SUSTAINABLE QUALITY ENHANCEMENT IN HIGHER EDUCATION LEARNING AND TEACHING. Integrative Core Dataset and Performance Data Analytics

The SQELT project aims at establishing a comprehensive learning and teaching (L&T) core dataset for assessing higher education institutions’ (HEIs) performance quality in L&T. The dataset shall be empirically reliable and relevant for quality enhancement and strategic governance; it shall include data definition, data formats and software-adequacy. The dataset includes generic core data relevant to any HEI, but also 'individual' performance data according adjusted to specific profiles. The integrative dataset shall be prepared for its use in Digital Performance Data Management, in particular Learning Analytics, including an ethical code of practice.

The main target groups of the SQELT project are HEIs' actors in L&T and stakeholders interested in L&T quality enhancement - students, parents, employers, HE politics, QA agencies. The SQELT project intends to include as many of these as possible. Though the focus will be on HEIs including students, teaching staff and internal QA, and secondly on QA agencies and HE politics.

The SQELT project builds on available data management models in L&T, an analysis of current literature, own performance data management models and practice of project participants, external experts’ knowledge, and surveys with the project partners about their use of performance data and indicators. The dataset will be developed by conceptual analysis and comparison of the various sources including benchmarking of the partner HEIs and an impact analysis to support inductive development of a reference framework for the dataset.

The SQELT Consortium consists of ten institutional partners, among them eight HEIs, one research centre and one QA agency. The project has six Transnational Project Meetings and nine Multiplier Events. The main outputs will be a Benchlearning Report, a Learning and Teaching Core Dataset, Evaluation Report, Ethical Code of Practice for Learning Analytics, Manual, and peer-reviewed publications of the results.

Partners:

• Evalag / Stiftung Evaluationsagentur Baden-Württemberg (DE, lead partner)
• Universidade de Aveiro (PT)
• Universiteit Gent (BE)
• Universiteit Leiden (NL)
• Centro de Investigação de Políticas do Ensino Superior (PT)
• Universität für Weiterbildung Krems (AT)
• Uniwersytet Jagiellonski (PL)
• Birmingham City University (UK)
• Università degli Studi di Milano (IT)
• Universitetet i Oslo (NO)