Applying Quality Approaches on ICT-based Educational Products

Abstract The quality of any product or service should be assessed and measured by rigorous processes and standards and it cannot be treated as a merely intuitive or subjective factor. For complex products and services ICT-based that supports education it is no different. These products consider different disciplines such as Instructional Design, Cognitive Psychology, Computer Science, and it may become more difficult to measure and characterize their quality. However, studies show the construction of specific process models for them and this work considers quality approaches related to these models, as the Quality Assurance and Quality Control. Specific models and international standards for e-Learning and Distance Education are also presented emphasizing the studies relating the quality of the educational products and services that consider ICT. At the end, a quality model is presented in detail, addressing a continuous improvement concept. It can be used in a development, self-evaluation or certification phase of educational products