Workshop: Developing a high-performance digital education ecosystem: institutional self-assessment
The workshop “DIGI-HE Workshop 2: Developing a high-performance digital education ecosystem: institutional self-assessment”
The workshop “DIGI-HE Workshop 2: Developing a high-performance digital education ecosystem: institutional self-assessment” will take place on 24 May 2022 at 14.00-16.30 (CET). This is the second workshop of a three-part series aimed at supporting institutions in the assessment of their achievements and opportunities in digitally enhanced learning and teaching. The workshop is organized by European University Association (EUA) in partnership with the European Distance and E-learning Network (EDEN). During the workshop, experiences in the use of self-assessment and self-assessment instruments for enhancing institutional approaches to digitally enhanced learning and teaching will be shared. With a focus on the three topics of strategy and organisational culture, curriculum and assessment and international partnerships, which have been discussed under the DIGI-HE project, participants will exchange views on how they see their institutions developing in post-Covid times.
The workshop is free, aimed at HE managers responsible for learning and teaching as well as those working on the digital transformation of learning and teaching.
The program of the workshop can be found here.
Speakers
- Airina Volungevičienė, Director, Institute of Innovative Studies, Vytautas Magnus University, Lithuania
- Aisling McKenna, Director, Quality Promotion and Institutional Research, Dublin City University, Ireland
- Lina Kaminskienė, Chancellor, Education Academy, Vytautas Magnus University, Lithuania
- Michael Gaebel, Director, Higher Education Policy Unit, European University Association
- Sandra Kučina Softić, President, European Distance and E-learning Network
DigiProf project partners meeting in Kaunas
The DigiProf project partners meeting took place in Kaunas on 26-27 April 2022. The partners came from Baden-Württemberg State University, Heilbronn (Germany), European Distance and eLearning Network (EDEN) (Estonia), University of Aveiro (Portugal).
The DigiProf project aims at supporting higher education institutions in the design and implementation of transparent assessment and recognition of learning outcomes in distance learning by offering methodologies, guidelines, practical tools, and teaching materials for the development of digital competences.
During the meeting in Kaunas, the project Consortium discussed the development of quality project deliverables in order to develop training materials for HEI teachers. Much attention was paid to digital forms of assessment; what they are and what they can be. Digital micro-credentials were also discussed as part of a transparent assessment to recognize learning outcomes.
Interview with authors of “Learning Analytics: a Metacognitive Tool to Engage Students”
Researchers prof. dr. Airina Volungevičienė, prof. habil. dr. Margarita Teresevičienė and doc. dr. Elena Trepulė have presented a most recent research study “Learning Analytics: a Metacognitive Tool to Engage Students”, which was published by Sciendo Publishing.
During the interview, the researchers not only shared experiences of conducting a research and developing the research study but also shared insights on whether online learning courses are the future of education, and how online teaching and learning is changing the traditional teaching and learning.
Researchers shared the challenges of conducting the study and noted that the study on learning analytics as a metacognitive tool has contributed to the global trends in the field of online teaching and learning research, by revealing how learning analytics as a metacognitive tool can lead to a more reflective teaching practices by lecturers and to a more active learners’ engagement in online or blended learning.
At the same time, researchers remind us that we should not think that online learning can completely replace traditional learning, since there are contexts where each mode is more convenient, and they will serve at its best.
Read the full interview here
Read the research study here (open access)
This research was complemented during a four-year research project “Open Online Learning for Digital and Networked Society” (3.3-LMT-K-712-01-0189), funded by the European Social Fund according to the activity “Improvement of researchers’ qualification by implementing world-class R&D projects” of Measure No. 09.3.3-LMT-K-712
“Active Class” project training on the flipped classroom for active student engagement
5-day international teacher training “Flipped Classroom for Activating Students in Online Classes” was held online with university teachers from “Active Class” project partner institutions on 15 May-5 April 2022. The opportunity to learn about the currently very popular “flipped classroom” teaching methodology attracted a great deal of interest, and as many as 54 teachers participated in the training.
Training participants from Vytautas Magnus University, Silesian University in Katowice and Sofia University had the possibility to learn about the flipped classroom methodology and the possibilities and peculiarities of organizing it in a blended and online teaching and learning.
During the training, experts from Vytautas Magnus, Silesian and Sofia Universities shared theoretical presentations relevant to the planning and organisation of flipped learning and demonstrated already developed courses where flipped learning is or will be taking place, and the participants were able to apply the knowledge they had gained in practical tasks. In order to create a reflective learning experience and practice, participants were encouraged to share their experiences, challenges and recommendations to other colleagues.
Active participants’ involvement in the discussions not only helped to broaden the depth of knowledge about the possibilities of flipped learning, but also provided more ideas for engaging students and increasing their participation in the online classes.
Course participants shared the digital educational tools and apps they use in their classes, both to engage students and to make the material or assignment more interactive.
It is important to note that at the end of the training, most of the participating lecturers identified opportunities to integrate flipped learning in their courses and shared ideas and examples of how and what activities, tools and assessment strategies they plan to use in their flipped classes.
This is the first of three “Flipped Classroom for Activating Students in Online Classes” trainings organised and implemented by Vytautas Magnus University. The upcoming training will take place in May at the University of Silesia in Katowice (Poland), and the last one will be organised by Sofia University (Bulgaria) at the end of June.
The teacher training material will be available on the project website soon.
The teacher training course was organised as part of the Erasmus+ project “Activating Students in Online Classes”, no. 2020-1-PL01-KA226-HE-096358.
Open Education Week
EDEN 2022 Open Education Week will take place from 7 to 11 March. For the sixth year in a row EDEN OEW will celebrate the global Open Education Movement.
The main goal is to highlight how the education, and teaching and learning process has evolved. Also, which are the educational opportunities that are and will be more relevant in the Open Education Movement.
More information and registration is here
DIGI PROF project presentation video
We present the won project coordinated by VMU Digitally Signed Credentials and Open Badges in VET and HE Transparent Assessment for Online Learning by Digitally Competent Professors
The project aims –is to support HE teachers and HE institutions to design and implement transparent assessment for online learning and recognition of learning outcomes by proposing methodology, guidelines, practical tools and training material to develop their digital competences.
2021 European Online and Distance Learning Week
EDEN is hosting the European Online and Distance Learning Week (EODLW) for the sixth time. Virtual events takes place on 3-11th of November.
This week will be an excellent opportunity to reflect on the lessons learned during the COVID-19 pandemic and to discuss how education should look like in the post pandemic era. During EODLW, you will have access to daily online webinars and panel sessions of expert scholars and practitioners, who will present best practices and expertise in online and distance education and discuss with the audience on the challenges in shaping the future of education and how we can fully harness the potential of new models of online and distance learning.
More information about EDEN European Online and Distance Learning week, presentation time and moderators and speakers of each day can be found at EDEN website. The participation in this event is free. We invite you to register and actively participate.
Digitization strategy of the University’s academic activities was formed by order of the Rector of Vytautas Magnus University
In September of 2020, after the first six months of the pandemic, (since all the academic activities had to take place in a digital environment) a group of experts on the digitization strategy of the University’s academic activities was formed by order of the Rector of Vytautas Magnus University. Through self-analysis, the aim of this group is to assess the challenges and good practices in academic units when digitalizing study content, as well as teaching and learning activities, using learning data analysis tools to monitor and to improve learning progress, to evaluate digital tools and institutional support for teachers, to offer recommendations on how to improve the digitalization process of academic activities, and to point out strategic directions for the digitalization of these activities to take.
The subgroups of the self-assessment group have selected the topic coordinators in accordance with the topics for self-analysis: prof. habil. dr. Rūta Petrauskaitė, associate prof. dr. Laima Anglickienė, prof. dr. Margarita Teresevičienė, Konstantinas Kurževas, and Aistė Žemaitytė. The leader of the self-assessment group is the director of the VMU Innovative Studies Institute of VMU Education Academy prof. dr. Airina Volungevičienė.
The thematic self-assessment groups have performed SWOT analysis, as well as systematically reviewing the results according to the framework of a digitally competent organization (DigCompOrg) and prepared proposals for the University’s strategic goals. In the meantime, the representatives of the study units took the initiative in the digitalization process of study subjects for formal and non-formal studies, as well as for international cooperation in the field of virtual mobility, micro-credentials, and other innovations based on the technology.
The work of the self-assessment group is ongoing. The interim results will be presented at an international EUA seminar (briefly announced by the members of the self-assessment group in this video here) and also in the EUA discussions of Thematic Peer Groups.
EDEN webinar “How to examine or how not to examine; that is the question in the post pandemic era”
EDEN hosts webinar series Time for Action in Shaping HE 4.0. The new webinar of the series #onlinetogether Time for Action in Shaping HE 4.0 is organized on Monday, 11 October 2021. It is called “How to examine or how not to examine; that is the question in the post pandemic era”.
There have been a lot of challenges for education system during pandemic, one of the main questions was how to examine students learning when face to face examinations have not been possible. This webinar will examine some of the approaches to summative assessment which include how to substitute physical assessment with remote technology enhanced assessment.
We invite you to register and participate at this webinar. You can register here.
More information about the seminar can be found here.
VMU in EUA Workshop Developing a high-performance digital education ecosystem: strategy and organizational culture
Vytautas Magnus university prof. dr. Airina Volungeviciene, together with prof. dr. Ruta Petrauskaite, a chair of VMU digitalization subgroup, are participating in the Developing a high-performance digital education ecosystem: strategy and organizational culture workshop, organized and led by EUA, as a part of DIGI-HE project.
The workshop will take place on 19th October from 15.00 to 18.00 (EEST).
This is the first part of a three-part workshop series which aims at exploring how higher educational institutions can enhance digital learning and teaching through self-reflection. This first workshop will examine the role of strategy and organizational culture in developing a high-performance digital education ecosystem. In the meantime, the subsequent workshops will focus on matters regarding curriculum and internationalization.
The workshop will be held online. Participation is free of charge and registration is open until 5th October. Active involvement in discussions and peer exchanges is highly expected. However, there are limits to attendance as only 30 spots are available, with a maximum of two people from the same institution. To register for the event, check this link.
To learn more about the workshop, click here.
To look at the program of the workshop, click here.