Launch of the Bequel Online Benchmarking Tool

The Bequel consortium is happy to announce that the Online Benchmarking Tool for Quality Assurance in E-Learning Provision of Vocational Education and Training has been launched. This benchmarking tool allows VET providers to compare their e-learning quality assurance practices quickly and effectively to those of other institutions across the EU. Based on VET providers' answers to an online questionnaire, the benchmarking tool generates an individual report, highlighting the weaknesses and strengths of each respondent organisation. The questionnaire covers six thematic areas: Strategy and policy for e-learning, Support for trainers and trainees, Infrastructure support, Programme/course design, Development and approval for e-learning, and e-learning training program evaluation procedures. Each section consists of a set of statements and using a four-level frequency Likert scale, respondents answer to what extent the statement applies to the policies and practices which are in place in their institution.

Please note that:

• VET Institutes that would like to participate need to create an account to use the benchmarking tool. Individual reports are generated anonymously and can only be accessed through the institute's account. However, an anonymised statistical overview of participating institutions' responses is available to the public on the Bequel website.
• To generate comparative analyses and reports, a minimum of 20 questionnaires globally and in each country needs to be submitted. Before this number is reached, questionnaires are anonymously stored but not compared. Once the critical mass is reached, individual reports are published, outlining the user's three strongest and three weakest attributes relative to the other participating institutions (either within their country or across Europe).