results in student dissatisfaction. To meet this particular challenge, MeK has begun to

deliver most courses in a blended mode of face-to-face and online education.

CONCLUSION

The MeK experience has revealed that when there is no national QA system for DE/e-learning, a

strategic partnership with a successful international non-profit organisation with worldwide operations

dedicated to human resource development helps DE/e-learning providers build internal capacity. This has

been achieved by introducing appropriate QA policies and procedures and developing a quality culture,

all in a relatively short period of time. Among more than five thousand NGOs registered with the

Ministry of Justice and Home Affairs in 2005, 183 cited education as their main activity. But MeK is the

only NGO which adopts QA standards in developing and delivering e-learning. MeK’s main advantage

lies in its collaboration with an international institution, Inwent of Germany (now GIZ, as of 2011).

The MeK experience has taught us that the purpose of QA is to ensure the consistency of services

and products, reduce variability and unpredictability, and thus improve reliability in delivery and quality.

It has also shown that QA should aim to make processes and procedures clear to the people using them;

that is, to promote transparency and reduce uncertainty, and to avoid errors as a consequence. In the

context of e-learning, QA should reflect the unique features of e-learning, as e-learning often adopts

flexible ICT tools to promote students’ active participation. In order to establish such QA systems,

stakeholders, organizations and government agencies must communicate with each other to develop a

better understanding of what is necessary to improve the quality of DE/e-learning. As indicated by Daniel

(1999), communication, coordination, and careful attention to details are needed for QA in DE/e-learning.

The MeK case has evidenced the gradual development of a local need-based QA system as

experiences in QA activities are accumulated. Previously, Inwent courses were simply translated into

Mongolian and the MeK team did not pay too much attention to the QA elements, as the course content

was designed by Inwent. But during course implementation, the MeK team realized the necessity and

importance of modifying the course content to make it more user-friendly to meet the needs of the target

learning groups in Mongolia. It is envisaged that MeK may contribute to the establishment of a national

QA framework for DE/e-learning and the creation of QA criteria and standards in the near future.

MeK practice has taught us that capacity building efforts should be made to improve the quality of

DE/e-learning. DE/e-learning is still new in Mongolia due to lack of ICT knowledge and skills, limited

high speed broadband infrastructure, lack of funds for e-learning development, insufficient e-learning

practice and supporting national policies. For these reasons, DE/e-learning will need more time and

development before it is ready to play a major role in the provision of higher education to the Mongolian

people.

REFERENCES

Bates, A. 2011, January 14. Distance education in Mongolia. Available online at

http://www.tonybates.ca/2011/01/14/distance-education-in-mongolia/

Daniel, J. 1999. ‘Open learning and/or distance education: which one for what purpose?’ in K.

Harry (ed.), Higher Education through Open and Distance Learning, London: Routledge and

Commonwealth of Learning.

Government of Mongolia. 2000. Concept of ICT development of Mongolia by Year 2010.

Government of Mongolia. 2005. E-Mongolia National Programme.

Uyanga, S. 2005. ‘The usage of ICT for secondary education in Mongolia’, International Journal of

Education and Development using Information and Communication Technology (IJEDICT), 1(4), 101-

118.