CC BY
37
УДК 378 147 Wolfram Laaser
РИНЦ 14.35.09 ВАК 13.00.02
Master of Technology Enhanced Education - an example of a next generation distance education program
The article reports some very recent developments in distance education made at Worldwide Education, Austria. To get a clear picture about why the achievements gained are relevant for the present and future development of distance education past steps in the history of distance education both in Russia and in Europe are briefly outlined. After this more general introduction the new approach to distance education made at WWEDU is exemplified by the curriculum design, production characteristics and student support of a Master in Technology enhanced Education. Also some path breaking ideas are presented that relate to secure proctored examination directly from student home.
Keywords: Distance education , Master of Technology based Education, Quality control, Student support, Internationalization, eLearning, online education, Tutorial support, proctored exam, online campus.
МАСТЕРСКАЯ ПРОГРАММА ПО ОБУЧЕНИЮ С ИСПОЛЬЗОВАНИЕМ ИНФОРМАЦИОННЫХ ТЕХНОЛОГИЙ КАК ПРИМЕР ПРОГРАММ ДИСТАНЦИОННОГО ОБУЧЕНИЯ НОВОГО ПОКОЛЕНИЯ
В статье описываются самые последние разработки в области дистанционного обучения, выполненные в компании Worldwide Education, Австрия. Чтобы получить четкое представление о том, почему эти разработки важны для настоящего и будущего развития дистанционного образования, автор выделяет некоторые этапы в истории дистанционного образования России и Европы. После общего введения предлагается рассмотреть новый подход к дистанционному образованию, разработанным в WWEDUна примере проектирования, производства и обеспечения поддержки слушателей магистерской программы «Master in Technology enhanced Education». Кроме того, в статье представлены некоторые новаторские идеи, относящиеся к обеспечению сдачи очных экзаменов слушателями в домашних условиях.
Ключевые слова: дистанционное обучение, Магистр по обучению с использованием информационных технологий, контроль качества обучения, поддержка студентов онлайн, интернационализация, электронное обучение, образование онлайн, тьютор^ая поддержка, очный экзамен, электронный кампус.
1. Distance Education in Austria and Current Demand
Distance education exists in Austria for about 30 years. An autonomous Austrian Open University in this period, however, could not be established, unlike in the EU countries, Germany and Holland. The largest provider of distance education within Austria is the Open University of Hagen (FernUniversitat) in Germany. FernUniversitat in Hagen is represented in Austria by six local study centres servicing at the time more than 2,000 mostly working distance learners. Although Austria has
a good university infrastructure with some 35 universities, the current demand exceeds the available training capacity. Furthermore it is a fact that today's individual time management rather than the regional distance plays a role when taking a study program. This particularly applies to the specific profile of distance students, who are usually working, often already have a university degree and to whom their personal situation complicates attending classical courses.
The high demand in spite of the planned expansion of the private universities will remain not covered, be-
cause of the small enrollment figures in this segment.
The trend to “online learning” is also visible on the biggest international educational market, the United States. The growth rate of online courses according to a recent study is about 10 p.c.. Whereas other enrollments in the tertiary sector are almost stagnant with less than 1% (Bates 2011). 71% of European companies in the next two years plan to convert their training to blended and e-learning modes (Speexx European Survey 2012).
In 2012 WWEDU World Wide Education GmbH, a non-academic,
Wolfram Laaser
Worldwide Education, Austria E-mail: wolfram.laaser@wwedu.com
Вольфрам Лаасер
Доктор, Координатор учебных программ WWEDU, Австрия Бывший проректор университета Хагена Эл. почта: wolfram.laaser@wwedu.com
scientific educational institution located in Wels, Upper Austria therefore has applied for the accreditation of an Open University Austria based on distance education. The conceptual and technical work during the application process formed the basis of this article.
2. Historical Flash Back -East meets West
In the Russian Federation distance education systems have a long tradition that goes back to the Oktober Revolution. Adult education in Russia began even already between the 40s and the 60s of the 19th century with the foundation of “Literacy Committees” as well as with the development of Sunday-Schools and the schools for adults in rural areas around 1860 (Moiseeva 2005, Zawacki-Richter, Kourotchkina 2012). During Soviet times the correspondence and evening schools have been incorporated into the public educational system and expanded nationwide (Zawacki-Richter, Kourotchkina 2012, P. 167). Vertov, with his propaganda film-train short after the Revolution created innovative approaches to use audiovisuals and to develop concepts for user interaction but his attempts were not incorporated later on into regular programs (Bag-galey 2012). In 1924 several broadcast universities were established for workers and peasants but never became part of the officially accredited system because of lower educational standards. So print remained the only medium to deliver content.
Between 1940 and 1959 the number of part-time students enrolled in distance education courses increased 4-5 times while the number of on-campus students doubled. However in the following decades the material and pedagogical approach of the distance study model were heavily criticized (OECD 1999).
“Meanwhile within the Russian context the term distance education is used to describe the modern version of distance education which employs new information and communication technologies, whereas the term correspondence education represents the traditional Soviet system of distance education and carries a rather negative connotation” (Zawacki-Richter
2012, P. 175). Thus beginning with the academic year 2010-2011 correspondence education courses will cease to be offered while distance education is planned to further expand, e.g. MESI (Moscow State University for Economics, Statistics and Informatics) offered 740 online courses in 2010 (Zawacki-Richter 2012, P. 176). Actually about half of Russian students are studying in distance education programs (Smirnova 2012). On the curriculum side Russia joined the Bologna Accord and started to adapt to bachelor and master degrees.
Distance education in the West looks back at a successful but more recent tradition. European Open Universities have developed starting in the 70s and today find themselves among the largest universities in the education sector. The growth in numbers was accompanied by an increasing variety of media and by a change of educational paradigms. In the early stages textbooks and written correspondence were the media used in teaching. Among the learning theories behaviorism dominated the scene with operationalized teaching objectives and a mediation of the subject matter in small chunks. In subsequent phases supplementary teaching media such as radio, audio cassettes, video, TV and later personal computers were introduced as part of the teaching programs without jeopardizing the dominance of the written study material. Influenced from cognitivist learning theories simple Drill and Practice programs were rejected and more emphasis was put on the quality of the presentation and on didactic aspects such as problem solving and transfer processes.
The advent of computers led to the possibility to save different media on a disk, which offered new ways of media integration. Parallel to that the use of email and blogs revolutionized communication relationships. At the same time the current approaches of learning theories have been extended by constructivism and the theories of “situated” and “distributed learning”. The focus shifted to the construction of knowledge by interaction and dialogue among students. The development of learning platforms has fueled this development.
The present development is characterized by a further step. With the introduction of Web 2.0, users get many opportunities to develop their own learning content and to distribute and exchange information by using simple web tools. “Learning theories” come up with this development such as “Connectivism” Siemens, G. (2004). According to these ideas not the solving of problems is most important but the knowledge of how and where content can be found on the net, edited and shared with other net users. Whether “connectivism” can be regarded as a learning theory or simply as a description of user behavior on the Internet is actually discussed (e.g. for a critical discussion see Wade 2012).
Also on the technical side there are signs of a further development stage. The learning platforms acquired to deliver eLearning courses will change and become only part of an individually compiled personalized learning environment, which is always available as well on mobile devices. The role of the teacher is supposed to move to one of a facilitator and organizer of learning processes culminating in situations where the teacher is also a learner and the learner teaches.
As the University opens up the medial range to the world wide web it may lose its monopoly to deliver teaching content and future production and distribution may at least partially be shifted from the university to the network (cloud computing, iTunes University, MOOC). In addition by sensors and global positioning devices, also the local spatial dependence from fixed installations of the University will be reduced.
So the way technology is used in distance learning settings merged widely in both locations east and west. The same basic techniques are applied internationally. However in the years to come it will be decisive to determine the direction of future development. If institutions will follow fancy trends like MOOCs (see Daniel 2012, Deimann 2012) that are actually promoted by some leading American universities or whether they will use distance education to offer full programs with excellent tutorial and cutting edge technical support is an
important issue. The program and setting outlined below points to the second alternative.
3. Purpose of the Master Program
The intended audience of the master program consists of people who aspire to become teachers or trainers and of those who are already teaching in schools, at university or are employed in a company's internal training. To these potential users people can be added holding positions for administrative educational planning tasks in companies, associations and ministries. The here envisaged curriculum fills a deficit, largely because for the respective target group programs to master the latest technological and pedagogical changes in eLearning are still very scarce.
The aim of the course is to teach competences and skills that are required for the design and implementation of technology-based educational programs. In line with the objective of the Master of Technology Enhanced Education it is intended to provide knowledge and practice of web-based tools. On the other hand students should become familiar with the technical and pedagogical implications of a very dynamically developing field (mobile learning, virtual reality, serious games, etc.) and to be able to critically reflect on these developments. Also basic evaluation methods and research methodologies will be part of their studies.
Important is not just an isolated media and eLearning literacy aimed at, but a broader approach is sought, that includes project management,
the formulation of business models and the analysis of educational sector planning concepts and last but not least the ability to deal with legal aspects of educational offers.
4. The Curriculum
The course is divided into modules, each comprising 6 ECTS. A total of 90/120 ECTS is allocated for the complete Master of Technology based Education. The 90 ECTS version is designed as an executive program, the 120 ECTS version as a full consecutive Master's degree. This also pays tribute to the different BA studies that range between 180 and 210 ECTS. The aim of the degree program is to provide students with both, practical training for latter employment and qualification in the use of scientific methods. To meet the needs for differentiated job profiles and personal preferences, the curriculum is divided in “Basics”, “Advanced” and “Specialization” modules. As specializations in the medium term a wide range of choices will be available to reach specific target groups. This will also include partially localized modules.
The modules however are not the smallest unit of the modular program concept. Rather this is represented by the sub-modules, which make up the module. Normally a sub-module will cover 1 ECTS and correspond to 25 student learning hours.
5. A competencies based study program
The study program is competences based and focusses on content related, social and technically oriented quali-
Master of Science in Technology based Education 120 ECTS
Basics 30 ECTS Deepening 30 ECTS Specialization 36 ECTS
Beyond Communication Animation and Game Design Educational Supply and Demand
Tools for Communication and course development Mobile Learning Intercultural Aspects of Learning
Instructional Design Virtual Worlds Research, Evaluation and Tersting
Design of Learning Scenarios Product Design, Marketing and Economic Assessment Legal Aspects of Media
Methodological Studies Project Management Knowledge Management
Quality Assurance
Master Thesis/Project Work (24 ECTS)
Fig. 1. Curriculum MSc. of Technology based Education
Example (Intercultural Communication)
Conceptual and Analytical Competencies:
1. Identify and define key communication concepts in the workplace.
2. Apply knowledge of culture and communication to measure intercultural competencies in international business contexts.
3. Analyze the role and function of culture and communication within specific countries, regions and transnational global business environments.
Technical Competencies:
1. Ability to use library search tools to check resources
2. Be able to write a formal business report for an international organization
Social Competencies:
1. Be able to summarize results of a case study in English language
2. Show active contributions in forum discussions
Fig. 2. Definition of competencies
fications. How such competencies can be defined is shown by the following example.
To address an international clientele the Master program is offered completely in English language including the tutoring services.
6. International Lecturers
The program with an international team of faculty provides an attractive and high-caliber education. At the same time benefitting from the contacts of the lecturer to their home countries and institutions, good conditions prevail for the establishment of international cooperation and the development of localized courses.
Our lecturers actually come from ten different countries, namely Great Britain, Germany, Russia, Estonia, Australia, Mexico, Austria, United States, Canada, Finnland. They have ample experience in international and online teaching. The group is coordinated by a multimedia specialist from Germany.
Contacts at several international conferences regarding the study program raised a very strong interest from both the Anglo-Saxon countries as well as from emerging and developing countries.
Actually it is planned to offer specialization courses for the Executive MBA program International Business (90 ECTS) in the domain “Making business in...”. Here cooperation with leading institutions in Russia is underway to allow for a country specific offer including tax system, bookkeeping, cultural aspects and foundation of entities.
7. The media mix
The core medium at the — to be established — private Austrian Open University are the video lectures. This is a deliberate departure from the former dominance of written study material. The aim of the video lectures in analogy to direct face to face lecturing is the personalization of the relationship between student and lecturer. In contrast to the classroom lectures video recordings are available to the students online or offline at any time. Also with other distance education providers this form of mediation is becoming increasingly popular and is based usually on streaming technologies (Video-lectures recorded for the Bachelor in Psychology at FernUniversitat in Hagen (see http://www.fer-nuni-hagen. de/video streaming/ksw/ bscpsy/), or the video-lecture based MOOC of Coursera). Nevertheless it is also planned to provide still delivery of a printed version of the course materials, however an additional fee will be raised in this case.
The video lecture is supplemented by two other elements, a textbook to extend on the video lecture (not the same as the text of the video lecture itself) and a workbook with assigned exercises and activities. For each sub-
module two hours of recorded video lectures are provided. The textbook consists of about 20-30 page script per sub-module. Workbook activities are another supplement. Workbook and script are obligatory content and are supposed to be designed widely as self-instructive materials.
8. Supportive software for students
The studying of the module is additionally supported by a convenient and user-friendly software for literature search. The proprietary software (WWLIBS) enables the direct access to video segments via keywords. Furthermore in-text search of Master theses’s and access to external catalogs is provided.
Another important support element, especially in preparing the final Master's thesis, is the software Citavi (www.citavi.com/de). The software files in a simple way references of books, articles and web sites and allows for comfortable labeling and tagging. Quotes and other excerpts can be stored and assigned to specific categories, so that retrieval is made easier when writing the thesis. In addition tasks can be defined by the user and attached to the references such as “order from the library”, “read”, or “return” which supports the organization during the process of writing. The software is provided free of charge to students through a campus license.
In addition students will be provided with a plagiarism-detection software in order to be able to check their texts, whether an illegal copying of foreign texts without proper quotation can be detected. This gives students particularly in the drafting of the thesis the necessary security, not to be later confronted with corresponding quests. The Swedish software used for this purpose is «Urkund» (www.urkund.com) which is one of the leading software solu-
Example (Serious games and animation)
Content Video Textbook Workbook
Entertaiment Games Looking at games such as Angry Birds, Farmville, World of Warcraft, etc. Gaming Samples, modeling Dungeons and Dragons Introduction to games, why people play Game play with set goals for games
Fig. 3. Course Development Matrix
Fig. 4. CourseBuilder-Authoring System
tions for both English and German texts to check for plagiarism.
Finally to promote linguistic competence with “Worddive” (www. worddive.com) an interesting tool is made available that provides vocabulary, pronunciation and spelling in an innovative manner. As the OUA will be also an accredited TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) test-center, these testing facilities will be open to students to check their language abilities.
9. Implementation of the course material
To create the learning material (learning objectives, lecture notes, workbook, quizzes, forums) the lecturer can use an easy and user friendly proprietary software named “Course Builder”.
Here the teacher can edit himself and upload the necessary documents.
The resulting digital online teaching material is automatically adapted for both PC and mobile devices (iPhone and iPad).
10. Tutoring and tools for communication
To meet the communication needs, different forums will be set up (a forum at the level of the institution for social interaction of students with each other, a forum for technical and organizational issues at the departmental level, a forum on curricular questions at program start level as
well as a forum for subject matter oriented discussion at the module level. For the students it will also be visible anytime via a data bridge which lecturer or tutor is online.
The tutorial support can be provided by the lecturers of the course or by a qualified tutor (at least Master degree). There is a minimum time slot
granted of one hour tutoring / month / module with a fixed data grid provided. The online tutoring service can be a direct online tutorial session or a recorded session responding to frequently asked questions or a recorded live session. The contact time available to students can be covered up to one third by posts and email. The tutors work with the virtual conferencing software Scopia, which has excellent sound and picture quality and has a high performance and stability because of the local hosting service. The lecturers can use a blog that informs students about ongoing projects of the faculty. All in all for every submodule in the range of 1 ECTS about two hours of synchronous (virtual classroom, tutoring) and two hours of asynchronous communication (forums, email) are envisaged.
11. Technological Backup Organization of Student Support
Technical support is available to students around the clock (24/7). It is exclusively provided by internal staff and includes guidance on all aspects.
Fig. 5. The campus on mobile devices
Fig. 6. Proctored exam taken at students home
The technical support is provided by scientifically qualified tutors at the Admissions Office, which also have the specific knowledge for the respective discipline.
To each request a primary and a “back-up” contact are associated (in the case that the first support staff member is not available). This applies to any kind of request. If the subject-related questions cannot be answered by the relevant support staff, they are redirected to the course coordinator. This way the teacher will be in contact only with two of the employees attached to his module. Usually after about two to three months or a number of at least 100 student requests all main problems are already reported, in particular technical issues and questions related to tests and exams. The answers are stored in a database in order to avoid future inquiries on the same subject.
The subject matter oriented tutorials are conducted by academic staff of OUA. Students who are studying the current module can submit questions, they want to be answered in the online tutorial. The most frequently asked questions then form part of the online tutorials. The very individual-specific issues are handled directly by email or by forum posts. The tutorials are offered through the virtual classroom system (Scopia) according to a fixed rhythm, so that at least one tutorial event is available each month.
Furthermore tutors assess and correct the tests and examinations according to respective indications by the lecturer.
12. Checking learner achievements
The review of the learning success covers various stages. Based on the learning objectives of each sub-module and the self-test functions offered in the workbook, the student can assess how far he has achieved the set targets. An important corrective of his self-assessment is provided by peer evaluations in the context of content-based forum discussions.
In order to prepare for the module exam a pre-assessment is offered by means of which the student can test his fitness for the exam. To sit the module examinations also new forms
are enabled. Electronically-assisted testing is currently one of the most discussed topics in e-learning and has already been implemented by a few universities. The OUA relies on an innovative solution in which the students already when beginning to study receive a laptop at a permanent basis with specific pre-installed software to be used for the examination as well as additional software and the memoryintensive instructional videos in HD quality related to their courses.
When taking the actual exam a special video camera can control the complete students' workplace environment. Thereby after fingerprint identification a sufficient control of individual performance is possible. The camera must be returned after completion of the studies. In addition to the biometrically-video-controlled exams the classic “open book exams” will be continued with a share of tests under video surveillance limited to about 40-50 p.c..
To make both students and teachers familiar with the video surveillance system an informative video from both perspectives, the students view and the teachers view, will be available. The supervised trials are generally composed of 6 questions with a total test duration of 1.5 hours. The exam is then divided into two sections: The first with 2 questions to be completed in 30 minutes, the second with 4 questions during one hour. The second part can be completed at any time, either immediately or after an additional learning month. The idea to split testing is to give the stu-
dents under part 1, the possibility for self-reflection and may give him time to be better prepared.
To promote collaborative working students will be invited to participate in virtual work groups on practical issues, such as case studies or participation in non-obligatory face to face events in which group work is stimulated. Group work can be acknowledged with up to 30% of the overall grade, provided that the exam is passed.
13. Project work and thesis
To deliver sufficient opportunities to practice collaborative forms of work and timely training in practical problems, students can instead of a “traditional thesis” opt during their current studies for a combination of project work and in-depth individual work. Among the programs with a total of 120 ECTS this option is granted after completion of the basics and the deepening (60 ECTS). The group size can vary from one to four participants depending on the interest. Thus, individual project work is possible. In the context of the master's thesis the ratio of project work to individual paper submissions should be in equal shares.
The project work will be followed up by a project manager who offers this advice once every month. To help students in decision making hints and advice is given during the module “Methodological Studies”. To support project work as well as individual work on the thesis students will be invited by the assigned Project Manager (Research Associate) to a
Start a project on WWEDU Basecamp.
The account owner, Brigitte Walli, is automatically invited to all projects.
Sample Project Example project names & descriptions:
Sample Project Website Redesign Home page ideas
Type emails to invite people - you can do this later, too. Email Marketing
proman@staffwedu.com prostud1Pstudents.wwedu.com Plans for 2012 Rebranding Budget: $30,000
prostud2@students.wwedu.com
Start the project or Cancel
Fig. 7. Knowledge Management software for student project work
That way staff can contact them and invite them to learning groups, which are subsequently supported. It is important to prevent that «of notification needy» student's post incorrect information. In the case of subject-specific questions they may be channeled to the faculty to give authorized answers. The use of social networks provides an additional source to check quality of lecturers and media.
15. Summing up
The didactic and pedagogical concept of distance education at the OUA is grounded on past experience, patterns and principles of the so far existing distance teaching universities.
Basecamp Project. Within this software tool the project manager defines the roles and responsibilities of the invited students:
Both student and project managers have the possibility of making new to dos, discussions, and “steps to be defined” as well as to exchange documents with other participants. Of course links to use the video conferencing platform are also provided.
The activities of the students are recorded and available to the project manager for subsequent evaluation. In order to facilitate the workflow of the project participants will receive a daily activity log, which includes all yesterday's activities and simultaneously recalls the assigned and scheduled tasks.
Each of the tasks assigned to the student triggers an email notification. After completion of the project, each student writes a research paper.
14. Integration of Social Media
Social Media are integrated already in the sign-in process. So switching between course material and social software is extremely easy.
Observing development in recent years it has been noticed that students meet virtually «outside» the established learning environment in social networks and collaborate there. Therefore a software has been developed that identifies and classifies the students in these networks (Facebook, LinkedIn, Xing, Twitter,...).
Fig. 8. Integration of social software into campus platform
Fig. 9. Organization of Face Book Groups
However use of new ideas and new technical solutions are required to face the next decade.
Therefore innovative elements are incorporated systematically into the design of the system.
• Internationalization of staff and curriculum
• Authoring of course material by lecturers
• Automatic display of content across all fixed and mobile devices
• Student support around the clock
• Supply of students with supportive software
• Use of knowledge management software for student/tutor communication
• High definition video lectures
• Home based examination system
• Integration of social software
• Permanent quality control by a set of regular monitoring techniques The concept of distance education
at the planned OUA is not dominated
by a single learning theory, nor does it follow a predefined institutional model. Rather, it focusses on modernization of the technical and pedagogical elements to reach a more user friendly and functioning distance education system. That way it will pave the way for a new generation of distance education systems.
The author is indebted to Grachev Artem, Ph.D., associate professor, for editing and translation.
References
1. Baggaley. J. (2012), Harmonizing global education - From Ghenghis Khan to FaceBook, Routledge 2012
2. Bates, T. (2011) last retrieved 8/2012 http://www.tonybates.ca/2011/11/09/online-enrollments-in-the-usa-grow-10-in-2011-oers-becoming-accepted/
3. Daniel, J. (2012), Making Sense of MOOCs: Musings in a Maze of Myth, Paradox and Possibility, Seoul: Korean National Open University
4. Deimann M. (2012) Open Education: Offene Bildung und offenes Lernen - mehr als nur eine Alternative fur ELearning, Handbuch E-Learning 42. June 2012
5. Moiseeva, M. (2005), Distance Education in Russia - Between the Past and the Future, Quarterly Review of Distance Education Vol. 6, No.3 2005
6. OECD (1999) Tertiary education and research in the Russian Federation, Paris OECD Publications
7. Siemens, G. (2004). Connectivism: A learning theory for a digital age. http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/con-nectivism.htm,retrieved 01/07/2012
8. Smirnova, I. (2012). Distance Learning in Russia: Lessons Learned and Questions Raised, in: Open and Distance Learning Feb. 2012
9. Speexx (2012) European Survey last retrieved 8/2012 http://www.speexx.com/en/news/survey-learning-methods. htm
10. Wade 2012 , A Critique of Connectivism as a Learning Theory, Blog Cybergogue May 29 2012
11. Zawacki-Richter, O., Kourotchkina. A. (2011), The development of Distance Education in the Russian Federation and the former Soviet Union, IRRODL Vol. 13, Nr. 3, P. 165-184
