CHIRON
CHIRON is an EU-funded project (under the Leonardo programme) whose aim is "to develop reference material presenting and analysing research outcomes, experiments and best practice solutions for new forms of e-learning, based on integration of broadband web-, digital TV- and mobile technologies for ubiquitous applications in the sector of non-formal and informal life-long learning". There is a CHIRON web site at http://semioweb.msh-paris.fr/chiron/. They tend to use the phrase "u-learning" rather than "e-learning", where "u" denotes "ubiquity",
As part of this brief, CHIRON appears to be developing a benchmarking methodology. This is specifically referred to in Work Package 7.
There are 11 criteria, divided into a total of 216 indicators. The criteria are as follows:
- 01 Goals and Objectives of the course (12 indicators)
- 02 Institutional Support (14 indicators)
- 03 Course Development (50 indicators)
- 04 Course Structure (12 indicators)
- 05 Course Content (25 indicators)
- 06 Teaching/Learning (19 indicators)
- 07 Student Support (18 indicators)
- 08 Faculty Support (4 indicators)
- 09 Evaluation and Assessment (24 indicators)
- 10 Accessibility (26 indicators)
- 11 Language (12 indicators)
Most of the indicators are best described as specific and rather detailed e-learning standards and guidelines (for example on house style, usability, etc.). The remaining few are drawn from a range of sources, including from the Quality on the Line criteria developed in the late 1990s by the Institute for Higher Education Policy in the US.
Read more about this topic: Benchmarking E-learning