OnlineHE_Toolkit

8 The European Commission's support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents, which reflect the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein. Project Number: 2020-1-RO01-KA226-HE-095434 1.1. Strategic actions for distance learning Before designing an online course/learning programme, it is recommended that HEIs have an overall mission with specific goals they want to achieve. This way all the actions taken will be aligned to the direction toward which the distance learning programmes are going. Firstly, an established coordination team consisting of leaders, eLearning experts, faculty, researchers, and support staff will deal with administrative issues on an institutional level. The responsibilities for each participant of the online education system should be defined. Through collaboration, this team will be responsible for the preparation, implementation, progress review, and overall evaluation of distance learning. It is also worth recruiting instructional/learning designers as integral members of the staff. A strong collaboration between an academic/ instructor and an instructional/learning designer is the basis for the creation of an effective online learning environment since the former is an expert of the subject matter and the latter an expert of design theories and user experience practices. It shouldn’t be a prerequisite that academics have the knowledge or skills to design a usable, functional, and attractive environment, in terms of presentation and structure. Their time is also limited due to their major responsibilities of handling an online classroom and supporting learners. Therefore, when instructional designers, developers, and instructors cooperate, the best possible meaningful experience is provided to learners, tackling technical and pedagogical issues. In addition, the institutional teams can also coordinate online activities, provide technical support, and create guidelines for the use of digital platforms and tools in education. Specific staff could also be an immediate contact point for students, ensuring their obstacles are tackled and their voices are heard. Along with that, an established collaboration with external stakeholders such as other universities, (research) organisations, and business, promotes the exchange of best practice ideas, so that we can follow the state-of-the-art. Having signed partnerships with local and/or international providers (e.g., Google, Microsoft), national television channels, provides support for moving courses online. We also need to consider the quality assurance measures and plans . An internal quality assurance procedure needs to be aligned with national and international regulations that will be both a guide and an evaluation tool for the effectiveness of teaching and learning (Eteokleous & Neophytou, 2019; Koutselini, 2020). For instance, the European Standards and Guidelines (ESG) can be used during the implementation of an action plan for successful eLearning in Higher Education. There are distinct characteristics of quality online courses. First, a purposefully developed curriculum focuses on improving the learning outcomes. An alignment of the objectives, the learning activities, and the assessment is of utmost importance. For this reason, we should exploit the capabilities of the Virtual Learning