Governance and quality assurance
Statement
About this guideline
Reasonable action should be taken to ensure that digital learning resources meet relevant service and professional development needs. Governance and quality assurance measures should provide assurance that resources meet appropriate quality requirements (including the NES Quality Guidelines for Digital Learning Resources) prior to launch and that quality is maintained and improved effectively on an ongoing basis.
Who is this guideline for?
What types of resources does this guideline apply to?
Further enquiries and useful information
- The e-Learning team and the Learn Content team
- Turas style guide version 2 (note this is currently in development and link directs to version 1)
Sources of help and information for NES staff
- Digital Learning Helpdesk .
- The TEL support team can provide a range of advice and support materials including evaluation questionnaires and related resources
- The NES Design team (NES staff can contact the Design team and video help via this helpdesk)
- The NES UX team can advise on user experience and user research (however the service may be more applicable to products than e-Learning)
Checklist
Resources must meet a recognised development and/or service need as agreed with the Scottish Government or identified by relevant stakeholders. Learning outcomes must be clearly aligned with service needs and should enable learners to practise at the required standard.
Relevant stakeholders and subject matter experts must be involved in the specification, development and approval of published resources. Scripts should be approved by the subject matter expert(s) and content signed-off before the final stages of development. There must be a named NES point of contact for any external subject matter experts involved in the development.
Technical experts must be involved in the design, development and governance of resources to provide advice on the performance of resources and the user experience (including accessibility of resources)
Accountability and responsibilities for the management and quality of resources must be clear from the outset of the planning and development process.
Governance and quality assurance arrangements must ensure resources are aligned with key reference points including (but not limited to) legislation, Scottish Government policy, clinical and professional standards and the Quality Guidelines for Digital Learning Resources.
Governance and quality assurance arrangements must ensure that resources have been subject to appropriate technical and user testing. NES digital learning resources must be submitted for technical and accessibility testing by the e-Learning Team.
Ongoing evaluation of the learner experience, technical performance and impact of resources must be used to guide quality improvement. Users should be given the opportunity to provide feedback on the Digital Learning resources, either via a link in the resources or a link on the Turas Learn or web page it is hosted on. Important issues identified through evaluation and user feedback must be addressed promptly. Licenced NES staff can access evaluation questionnaires from the Questback website or from the TEL evaluation section on the NES intranet pages .
Resources must be subject to a formal review involving relevant stakeholders and subject matter and technical experts within a maximum three years of initial launch (or previous review) and must be updated within a maximum of three years. URL hyperlinks must be checked annually.
Development and use of externally commissioned digital learning resources must be subject to a signed agreement specifying the responsibilities of all organisations and individuals involved. This should include agreeing responsibilities for quality management, the provision of reports and data, ownership of and responsibilities for intellectual property generated, and the liabilities of each party. (Advice available from the NES Procurement Team and Planning & Corporate Resources Team).
Sharing of digital learning resources for hosting by external organisations must be governed by signed agreements setting out the responsibilities of each party for use, updating, reporting and quality management (contact the Digital Learning Helpdesk for agreement template and advice)