eLearning programme
Les Rencontres du eLearning et de la Formation Mixte
Einführung von Online- oder Hybrid-Kursen in einer traditionellen Universität
Der Artikel diskutiert einen auf dem Konzept des Bildungswandels basierenden Vorschlag zur Einführung von e-Learning in einer traditionellen Universität. Er prüft die wichtigsten Hindernisse, die die Einführung von e-Learning an amerikanischen Hochschulen erschweren, und umreißt Strategien und Anreize, die die Universitäten einführen sollten, um die Aufgabe zu erfüllen. Hinsichtlich der Möglichkeit kompletter Online-Studiengänge und Blended-Learning-Programme, befasst sich der Artikel außerdem damit, (a) wie solche Programme aufzubauen und (b) im Bildungssektor an den Mann zu bringen wären und (c) wie ihre Wirksamkeit auf kontinuierlicher Basis bewertet werden könnte. Es ist für traditionelle Universitäten wichtig, e-Learning und hybride Lernkonzepte in Erwägung zu ziehen, wenn sie sich ihre Wettbewerbsfähigkeit bewahren wollen.
Fernlehre und e-Learning in der Türkei und Osteuropa
Interview with Sofoklis Sotiriou, project coordinator of the COLLAGE Project (2005)
After the eLearning Programme closed down the EACEA Agency interviewed the coordinators of some of the projects that were funded by this programme. You can read here the answers given by Sofoklis Sotiriou, project coordinator of COLLAGE - Collaborative Learning Platform Using Game-like Enhancements
How did the project improve possibilities for eLearning?
The project was realized within the eLearning programme, so before Key Activity 3 ICT under Lifelong Learning programme and that time the concept of GPRS was very new and in the process of development. From this point of view, we can say that the COLLAGE Project was very well placed in timing and the use of mobile technology in education was presented as a complimentary tool for the curriculum at school through methodologies inside and outside the school. Within the project, new opportunities were created for being connected with the curriculum via mobile technology and for extending the school education in informal learning models.
Another improvement has occurred for teachers involved in the project; they had to think about how to organize on the field activities involving mobile technologies within the curriculum and educational learning aims.
In your training and professional experience, what has facilitated access to the new technologies for education? What has created a barrier? And what are the problems you have faced?
During COLLAGE Project, teachers were asked to prepare wap applications on the computer for students to see them on their mobile phones. For e.g.: A visit to the museum of Foundation Hellenic World was organized firstly through a wap application and then it was combined with a real visit. During that one, it was observed that students were capable to visualize the structure and the history of the museum, and they could reply the questions correctly. So, specific educational needs were met through use of mobile technology in learning, even if the GPRS technology was just available.
Concerning the problems encountered, it's possible to refer to the facts that the use of mobile technologies in education wasn't involved in the curriculum at schools and that the adaptation of teachers to the technology was more difficult than students.
What impact has the eLearning programme and project had on the lives of beneficiaries/target groups?
It's possible to say that now there are more applications in learning with mobile technology and many improvements in this field, so the COLLAGE Project demonstrated how successful the use of mobile technology is for educational purposes.
What were the impacts of the project for the educational or wider community in project countries and in EU policy?
In project countries, the local and national authorities are encouraging the mobile technology in the curriculum. For e.g.: In Greece, the municipality of Athens organizes every weekend study visits for secondary schools by using the game scenarios developed within the COLLAGE Project. Another example is from Austria, the Ministry of National Education made possible the use of game scenarios of COLLAGE Project in the educational system, so that the e-learning through mobile technology becomes accessible for every pupils and teachers in Austria.
At EU level, COLLAGE Project became a starting point for another European level project on use and re-use of digital education content in re-designing exhibitions in museums. More information on Open Science Resources project can be reached on http://www.openscienceresources.eu.What was your experience of working with partners in other European countries?
The consortium of the project has been composed of the partners knowing each other as a result of previous partnerships and this fact affected implementation of the project very positively. Also all partners were very strong and well-known in education and mobile technology fields. After the successful implementation of COLLAGE Project, the partnership in other projects still continues.
How was the sustainability of the project ensured?
The platform established within the project is still used by 10 schools in Greece and also by Municipality of Athens and Ministry of Education in Austria.
The project COLLAGE has proved to achieve most of its goals, opening the door to integrate new learning strategies using mobile technologies, mainly PDAs, and cellular phones. The level of engagement of all actors has been very high, especially in those scenarios that were evolving in time. Teachers were enthusiastic in using the devise in situations n which learning takes place outside the classroom. The same can be said about students which were always very keen on “learning mobile” and using mobile technologies in the different scenarios. Considering these findings as the main reference the consortium exploits further the work performed in COLLAGE through the following activities:
- The COLLAGE approach has been already introduced in schools in Greece and in Austria through the integration of the developed scenarios in a series of national initiatives. For example in Greece schools that participate in the national programme “Environmental Activities” are using the COLLAGE platform to create new educational game-based scenarios during field trips and other relevant educational activities. In Austria COLLAGE materials are available through the “Virtual School” portal of the Austrian Ministry of Education (see http://www.virtuelleschule.at/collage/index.html.
- The COLLAGE consortium was closely cooperating with the FP6 research project UNITE (http://www.unite-ist.org/) which developed an eLearning platform that aims to bridge the gap between formal and informal learning settings, implement innovative scenarios, enhance learning experience and create a virtual Network of Schools; 14 schools from 10 European schools share their learning experiences and the platform becomes the medium through which schools work and interact with each other. The COLLAGE platform was used in the framework of the UNITE project as it was very easily integrated to the UNITE pool of tools.
- FORTHNET (developer of the COLLAGE platform) continue to upgrade the COLLAGE platform. EA and FORTHNET have introduced the COLLAGE application to the pool of applications that are used from the Rural Wings network (http://www.ruralwings-project.net), a network of 120 rural schools from all over Europe that are equipped with DVB-RCS satellite terminals and have access to broadband services. Many students of these schools are working with similar scenarios that were developed in the framework of the COLLAGE project. Additionally the Ancient Agora scenario is already implemented by the Foundation Hellenic World and the Youth and Sports Organisation of the Municipality of Athens and it has been integrated to the educational activities organised every weekend in the Ancient Agora of Athens.
What do you think was particularly successful about the project?
The success of the project was mainly the active and productive participation of teachers. They have easily become adapted to the platform and we had received numerous scenarios, which were much more than expected and very innovative.
What are the most important lessons you have learnt? What are therefore your key messages (max 3) for the future use of ICT in learning?
Even if the use of ICT has improved a lot; there is still a very long way to go for the efficient and wide use of ICT in education. If different initiatives and projects on education through ICT are systematically evaluated, it will be very beneficial for the achievement of EU policies.
Access the DOSSIER: eLearning programme 2000 - 2006: The Legacy to learn more about the eLearning programme
Interview with Cristina Mussinelli, Project coordinator of the PROACCESS project
After the eLearning Programme closed down the EACEA Agency interviewed the coordinators of some of the projects that were funded by this programme. You can read here the answers given by Cristina Mussinelli, project coordinator of PROACCESS: Building processes to accessible content in education
How did the project improve possibilities for eLearning?
The project targeted people with special needs: visually impaired people. We tried to better understand their problems in access to information in a wider range. It was a valorisation project within which we prepared a lot of documents and materials that will raise awareness on the problems of visually impaired people and that could be useful for publishing houses to understand the specifications of books designed for people with special needs.
What do you think was particularly successful about the project?
The deliverables of the Project, always available on the website are very practical and very easy to understand for market of publishers. Besides that there was a very good collaboration between project partners and we achieved to bring together all stakeholders concerned by problems of visually impaired people.
In your training and professional experience, what has created a barrier? And what are the problems you have faced?
The biggest problem was in production process, because there are a lot of techniques and new ways of producing content that should be involved in eLearning value chain. This has a strong impact on the actual workflows and specific strong investment especially in staff training is needed. Also legal issues were needed to be solved, which is a very complicated procedure.
Another important problem was at the financial level, because it is important to find how to achieve sustainability of creation of materials for visually impaired people, as those materials are very expensive to produce. In many countries there are specific public investments as it considered a social issue.. As a result, it's important that all stakeholders should be involved in the process and cooperate.-
Why is the use of new technologies important for learning today? What in your opinion is the added value offered by the technologies in comparison with traditional learning?
Use of new technologies in this field is growing, since people using the traditional accessible Braille or enlarged characters print versions are now asking for digital versions. Especially young people use the new technologies, so ICT should be involved in the trainings.
What impact has the eLearning programme and project had on the lives of beneficiaries/target groups?
The main focus was to create awareness on the problem of visually impaired people, so we didn't have any direct effect on their lives as it's a long and complicated process. But we tried to make the information widespread and bring together different stakeholders such as publishers, production suppliers and specialist organizations of people with impair disabilities. Very importantly, we achieved to make all these people more conscious of the overall problems and helped them to achieve a more shared vision on possible solutions.
What were the impacts of the project for the educational or wider community in project countries and in EU policy?
We provided to European Commission a lot of clear information about the problems of visually impaired people. At this point, the European level partnership between European Publisher Federation and Italian Federation of Publishers was very important for transferring the information and experience gained in the Project.
How did the inter-European scope enrich the project?
In addition to the members of project consortium, we also worked with other partners from Germany and United Kingdom that were involved in projects for visually impaired people. Experiences from different countries made us develop different approaches in finding new solutions.
In what ways were the dissemination activities successful?
We organized many events such as seminars, training courses, presentations in different conferences, newsletters. Besides that, a specific meeting with European Commission was organized. In some cases publishers and production suppliers started to embed accessibility issues within their production process. At institutional levels the awareness to focus not only on web site accessibly but also on print material accessibility grew considerably
What are the most important lessons you have learnt? What are therefore your key messages (max 3) for the future use of ICT in learning?
- Involve all the interested stakeholders and create a mutual understanding taking in consideration all their points of view.
- Focus on practical solutions based on the strong knowledge of the specific environment provided by the stakeholders
Access the DOSSIER: eLearning programme 2000 - 2006: The Legacy to learn more about the eLearning programme
Interview with Yuri Kazepov, Project coordinator of the E-URBS Project (2005)
After the eLearning Programme closed down the EACEA Agency interviewed the coordinators of some of the projects that were funded by this programme. You can read here the answers given by Yuri Kazepov, coordinator of E-URBS - European Master in Comparative Urban Studies
How did the project improve possibilities for e-learning?
With the E-URBS project we created a 60 ECTS Master on Comparative Urban Studies that was developed and implemented by all partner universities in a unified curriculum. In the project, e-learning was one of the important means to overcome distance and unifying the overall teaching activities. In the project we balanced this technical aspect with institutional, pedagogical and content-related aspects. The fact that an important part of the teaching activity took place online through E-learning eased the inclusion of many students from all over the world. Whilst most of the students were from Europe, there were quite a lot of students from Cameroon, Ghana, India, United States, Argentina and Canada. In total 24 students from 15 countries.
In your training and professional experience, what has facilitated access to the new technologies for education? What has created a barrier? And what are the problems you have faced?
In general terms I think that the main barriers in implementing innovative solutions in an international context of higher education are given by established routines and institutional barriers. The first pertains to individuals the second to institutions. The latter, despite the ongoing Bologna process, not always provide the best environment for designing an international curriculum in a joint and collaborative way. On the contrary interdisciplinary and creative thinking, problem solving oriented minds help overcoming these difficulties. Providing a rich interactive environment helps as well. In the project we did that by providing a frame to deal with differences (cultural, disciplinary, age, gender, ... ), fostering co-opetitive attitudes, i.e. rewarding both cooperation and competition in breaking down disciplinary boundaries. This approach constituted one of the strengths of the project and is still being used in our university in Urbino (Italy) in some courses. Our e-learning platform allowed the students from different disciplines to work together on a question, to share ideas in brainstorming settings and to collaborate across nationalities and disciplines to draft short essays, test answers, etc.
What impact has the eLearning programme and project had on the lives of beneficiaries/target groups?
We balanced face-to-face and online teaching in a way that students developed a sense of belonging and become a truly international learning community of practice. The cohort of students of the project founded an alumni network, which is still active and connected worldwide, also on Facebook. Virtual and physical mobility provided them with access to high quality training at international level through a cost effective solution. Methodological classes from Dutch scholars, debates on governance with Danish and Spanish colleagues, classes on changing housing markets by British scholars, etc. all this enhanced transversal, multidisciplinary thinking raising their international profile, not only conveying content, but also cognitive frames to understand and interpret content. The project and the solutions we found taught us that the technical element is very important, but that it has to be in a dynamic balance with the overall pedagogical approach, the underlying institutional arrangements and the content’s design.
What were the impacts of the project for the educational or wider community in the project countries and in EU policy?
Having an impact on EU policy was not our target, even though we surely contributed to speed up the implementation of the Bologna process in the universities involved in our project. Nevertheless, an interesting policy related impact of our E-Urbs project emerged at the regional level in Italy. The project became the knowledge base for starting a project on e-democracy and aiming at a wide consultation in the Marche region. The new project – “Participatory e-democracy practices in the Marche region” – involved young people in an e-discussion over the new framework law on youth policies, reaching nearly 1000 young people in an innovative way.
What was your experience of working with partners in other European countries?
The experience was extremely positive for many reasons. On the one side they helped solving all the bureaucratic problems which were emerging in the attempt to develop the joint curriculum. On the other side, being internationally renowned experts in their own discipline, they provided the ground for a really trans-national and trans-disciplinary high level teaching. This exposed the students to an extremely rich and stimulating environment raising their international profile and conveying contents and worldviews which would have been difficult to get elsewhere.
How was the sustainability of the project ensured?
This kind of projects is extremely costly and complex to be implemented, in particular with nine partners from very different countries. From this point of view its sustainability is not always very easy. We kept the curriculum alive for one additional year. Currently we are in stand-by situation as the university reform in Italy is taking much energy. We envisage a new edition with a smaller number of partners and some little external funding.
How could the project results be transferable?
The model is easily transferable and might be adapted to many disciplines as soon as the institutional support is provided.
What are the most important lessons you have learnt? What are therefore your key messages (max 3) for the future use of ICT in learning?
The main lesson we learned is that when we use ICT in learning processes, we should always embed it in a broader perspective. In particular, if we want to unfold all potential ICT has, we have to balance it, paying adequate attention to institutional aspects (which ease international agreements), to the need to adopt specific pedagogical approaches and to a specific design of content. This lesson brings about many other lessons, ranging from the need to think transversally, across disciplines and countries, etc. to the need of fostering open mindedness. In fact, innovation is not just having the most advanced ICT device. It is also related to its use in innovative processes. The whole web 2.0 “revolution” clearly warn us from detaching product-innovation from process-innovation. They should go hand in hand supporting and enriching each other.
Access the DOSSIER: eLearning programme 2000 - 2006: The Legacy to learn more about the eLearning programme
Interview with Ulf-Daniel Ehlers, Project coordinator of the TRIANGLE Project (2004)
After the eLearning Programme closed down the EACEA Agency interviewed the coordinators of some of the projects that were funded by this programme. You can read here the answers given by Ulf-Daniel Ehlers, project coordinator of TRIANGLE
How did the project improve possibilities for eLearning?
The project has been on quality for eLearning and as an outcome a European level organization, European Foundation for Quality in E-Learning (EFQUEL) has been established. This organization offers access to the information on quality and e-learning for European organizations, networks and institutions and it is a forum for discussion and exchange of good practices and experiences.
What was your experience of working with partners in other European countries? How did the inter-European scope enrich the project?
There are several aspects: Firstly, project itself was a composition of 3 prior projects, so a combined project in which members of 3 different consortiums came together. It was challenging to bring together different networks and organization in one project, but this challenge turned out to be the success of the project, since the question of quality can only be solved through a comprehensive and multistakeholder environment - which was exactly provided through the diverse nature of the consortium. Lastly, project outcomes such as policy papers on e-learning stated the importance of a comprehensive multistakeholder approach to quality which stressed inclusion and builds on dialogue, as well as products working out the necessary competences to develop quality.
What were the impacts of the project for the educational or wider community in project countries and in EU policy?
The project had policy effects on several levels; Policy and regulatory bodies decide joining to our network as a result of their direct interest and also they contribute to the quality development in e-learning. Besides that EU Networks working on e-learning and distance learning have relations with EFQUEL as associate partners or they are partners. These memberships and partnerships provide an indirect effect on EU policy as those organizations are clusters that are involved in EU policy making.
How was the sustainability of the project ensured?
The most important decision was to establish the Foundation, not only after the project had been over but already from day 1 of the project on. The project ensured the success and sustainability, because a complex organisation like the Foundation needs time to develop and the project proved to be a good host for the young organisation which by the end of the project had already achieved a certain degree of majority.
In what ways were the dissemination activities successful?
As there were 3 networks working together for one project, there have been many opportunities for dissemination of the project. Through large scale of partners who are experts in EU field, the Project was present in many major/minor European events. For instance, there were already 40 organizations involved in the project as future members of EFQUEL.
What are the most important lessons you have learnt? What are therefore your key messages (max 3) for the future use of ICT in learning?
The use of ICT in education and training should focus on innovation and ask the question how ICT can be used to do things differently and with better quality – and not just how to reproduce educational offers in the same way as they have been done without ICT.
Access the DOSSIER: eLearning programme 2000 - 2006: The Legacy to learn more about the eLearning programme
Interview with Jose Pessanha. European Commission - DG Education and Culture
Going back to the past and recalling the specific atmosphere of those years, what were the challenges that you wanted to address through the eLearning programme?
The overall objective of the eLearning programme was to "support and develop further the effective use of ICT in European education and training systems", which should constitute a crucial factor of "their adaptation to the needs of the knowledge society in a lifelong learning context". Under this framework, the programme addressed essentially the contribution of ICT in lifelong learning through the promotion of digital literacy, in particular for those with poor or no access to the technologies, the promotion of virtual mobility in higher education, the support to a Europe wide school networking scheme, including the training of teachers, and the dissemination, promotion and transfer of good and innovative practices of ICT use in education and training.
As underlying dimensions we can mention the contribution of ICT to strengthen social cohesion, to enhance the European dimension in education and to support the development of innovative teaching methods.
What do you think was particularly successful about the programme?
Although the programme was in general quite successful and cost-effective, I would put a very special emphasis on eTwinning, which is still a major ongoing European initiative in the field of school networking, supporting the exchange of innovative teaching methods and contributing to students' virtual mobility and teachers' professional development.The programme also successfully enhanced the European dimension in education and promoted co-operation between stakeholders in e-learning, for example in the fields of quality and open resources.
What are the most important lessons learnt?
The design and successful implementation of eTwinning, including the effectiveness of its funding model, demonstrates the potential of ICT to support innovative learning experiences, which would not be possible otherwise. It also shows the importance of integrating ICT in a coherent pedagogical project addressing clear needs and with the allocation of appropriate content and technical resources.
What are in your view the main challenges for the future of ICT in learning?
In my opinion the main challenge now is the full integration of ICT in education and training, both as a learning aid and a subject, implying the rethinking of organisation, curricula, teacher training and school infrastructure.
A particular effort should also be put in ensuring access to all, which would contribute to create the conditions favourable to increase participation in lifelong learning.
Access the DOSSIER: eLearning programme 2000 - 2006: The Legacy to learn more about the eLearning programmePRO-ACCESS
Objectives
The main goal of the project is to improve accessibility of educational content in the eLearning value chain for visual impaired people.
The main objectives of the project are:
- to raise awareness in the educational publishing market on new legislation and new technological possibility to easily make accessible materials.
- to train and support the content producers in the process of adoption of a workflow aimed at creating, from the beginning of the production process, digital structured content that can easily be converted in accessible materials for impaired people.
- to create a set of guidelines – possibly ISO 9001 compliant – for publishers to produce accessible educational digital content in a standard way
- to help players along the eLearning value chain to solve legal and copyright issues with the adoption of licensing models and contracts to be signed between rights holders, final users and possible intermediaries
Approach
This main objective of the project will be achieved following these steps:
- evaluate the actual situation in the involved countries, analysing both the needs of the disabled people and the problems arose from these request in the publishing sector, involving key schoolbook publishers and printed disabled people representatives in the process
- define the production process needed to create accessible documents, starting from the achieved results of the Euain project
- promote the results as wide as possible in the publishing sector
- analysis of the content value chain in the education sector to define a set of shared rules to managing rights starting from the conclusion of the ORMEE project
The main value added of the project is the collaborative approach; the proposal rises from the awareness that proactive rights management and collaboration between different stakeholders may be effective tools to improve accessibility (and, in broader sense, to increase access to digital content)
Expected results
- a set guidelines for publishers providing to content providers all the information needed to create fully accessible educational materials in standard formats easy to be used to produce different versions of materials devoted to different types of disabilities.
- a set of guidelines for intermediaries (libraries, school libraries, teachers, voluntary and charity organisations) in order to use these materials in a correct way respecting the copyrights issues
- a set of licensing schema allowing content producer to provide special formatted digital materials for disable people and manage the relations between them, intermediaries and/or final users
- training courses modules for educational content providers aimed at providing them with all the information needed to facilitate the adoption of the production procedure for processing accessible content and the licensing schema defined in the project itself