Eaquals Press Release 14th July 2020
The Eaquals 2020 online AGM took place on 9th July and welcomed Julie Wallis as incoming Trustee and Thom Kiddle who will serve a second term as Vice Chair on the Eaquals Board of Trustees.
Executive Director, Lou McLaughlin, provided an overview of the projects and developments over the last 12 months. The current frameworks have been developed to provide a German version for the current Eaquals TD Framework, an Eaquals Language for Academic Purposes Framework will be available in Q3 and, in addition, Eaquals are currently developing an Academic Management Competences Framework which will be piloted at the beginning of 2021.
An update on Eaquals response to the Covid10 pandemic was also provided by the Executive Director. This included:
- 14 training webinars for online language teaching and learning,
- 7 training webinars for teachers,
- 7 training webinars for managers
- 4 Q&A online webinar sessions.
Specific thanks was given to Eaquals members who had contributed to the webinar series with Case Studies (AVO Language & Examination Centre, NILE, ATC, The London School, Guided eLearning and EC English) were acknowledged and all felt that this echoed the ethos within Eaquals of sharing best practice, knowledge and expertise within the network.
At global level, Eaquals have continued to participate in meetings with GAELA, ENQA as well as meetings within the membership at both individual and national level.
The Director of Accreditation, Ludka Kotarska, updated on the Eaquals Accreditation Scheme. In 2019, Eaquals welcomed 12 new members with 2 new members joining the network in 2020 to date. This extends the current membership to 37 countries.
The revised Eaquals Accreditation Scheme version 7.2 has now been launched. The updated scheme includes new indicators added to cover online provision extensively and give it more prominence. Additionally, a set of guidelines have been developed to help Eaquals members establish a quality framework for online and blended learning provision. The Eaquals HEI (Higher Education Institution) scheme is also ready and will be piloted in Q4 of 2020.
Eaquals announced that 2021 will see the start of a new project to develop a scheme to accredit providers of online programmes – emphasising a commitment to quality, reflecting the current move to online provision and ensuring members receive the support they need.
Although the Eaquals annual conference has been postponed until April 2021, the Executive Director confirmed Eaquals was hoding oganising an online event on 23-24 October 2020 and encouraged all to follow the updates on this using the hashtag #eaqualsonline.
Lou McLaughlin, Executive Director of Eaquals said:
‘Although we couldn’t meet in person, it was wonderful to see so many of our members virtually and we look forward to when we can meet face to face at the annual conference in Belfast.’
For further details contact Lou McLaughlin – director@eaquals.org
