Total quality management for electronic educational markets

The concept of an electronic educational market, which is an "open" system for the exchange and brokerage of electronic learning resources between institutions of higher education is introduced and its value and feasibility are demonstrated within the paradigm of the EducaNext portal. The brokerage system can deal with highly heterogeneous learning resources, ranging from asynchronous educational to educational activities like computer-mediated lectures and courses. The main aim of such an endeavour is to develop and validate a scalable exchange model, which embraces offers, enquiries, booking and controlled delivery of learning resources. The key innovation is to create and manage an open electronic educational market with a standardized way of describing the pedagogical, administrative and technical characteristics of learning resources. Electronic educational markets enable institutions to enrich their curricula with remotely sourced material. The emphasis here is placed on the quality management of electronic educational markets.