Edmundo Tovar - Analysis of existing research and best practices
OEB12: Types of OCW Scenarios for virtual mobility
1. OpenCourseWare in the European HE context
Guidelines for the Use of OpenCourseWare
for Virtual Mobility
(Seminar in ONLINE EDUCA)
Edmundo Tovar
edmundo.tovar@upm.es
Types of OCW Mobility Scenarios
with the support of the Lifelong Learning
opencourseware.eu Programme of the European Union
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2. Best Practices using OER/OCW
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opencourseware.eu Programme of the European Union
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3. 1. Teaser courses
• Pre-enrollment courses for a subject
• Advantages:
– Promotion of subjects
– Discloses the difficulty level of the material
– Facilitates students selecting subjects in their Learning Agreement
– Students acquire background knowledge
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4. 2. Language OCW – support for language
learning = vocabulary building
• OCW helps acquiring communication skills in a language
• Advantages prior to mobility:
– Helps students to meet admission requirements of the chosen
University.
– Facilitates academic and cultural integration in the chosen University
• Benefits during mobility:
– Support in the development of the language.
• Virtual Mobility: only applies if you are looking to learn the
language
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5. 3. Bridging
• OCW required for admission to a program that requires
mobility.
• Advantages:
– The professor ensures homogeneity of knowledge among students in
the program.
– Filter admission to a particular program.
– Students acquire essential knowledge prior to mobility
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6. 4. Cultural/practical information (new
country, new institution)
• OCW facilitating cultural integration and the new way of life in
the new educational center.
• Advantages:
– Facilitates stay during mobility
– Adaptation into the new educational environment
• Virtual Mobility: Fostering intercultural communication
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7. 5. To improve the spirit of mobility –
emotional aspects
• OCW aimed to break the emotional barriers involving
mobility.
• Advantages:
– Encourage students to make mobility periods
– Bringing students closer to the new educational institution
– Reduce emotional obstacles to a mobility period
– The student can compare universities or evaluate materials
Increased confidence
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8. 6. OCW for content learning ahead of
time
• OCW aimed to break the emotional barriers involving
mobility.
• Advantages:
– Encourage students to make mobility periods
– Bringing students closer to the new educational institution
– Reduce emotional obstacles to a mobility period
– The student can compare universities or evaluate materials
Increased confidence
with the support of the Lifelong Learning
opencourseware.eu Programme of the European Union
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9. 7. OCW for transparency/comparison –
credit transfer
• OCW that facilitates credit recognition
• Advantages:
– More accurate and objective credits assessment.
– Facilitates collaboration between professors in the centers of origin
and destination.
– Facilitates the international academic and research networking
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opencourseware.eu Programme of the European Union
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10. 8. New assessment + methodologies –
business/companies give professional
credits
• Professional courses with labor market recognition
• Advantages:
– Approaching to the labor market.
– Specific knowledge for adaptation to the professional environment.
– There is no need to attend classroom courses in a company or an
institution.
with the support of the Lifelong Learning
opencourseware.eu Programme of the European Union
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11. 9. OCW to facilitate physical – virtual
mobility – experiences at center of
interactions
• OCW allows student interaction
• Advantages:
– Raising interest in certain material, program or professor
– Coexistance between virtual and in-person education
– Allows following online lessons from other universities
– Native students can help other students ´´virtually´´
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12. 10. Open environment can maintain
bond to home university
• OCW facilitates the communication between institutions
• Advantages:
– Possibility of virtual community among institutions
– Improved relationships between institutions
– Facilitates mobility plan of the institutions
– Students can maintain their communication with the home university
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opencourseware.eu Programme of the European Union
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13. 11. Students interactions online
become archives
• Interaction between students in an online community of an
OCW scenario
• Advantages:
– Extracting interesting and useful information, making teaching
materials.
– Leveraging solutions to resolve student doubts and problems
– Allows collaboration in the production of materials between students
of different institutions.
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opencourseware.eu Programme of the European Union
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14. 12. OCW can provide context to courses
– advising + pathways
• OCW as a model of excellence.
• Advantages:
– Inspiring professors to develop materials.
– Ensuring quality of materials and globilize them in any academic
environment.
– Guiding the student in the study mode (lessions + theoretical
questions + practical excercises) of a particular subject.
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15. 13. Place course content in cultural
context
• OCW in a cultural context
• Advantages:
– Unifying academic information (breaking taboos, historical reasons)
– Cultural Exchange
– Overview of the cultural environment
– Real content
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16. Examples
OCW for transparency/comparison – credit transfer
Mario is the ECTS coordinator at Computer But Mario finds out that some universities
Science College – UPM, Spain. He is in have their materials open, what helps him
charge of the evaluation of the courses to know previously the accuracy of the
content his students could take at host contents, the objective assessment of the
institutions, in order approve and to include credits and the gradated system used. This
them in the Learning Agreement. information allows the coordinator to sign
He has always the same problem: a lot of the students’ Learning Agreement with total
times it is not possible to know in advance confidence and guarantee. The OCW
the courses content his students want to materials definitely help Mario to improve
take at host institution, sometimes because the future recognition of the courses the
this information is not available on the web students take at host institutions.
site or sometimes because the information Moreover, Mario starts collaboration with
is not updated. If the information is not other teachers involved in the same topic he
available it may happen that at best the is working in. They are planning to create an
Learning agreement needs to be changed international research group in a near
later and at worst the course will not be future.
validated at home university.
with the support of the Lifelong Learning
opencourseware.eu Programme of the European Union
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17. Examples
OCW for transparency/comparison – credit transfer
with the support of the Lifelong Learning
opencourseware.eu Programme of the European Union
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18. Examples
OCW for transparency/comparison – credit transfer
with the support of the Lifelong Learning
opencourseware.eu Programme of the European Union
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19. Examples
OCW to facilitate physical - virtual mobility - experiences at center of interactions
Oskar studies Computer Science and university that there is an agreement
Mathematics at the Technische Universität between TUD and UPM, so he decides to
Dresden (TUD), Germany. He found that apply for the exchange for next semester.
UPM, Spain, offers OCW courses in several
Oskar has been admitted to spend a
areas of his interest. He decides to follow
semester within ERASMUS programme at
one of these courses as self-leaner. He gets
UPM. He is following the courses at UPM,
in contact to the professor. When he
but at the same time he needs to follow a
finished the course his feelings about the
course at his home university. As his
experience were really happy with the
university also offers OCW courses he
materials, the knowledge he got and the
decides to register one OCW course at TUD
relationship with the teacher.
while stay at UPM. He can combine both
Now Oskar is thinking about the possibility activities during his stay in Spain.
to spend a study period abroad and as he
At the end of the semester Oskar has
can speak Spanish and he has good
successfully accomplished UPM courses and
memories from his OCW experience, he is
OCW course at TUD and when he will come
thinking to apply to Universidad Politécnica
back home he will get his courses validated,
de Madrid (UPM), Spain, as ERASMUS
both the UPM and the OCW ones.
student. He has been informed by his home
with the support of the Lifelong Learning
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20. Examples
OCW to facilitate physical - virtual mobility - experiences at center of interactions
with the support of the Lifelong Learning
opencourseware.eu Programme of the European Union
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21. Examples
Bridging
She checks if she would be admitted at TUM
Elena studies Computer Science at the taking this OCW course. The answer from
Polytechnic University of Madrid. She is TUM is positive.
interested in study a very specific course at Therefore Elena registers in OCW course and
TUM, but to register the course it is combines her formal studies at home
mandatory to have deep knowledge in the university with this OCW course in order to
area of () and at least she has got a finish in summer just on time the
minimum number of credits in the topic. application deadline at TUM.
She is worried because at this time it is not
Elena sends her application to TUM
possible for her to accomplish this
including the results of the OCW course. She
requirement at home.
is eager to get the admission although she is
Elena has not time to acquire the requested a bit nervous. She gets the letter of
knowledge within formal lectures in order admission from TUM to take the specific
for her to be admitted at TUM. She find out course she wants to deep in.
that TUM offers OCW courses in the field
Finally, in Germany, Elena does not have
she needs to improve, so she thought that if
understanding problems to proper follow
she take this course in parallel to her studies
the course because her knowledge about
and go on till summer, she will likely get the
the topic is really high and thus is allows her
knowledge and the credits required at TUM.
to get a high mark in the course.
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22. Examples
Bridging
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23. Examples
Teaser courses
As a student in a foreign university I had the
opportunity to assist in a teaser course of
the subject Artificial Intelligence. The teaser
course consisted of attending a free seminar
for every student that wanted to enroll it.
During the seminar I was able to attend
different workshops presented by the
professors of Artificial Intelligence where
students were able to see real world
examples of what can be done with Artificial
Intelligence, as well as an introduction
presentation done by the coordinator of this
subject. This seminar was the main reason
why I was motivated to enroll into this
subject because previously, I didn’t have any
knowledge of what artificial intelligence
was.
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24. Examples
OCW for transparency/comparison – credit transfer
OCW to facilitate physical - virtual mobility - experiences at center of interactions
Bridging
Teaser courses
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opencourseware.eu Programme of the European Union
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25. www.opencourseware.eu
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