Questions over Quality

I have taken a number of online courses over the years and some of them have been great while others have been just adequate. They all have something in common though, particularly in the UK job market, namely that they are not acceptable to the employers in pretty much every walk of life, especially in education. It is a blanket approach that is still in effect across the sector and I can understand it in principle but I think more nuance needs to be applied especially as the sector uses online education very widely and efficiently in many areas. It’s not perfect that’s for sure, but I find it interesting that any other course other than ones they buy in or produce themselves are deemed as being of insufficient quality.

I have produced online courses for my employer that have been of varying quality but have always been at least serviceable. I have taken online courses provided by my employer that have been anything but. Very early in the days of online courses I took a DELTA online which was of very high quality and gave me much better skills in the classroom. I added this to my CV and was told that I would have to remove it as it wasn’t acceptable.  I offered to show the firm who interviewed me the materials and the work I produced but they said they were not interested as anything online was obviously substandard. Ironically I did get the job and ended up working there for two years but the benefit I got from the online DELTA stayed between me and my students. My online course cost a couple of hundred pounds, an official DELTA covering the same ground cost upwards of 20 times more and my Masters degree in TESOL cost 40 times more but covered a lot of the same ground. Was it worth doing? Absolutely, because it gave me vital groundwork for my Masters and my subsequent teaching. Was it beneficial for my career? In practice, yes. In the profession in terms of my standing, no. Would I do it again if I was back in 2002? Without hesitation.

So, if you are an employer or you work in recruitment you should broaden your horizons in terms of what you accept. Question the applicant closely and deeply to ascertain the extent to which the course has prepared them for the job they are applying for. Be sceptical of anything you see, but open your mind to the useful outcome because it can come from anywhere.