E-XCELLENCE NEXT Report Local seminar Portugal

Wagemans, L. J. J. M., & Boon, M. J. J. P. M. (2012). E-XCELLENCE NEXT Report Local seminar Portugal. Heerlen: EADTU.E-learning has become mainstream provision in European higher education and is essential in supporting lifelong learning and internationalisation. By becoming integral part of higher education, e-learning should also be integral part of the QA systems, internal and external, with related innovative and appropriate criteria. In the E-xcellence project (EADTU) an instrument is developed under the e-learning programme that creates an opportunity for the existing channels in QA to adopt new quality guidelines for increased quality, accessibility and attractiveness. As the E-xcellence instrument supplements existing QA systems with e-learning specific issues and addresses directly the higher education and adult education sector, it can be integrated within the existing QA frameworks. In the past 2 stages in which E-xcellence was developed and promoted by and within open and blended universities and QA agencies, it has proven to be a valuable and valued open source tool. In a third step EADTU wants to serve universities Europe wide with an open and updated “quality assurance in e-learning” instrument. One of the institutions where the E-xcellence instrument is introduced, is the Portugese Universidade Aberta (UAb). The report describes the introduction of the E-xcellence instrument in a Local seminar of two days with presentations given by representatives of the different programs, discussions and feedback of the Review team

Self-Arrangement of Fleeting Student Pairs:a Web 2.0 Approach for Peer Tutoring

Westera, W., De Bakker, G., & Wagemans, L. (2009). Self-Arrangement of Fleeting Student Pairs: a Web 2.0 Approach for Peer Tutoring. Interactive Learning Environments, 17(4), 339-347.This paper presents a Web 2.0 approach for the arrangement of peer tutoring in online learning. In online learning environments, the learners’ expectations of obtaining frequent, one-to-one support from their teachers tend to increase the teachers’ workloads to unacceptably high levels. To address this problem of workload a self-organised peer allocation mechanism is proposed for the easy arrangement of instant tutoring by fellow students. The approach is based on a computational model which selects the most appropriate peer from a population of learners. A software prototype has been developed and tested with learners in two different educational settings. The evaluation shows that the use of a self-organising, synchronous peer-allocation system is not self-evident. It may be successful, but context variables have great impact on its functioning. Although the system technically functioned appropriately, students often appeared to use alternative ways for asking for help. In view of its potential for the efficient arrangement of distributed online support recommendations are given for successful appliance of the approach.Surf Foundatio

Doelgericht studeren

Puls, J., Verstappen, I., & Wagemans, L. J. J. M. (2012). Doelgericht studeren. Heerlen, Nederland: Open Universiteit, Instellingsbreed Platform Onderwijs (IPO).Korte brochure over doelgericht studeren met praktische studietips

Stappenplan voor de evaluatie van projecten met Edubox: procedure en criteria

Bij de evaluatie van projecten waarbij nieuwe ict-toepassingen worden ingezet is het van beland dat goed wordt nagedacht wat men met de evaluatie(resultaten) wil bereiken en doen. Evaluatie wordt vaak stiefmoederlijk behandeld. Het wordt zogezegd wel van belang geacht maar men komt niet echt tot het maken van keuzes wat men wil evalueren en waarom. Verder is het belangrijk dat duidelijk is wat men naar aanleiding van de evaluatie aan follow-up activiteiten onderneemt. Leidt de evaluatie tot bijstelling van het onderwijs/project, etcetera. Het moet niet zo zijn dat men, wanneer de evaluatie is uitgevoerd, de evaluatie afsluit met het verschijnen van een rapport met bevindingen, zonder zich al te zeer te bekommeren over vervolgactiviteiten