The document describes the Educational Content, Methodology and Technology Laboratory (e-CoMeT Lab) at the Hellenic Open University (HOU). The e-CoMeT Lab ensures quality assurance of educational content and methodologies for distance learning programs at HOU. It oversees the production of educational materials, assessment of teaching methods, and evaluation of teaching staff, students, and administrative processes. The lab has divisions for educational content, methodologies, systems and technology, and massive open online courses. It works to develop high-quality digital educational resources and implement innovations in distance education.

1. Educational Content, Methodology and Technology Laboratory
(e-CoMeT Lab)
Theofanis Orphanoudakis
e-CoMeT Director, Assistant Professor
Lampros Tsiknas
Division of Educational Material and Content
Quality Assurance strategies in distance
education: the Hellenic Open University
(HOU) use case

2. e-CoMeT Lab mission, organization, activities
Independent Units
HOU organizational structure
HOU
Educational Content, Methodology
and Technology Laboratory
Quality Assurance Unit
Internal Evaluation Unit
Center for Counseling &
Psychological Support
Schools Departments (Administration)

3. e-CoMeT Lab mission, organization, activities
HOU quality assurance activities
Educational Content, Methodology
and Technology Laboratory
Quality Assurance Unit
Internal Evaluation Unit
Center for Counseling &
Psychological Support
Schools Departments (Administration)
Certified production of educational content
Quality assessment of educational methodologies
Certification of e-learning tutors
Evaluation of teaching staff
Evaluation of administrative staff and processes
Evaluation of educational material
Quality assurance according to national standards of
• Educational processes
• Administrative organization and student support
• Excellence

4. e-CoMeT Lab mission, organization, activities
e-CoMeT Lab mission
Implementation
of innovations
to support the
creation of high
quality
educational
material
Design and
implementation
of
methodologies
for distance
learning and
adult education
Developing
educational
services using
modern ICT
tools

5. e-CoMeT Lab mission, organization, activities
e-CoMeT Lab mission
• e-CoMeT institutional Law (N. 2552/1997 – N. 7) :
• the production of educational material as well as the development of
teaching methods and continuous assessment of students
suitable for the transmission of knowledge from a distance
• The production of educational material standards includes
• printed book editions
• translation and adaptation of books, especially for distance learning
• digital educational content production including software and multimedia
• the production of television and radio programs in collaboration with state TV
or radio stations

6. e-CoMeT Lab mission, organization, activities
e-CoMeT Lab organization
Division of
Administrative
Services and
Technical
Support
Division of
Massive Open
Online Courses
(MOOCs)
Division of
Systems and
Technology
Scientific
Council
Associate
Director
Director
Manager
Division of
Educational
Material and
Content
Division of
Educational
Methodologies

7. e-CoMeT Lab mission, organization, activities
e-CoMeT Lab activities
Printed Material
(EEY)
• Books
• Study guides
• Additional material
Digital Material
(ΨΕΥ)
• Hypertext
• Video
• E-book
• Webcasts
• Animation
• Learning Game
• Simulation
• Experiment
Services:
Development ΕΕΥ/ΨΕΥ
Digitization ΕΕΥ
Updating ΕΕΥ/ΨΕΥ
Authors support EΕΥ
Development guidelines ΕΕΥ/ΨΕΥ
Tool guides
Informal learning: MOOC, Short Learning Programmes
Formal learning: HOU Studies and MsC programmes

8. e-CoMeT Lab mission, organization, activities
Courses Development
Background history, present and quality assurance
Division of Educational Material and Content

9. e-CoMeT Lab mission, organization, activities
• e-CoMeΤ Lab has extensive experience in developing printed and
digital material, as it had the technical supervision and evaluation of
material developed in the past
• The key processes leading to the development of the educational
material are ISO certified and have been successfully implemented
9
The historical background of quality assurance strategies
of e-CoMeT Lab for the HOU
Certification of distance learning material for adult
education.

10. e-CoMeT Lab mission, organization, activities
ISO processes have been developed to support the quality assurance
strategies. They cover the following areas:
• Development and update of educational material
• Technical integration
• Certification of education content
• Technical specifications
The processes are yearly checked and updated if needed.
10
The historical background of quality assurance strategies
of e-CoMeT Lab for the HOU

11. e-CoMeT Lab mission, organization, activities
e-CoMeΤ supports the development of new educational material for
HOU
11
•Monitoring and
managing educational
material development
projects
•Technical support to the
educational activities of
the HOU community
•Development of
methodologies, data
recording and processing
and design of certification
systems.
The historical background of quality assurance strategies
of e-CoMeT Lab for the HOU

12. e-CoMeT Lab mission, organization, activities 12
e-CoMeΤ
Provides certification of
the quality of
educational material
produced according to
internationally accepted
•Investigates existing
and new standards and
evaluates the quality
characteristics of
educational material
and software suitable
for adult distance
learning
Aims to become an axis
of certification of
printed and digital
teaching material so
that it can undertake the
certification procedures
in collaboration with
other providers of
printed and digital
teaching material
The historical background of quality assurance strategies
of e-CoMeT Lab for the HOU

13. e-CoMeT Lab mission, organization, activities
Structure of the certification process
13
The quality assurance strategies of the work
development process of printed/digital educational
content for open and distance learning
• Printed
content
• Digital
Content
1
• Review from
pedagogical
and academic
perspective
• Technical
standards
2 Certification
3

14. e-CoMeT Lab mission, organization, activities
Parts of the certification process :
14
1
Educational
content
templates
2
Audit forms
3
Informatics
system -
Kriton
The quality assurance strategies of the work
development process of printed/digital educational
content for open and distance learning

15. e-CoMeT Lab mission, organization, activities 15
Present 2016-2019
Adopting to digital only education

16. e-CoMeT Lab mission, organization, activities
Educational ecosystem
The educational process
takes place on the
educational platform.
Greater control of the
students' educational
experience. Emphasis on
feedback.
They are active in the
learning process and are
engaged to collaborate,
create, communicate and
experiment
Personalized, contemporary,
interactive and digital
Educational
Enviroment
Tutor Students Educational
Material
 New requirements for authoring, managing and distributing digital educational content

17. e-CoMeT Lab mission, organization, activities
New technologies introduction
17
Digital, interactive
material
-Providing
educational
material that
motivates
students to
participate
-Adding
individual or
group activities
Teleconferences
Opportunity for
students to
study fully from
distance
New pedagogical and
technical educational
solutions
Use of modern
systems and
learning tools
New methods of
supporting and
evaluating students
Synchronous/
Asynchronous
communication
with students,
opportunities
for evaluation
through
assignments
and activities

18. e-CoMeT Lab mission, organization, activities
Educational design in distance learning (1/2)
Distance learning student autonomous,
independent, self-controlling his learning path
How does the student develop these skills?
What he
has to do
Why is he
doing it
When to
do it
How to
do it
Did he do
it right
The student should know the path of his studies

19. e-CoMeT Lab mission, organization, activities
Educational design in distance learning (2/2)
Continuous communication and interaction with
the instructor
Educational material is a major axis
in the distance learning process
Distance learning
content
Emphasizing and
harnessing
knowledge and
experience
Searching and
editing
information
Practice
Critical thinking
and creativity
Verification and
self-assessment of
knowledge and
skills

20. e-CoMeT Lab mission, organization, activities
Collaborative Development
Academic Supervision
Committee (AEE)
Responsible for the
design of the course
(modules, cognitive
objects, learning
outcomes,
educational material)
Academic Content
Design Team (ΕΓΑ)
Experts in each
scientific field,
responsible for the
development of
educational content
and the design of
interactive activities
Instructional Design
Team (ΤΥΜ)
Responsible for
creating and setting up
educational design
standards and creating
guides to support the
learning process
Digital Integration
Team (ΨΗΦΟ)
Responsible for the
digitization of
educational material,
the development of
educational
applications and the
selection of
appropriate
technological tools

21. e-CoMeT Lab mission, organization, activities
Collaborative Development
Phase A – High Level Design
Decisions
about course
establishment
Decisions
about
Educational
content
Academic
schedule

22. e-CoMeT Lab mission, organization, activities
Collaborative Development
Phase B– Digital Study Guide development
Content
development
Entering
content on the
platform
Finalizing the
procedure

23. e-CoMeT Lab mission, organization, activities
Educational material
Ελληνικό Ανοικτό Πανεπιστήμιο
Educational material (pdf files, online articles, videos, etc.) that
students should be studying ( specific pages, sections or chapters) is
indicated for every week.
Educational material is provided almost entirely through the
educational platform.
It may be an extract, rather than the entire educational creation.

24. e-CoMeT Lab mission, organization, activities
Forms of educational material
Customized to the digital learning platform
27/6/2018 Ημερίδα «Εκπαιδεύοντας (σ)την Κ.ΑΛ.Ο 24

25. e-CoMeT Lab mission, organization, activities
Educational activities
Customized to the digital learning platform
Using learning objects to motivate, practice, assimilate, make the connections with past
knowledge, collaborate, self-asses, exchange ideas and experiences, develop critical thinking:
• Reflection questions
• Closed/open type assignments
• Creating collaborative text (Wiki)
• Educational games
• Self/Peer-assessment
• Participating in discussions
Ελληνικό Ανοικτό Πανεπιστήμιο

26. e-CoMeT Lab mission, organization, activities
Design
courses.eap.gr

27. e-CoMeT Lab mission, organization, activities
Module structure
Each study week contains:
 Information
 Base material
 Educational material
 Sources/ bibliography / accompanying material
 Supplementary material
Each module contains :
 Student study guide
 Platform and tools guides
27

28. e-CoMeT Lab mission, organization, activities
28
Structure of a course module
Every course is divided into modules
Every module includes a study schedule per
week
Every study week includes one or more
educational activities
Every educational activity includes one or
more learning objects
Module
x
Study week
x
Educational activity
1
Educational activity
x
Learning
object
1
Learning
object
x
Learning
object
1
Learning
object
x
General learning
outcomes
Specific learning
outcomes

29. e-CoMeT Lab mission, organization, activities
Internal evaluation procedures (2016-2019)
2016-17 Internal evaluation
- Students (R.Kalantzi,
D.Sideris, N.Spiropoulou)
• 6 post graduate programs – 88
modules
• 1026 questionnaires were
answered
• 40.11% student participation
2018-19 Internal evaluation
– Tutors (R.Kalantzi)
• 90 tutors
• 2 new postgraduate programs
• 57,6 % of them were tutors in a
program in the field of Humanities
and 42,4% in the field of Social
Sciences.

30. e-CoMeT Lab mission, organization, activities
Results
Internal evaluation procedures (2016-2019)
•The educational material has positive
impact on learning procedure
•Positive comments about integration
of educational activities in weeks of
study
•Students’ expectations are mainly
about acquiring knowledge, skills and
competences and the majority of
students stated that the courses met
their expectations
•Tutors and students emphasize on the
interaction and communication that is
built between students and tutors and
students with each other during Tutor-
Students Sessions
•The new modules
guide the students
and help them study
better

31. e-CoMeT Lab mission, organization, activities
E-xcellence label provided by the European Association
of Distance Teaching Universities
The Hellenic Open University has joined the E-xcellence Associates in Quality by
the following nine online postgraduate programmes (Master's Degrees):
•Language Education for Refugees and Migrants
•Special Education and education of people with speaking and writing difficulties
•Sports Studies: Sociology, History, Anthropology
•Aging & Chronic Diseases Management
•Contemporary Journalism Studies
•Creative Writing
•Public History
•Social and Solidarity Economy
•Modern Trends in the Analysis and Teaching of the Greek Language

32. Thank you!!!