George Ubachs (EADTU) presented Internationalisation of HE extended by a Virtual Mobility at OOFHEC2018 in Aarhus, Denmark

1. Internationalisation
of HE extended by a
Virtual Mobility (VM)
OOFHEC2018
12 October
George Ubachs
Piet Henderikx

2. The changing
pedagogical
landscape
Blended degree
education:
Blended
and online
continuous
education
Open
Education InternationalNational
212 October 2018

3. EU Universities
• The possibility for students, doctoral candidates and staff to study,
train, teach, do research, work, or share services in any of the
partner institutions, including through virtual or blended mobility.
At least 50% of the students within the alliance should benefit
from such a mobility, be it physical, virtual or blended.
• New joint and flexible curricula are delivered, where relevant, in
the three cycles (Bachelor, Master and Doctoral), based on cross-
disciplinary/multi-disciplinary and cross-sectoral approaches,
integrating the most innovative pedagogies, including the use of
the latest digital technologies. They have embedded and
structured mobility, be it physical, virtual or or blended
12 October 2018 3

4. eU.University Hub
• the creation of a European-wide hub for online learning, blended/
virtual mobility, virtual campuses and collaborative exchange of
best practices. This hub will be an instrument for the European
Commission to promote online course/curriculum collaboration
and virtual mobility in Europe.
• The platform should be developed as a host environment for
existing EU, national or regional platforms and their activities,
with the purpose to expand them and scale them up at European
level.
12 October 2018 4

5. What does international
networked education bring to HE?
5
• You can integrate resources, international research and innovation
on the internet in your course, e.g. open educational resources,
open access journals, virtual labs (enriched learning environments)
• You can organize collaborative learning in learning communities
• You can flexibilize your course in terms of place, time, pace of study
for part-time students or students at work
• You can teach in a multi-campus mode, synchronously or
asynchronously and mobility
• You can deliver international education (online masters, blended
(joint) doctorates) and mobility

6. 6

7. NetCu Handbook
When involved in the design of a new networked
curriculum the following aspects need consideration and
agreement
Design of the contents Shared technological platform
Co-production of contents Language of the learning contents
Management aspects (division of roles) Language of the learning environment
Administrative aspects Accreditation procedure
Financial aspects Mobility of students and professors
Complementarity of content Use of interactive tools for students and profs.
Community QA process
Technological infrastructure Involvement of stakeholders
http://www.networkedcurricula.eu/

8. What is
mobility?
The university’s perspective
Two or more universities organise and recognise study periods
followed by their students in an exchange program or in a
networked/joint programme.
The staff perspective
Teaching staff is organising a learning activity or teaching a course
in the framework of a bilateral or a network/consortium
agreement.
8
Educational design
Components of a curriculum can be taught face to face,
blended or online, including related mobility schemes,
all according to principles of educational design

9. Virtual mobility
within networked curricula
Create proximity and involvement of potentially all by
• New media, internet, social software, wiki-like software;
• Increased accessibility, interactivity, flexibility,
personalisation,
• Synchronous and asynchronous solutions;
• Multi-campus education;
What is Virtual mobility?
VM versus Distance Education: university-university contracts
Pre-assessed quality and coherent to home university offerings
9

10. The concept of Virtual Mobility
offers
Academic enrichment
• Students will have the opportunity to open a
window on a different academic content,
comparative view, a different cultural
approaches.
International experience
• Virtual mobility offers all students the
possibility of sampling a course from another
university in another European country in
order to learn or to construct new content in an
international setting and to develop
intercultural skills by meeting students from
different countries through virtual forums and
meeting rooms.
10

11. Collaborative teaching and learning formats online
International
virtual classroom
Joint doctoral
space
Blended / online
seminars
Think tanks
Blended intensive
programmes
International
asynchronous
discussion groups
Blended project
groups
International
lecture series
Blended / online
apprenticeship
Networked
courses
/programs
Joint courses /
programs
11 12 October 2018

12. Types of virtual mobility
12 October 2018 12
Exchange courses and
curricula
Individual exchange mobility
Credits
Networked curricula
Networked mobility
Credits, double degrees
Joint courses and curricula
Embedded mobility
Joint degrees

13. Benefits of physical mobility as
experienced by students
Personal development
Languages, intercultural experience
Friends
International academic experience
12 October 2018 13
IMMERSION

14. VM competencies envisaged
(Open VM project, in development)
• Networked communication
• Media communication
• Intercultural skills
• Collaborative skills
• Autonomy-driven learning
• Self-regulated learning
• Open mindedness
12 October 2018 14

15. 12 October 2018 15
http://www.epics-ve.eu
A European Portal for International Courses and Services(EPICS)
was developed to support universities and students by creating a
fully facilitated mobility scheme that allows students to choose
international courses within the mainstream offerings of their
university.

16. VE: building a new mobility scheme in line
with the current Erasmus Programma
In the current Erasmus Programme there
are four key documents that are
essential to any exchange:
1. The Course Catalogue
2. Student Application Form
3. Learning Agreement
4. Transcript of Records
5. Institutional agreement (VE
additional document)
16

17. Institutional agreement
The Institutional Agreement lists the courses the institutions have
agreed to accept from another institution as part of their Virtual
Exchange mobility scheme.
Specific terms and conditions referred to in the Virtual Exchange
institutional agreement are listed in 11 paragraphs:
§1 The modules are at least 5 ECTS credits.
§2 Full recognition of the module guaranteed
§3 International collaboration will be integral part
§4 Both institutions as well as the student will sign a Learning
Agreement.
§5 The examination of the module will take place in the country
In which the home institution of the Virtual Exchange student is
based.
17

18. VE: Terms and conditions
(continued)
§6 Virtual Exchange students who wish to participate in
face-to face activities will have access.
§7 The examination will be done in the original language
of the module or an alternative language
§8 Quality Assurance
§9 Maximum number of students per module
§10 Fee waiver to Virtual Erasmus students.
§11 Staff mobility as part of Virtual Erasmus will include
A physical stay at the partner institution.
18

19. 12 October 2018 19
The EADTU mobility
matrix shows the
features, strengths
and challenges of
physical and virtual
mobility.

20. 12 October 2018 20

21. 12 October 2018 21

22. Towards mainstream
virtual mobility
• 10 years on virtual mobility (2 projects)
• EADTU Mobility Matrix
• EADTU TF VM; mapping VM in Europe
• EADTU Peer Learning Activity; stakeholders
• EADTU-EU Summit April 2019
22

23. CREATING A
VIRTUAL ERASMUS PROGRAMME
Anticipated future model of a Virtual
Erasmus model: Formalised and fully
mainstreamed virtual Erasmus
programme next to and supporting the
running physical Erasmus programme.
23

24. Thank you!
George Ubachs
George.ubachs@eadtu.eu
2412 October 2018