A Multilevel System of Quality Technology Enhanced Learning and Teaching Indicators
Introduction Improving quality of education is one of the six goals of the Education for All (EFA) Framework for Action that was slated to be achieved by 2015 (UNESCO, 2000) Representatives from 164 governments met in April 2000 in Dakar, Senegal and committed to: Improving all aspects of the quality of education and ensuring excellence of all so that recognized and measurable learning outcomes are achieved by all, especially in literacy, numeracy and essential life skills. (p. 8) According to the EFA Global Monitoring Report (UNESCO, 2015a) there have been impressive improvements across the world in access to education during this time, but quality of educational experiences and attainment of measurable learning outcomes both within and between countries have been extremely variable. There have been numerous cross national assessments of education quality during this fifteen year period, including four TIMSS and three PIRLS studies (http:/timssandpirls.bc.edu/ six PISA studies (https:/www.oecd.org/pisa/aboutpisa/ and the ICILS 2013 study (http:/www.iea.nl/icils_2013.html) as well as multiple regional studies (e.g. the studies conducted by the Southern and Eastern Africa Consortium for Monitoring Educational Quality (SACMEQ, http:/www.sacmeq.org/?q=about sacmeq) and the Latin American Laboratory for Assessment of the Quality of Education (LLECE) (http:/www.unesco.org/new/en/santiago/education/education assessment llece/ One major critique of these studies is their narrow focus on cognitive learning outcomes. Conceptions of quality education should be broadened to include outcomes such as attitudes and dispositions (Knezek Christensen, 2008; Williams Engel, 2013) and social and emotional outcomes (Learning Metrics Task Force, 2013) Quality of teachers, faculty training opportunities, quality of learning materials, the nature of the learning environment, and school leadership all contribute to student learning outcomes in important ways (Burns DarlingHammond, 2014; OECD, 2013) Studies of quality learning and teaching should include the conditions for learning at multiple levels of the education system, including conditions that support teachers and school leaders, as well as students (Jaquith et al. 2015; Law, Kampylis Punie, 2015) A shortcoming of existing large scale studies of student achievement is that these are cross sectional studies, lacking longitudinal data to shed light on the effects of different conditions and interventions such as regional or national education reforms (Goldstein, 2004; Schmidt Burroughs, 2013; Christensen, 2015) and discount the multiple levels that exist in education. The education agenda for the next fifteen years was set at the World Education Forum held in Incheon, South Korea in May of 2015. The Forum culminated in the Incheon Declaration report, Education 2030: Towards inclusive and equitable quality lifelong learning for all (World Education Forum, 2015) which defined high quality education as education that: fosters creativity and knowledge, and ensures the acquisition of the foundational skills of literacy and numeracy as well as analytical, problem solving and other high level cognitive, interpersonal and social skills. It also develops the skills, values and attitudes that enable citizens to lead healthy and fulfilled lives, make informed decisions, and respond to local and global challenges through Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) and Global Citizenship Education (GCED) (p. 7 8) Although the overarching goal of the declaration report was broad and holistic in scope, authors recognized the central role that technology should play in addressing these goals, stipulating that: "Information and communication technologies (ICTs) must be harnessed to strengthen education systems, knowledge dissemination, information access, quality and effective learning, and more effective service provision (p.
J. Educ. Technol. Soc.