Quality that complex issue: collaborative design for quality networked learning in HE

Taking into consideration the definition of networked learning (NWL), quality teaching in HE (HE) should be achieved by promoting collaborative and interconnected learning in technologically enhanced learning environments. However, in HE, there is still a long way to go in order to implement quality NWL, as part of a broader picture of quality teaching in HE. Factors linked to this problem are the current institutional culture in HE, that privileges attention on research more than on pedagogical practices; leading to naif pedagogical interventions based on the academics conceptions of good teaching, frequently linked to traditional approaches. In this article the authors contend that to promote quality NWL as part of quality teaching, collaborative design for learning represents an effective strategy. A case study is introduced, where collaborative processes of designing for learning are explored; specifically, the interactions between the members of an academic staff to improve a blended course, as re-design operation, are analyzed. In such process, the academics negotiate values attached to the pedagogical practices and assumptions about good teaching, as well as the role of NWL within it. In fact, collaboration triggered a number of discussions as part of negotiating the own quality perspective on pedagogical practices including NWL towards integrated, expanded quality perspective that supports academics engagement within a quality culture .