EADTU is launching a series of open webinars to address developments on Online, Open and Flexible Higher Education in a European context.
Next week's webinar will be on the ICDE study on “Quality models in online and open education around the globe: State of the art and recommendations”, that was coordinated by EADTU. The webinar will take place on the 11th of November at 11.00 CEST. Ebba Ossiannilsson and Keith Williams, co-authors of the report, will guide you through the reports’ main findings and implications for practice. The webinar will be introduced by Gard Titlestad, Secretary General of ICDE.
Please register for the webinar latest 9 November. Number of places is limited.
On 10 and 11 December 2015 ENQA organises a workshop on Quality Assurance and e-learning seminar. This event will take place in Barcelona (Spain) and will be organised in cooperation with AQU Catalunya, hosted by the Open University of Catalunya.
On the 9th of March EADTU/Darco Jansen held a presentation at the Jozef Stefan Institute in Ljublana called "Institutional Strategies in Online and Open Education". The presentation is part of a series of ‘SEQUENT Consultation Sessions’ being held around Europe, with the aim of informing educational organisations, particularly QA Agencies and Higher Education Institutions about the latest developments in Quality Assurance of online, distance and open learning, as well as more general innovations in education which may affect quality.
Review and certification of institutions and programmes in their use of ICT for learning gains importance. On the one hand institutions look for external recognition and seek to pursue excellence, on the other hand certification schemes also offer orientation and guidance on what works and what doesn't in online, open and flexible education.
EADTU, EFQUEL and ENQA therefore organise a morning session Master Class for QA-agencies and universities on quality in online, open and flexible Higher Education. Certification and review approaches will be presented through examples from practice and simulations.
The seminar will partly be informative and partly interactive and will be featuring European developments in online and open education and high quality content on review methodologies and experiences. Learn what is available on quality assurance in new modes of teaching and how you can implement this in your own institution; university or QA-agency.
“Online learning and the future of Higher Education”
23-24 October, Krakow
EADTU’s annual Conference 2014 is hosted by AGH University of Science and Technology
SCOPE AND THEMES
In the next five years, online teaching and learning strongly affects higher education on all levels with innovations in pedagogical models and curriculum development.
New opportunities by open and flexible education
Online education leads to new opportunities for institutions to open their borders to the outside world and removes barriers for learners. Opening up education creates flexible opportunities to existing and new target groups. This requires a coherent institutional policy and appropriate organisational and business models within the institution. In addition governments should better stimulate and support universities in opening up to citizens and society at large.
Innovative pedagogical models for course design
By new forms of interaction, access to the global knowledge resources and organisational flexibility, new pedagogical models are emerging. Students will acquire new skills and attitudes, related to self-directed learning as persistence/discipline, self-management, exploration skills in knowledge networks, connectiveness with key sources in these networks, etc.
Curriculum Innovation: the impact of online teaching and learning on the organization and the cost-effectiveness of curricula
Online teaching and learning and their flexibility in terms of place, time and pace to study, will contribute to the curriculum innovation. Core questions are about the balance of using blended formats. The blend will be different according to the educational policy of faculties and institutions. Probably, some will use predominantly or even only online formats. The cost-effectiveness of the blend is assumed to increase when curricula are collaboratively constructed by teams of staff, rather than by individual staff, but leaving to each of the staff the primary role and responsibility of designing and delivering parts of the curriculum. Hence, the organisation of new types of curriculum and course design are critical quality features for institutions in their transition to blended or online education.
The OpenupEd partnership published a quality label for MOOCs('OpenupEd label') on 25 January 2014 after a review period. A first draft version of the OpenupEd label was presented on 23 October during a Master class and a slightly improved review version was published on 7 November 2013.
You could use the published OpenupEd label to make an initial assessment on the level of achievement for each benchmark. Note that it is not expected that every benchmark will be achieved by every HEI and a diversity of approaches is welcomed. We embrace the diversity in (institutional) approaches to open up education by the use of MOOCs.
Institutions interested in becoming a partner of OpenupEd should proceed with a self-evaluation on which to base a more detailed review. The label and review are part of the basic conditions for becoming an OpenupEd partner. Supporting documents are sent on request
Review and certification of institutions and programs in their use of ICT for learning gains importance. On the one hand institutions look for external recognition and seek to pursue excellence, on the other hand certification schemes also offer orientation on what works and what doesn’t.
