1. Travel Well
Criteria
www.europeanschoolnet.org - www.eun.org

2. eQualityNet (eQNet)
• A three-year (September 2009-2012) Comenius Multilateral Network
funded under the European Commission’s Lifelong Learning
programme. The network for joint reflection and co-operation is
coordinated by European Schoolnet and involves 9 Ministries of
Education or agencies nominated to act of their behalf.
– http://www.eqnet.eun.org
• The primary aim is to improve the quality of educational resources in
European Schoolnet’s Learning Resource Exchange for schools
– The vision driving the LRE is that a significant percentage of high quality
resources developed in different countries, in different languages and to
meet the needs of different curricula can be re-used at European level.
– As a pan-European service, the LRE required validated techniques and
tools to identify learning resources that ‘travel well’ across national
borders
– Work focused on developing criteria that can be applied to identify
‘travel well’ collections both already within the LRE and candidate
collections for inclusion in the LRE
www.europeanschoolnet.org - www.eun.org

3. eQNet Methodology
• The criteria were tested and refined by a combination of bottom-up and top-down
approaches and testing in real-life settings to improve the LRE involving:
– Teachers in eQNet initially defined a potential set of criteria based on their own
understanding ‘travel well’ concept and favorite collections/national repositories
– Closely following international initiatives engaged in the development of digital
content quality criteria for education, i.e. Achieve, Inc in the U.S.
– Integrating requirements and content quality criteria already in use by Ministries
of Education involved in eQNet
– Once a draft set of criteria were developed the criteria were tested as teachers
applied them to improve the quality of content in the Learning Resource
Exchange for schools
– eQNet partners refined the criteria based on an analysis of data produced when
teachers (using the LRE’s Web 2.0 features) applied criteria to create showcase
• http://lreforschools.eun.org/web/guest/travelwell-all
– Using questionnaires to collect feedback from teachers outside of the eQNet
network (both expert ICT users and average ICT users) and content
developers/publishers (process still open)
• Ranking criteria in-terms of most ‘important’ for different stakeholders
• The application of the Travel Well Criteria to improve the quality of Learning Resource
Exchange’s content continues as new collections are added to the LRE.
www.europeanschoolnet.org - www.eun.org

4. http://goo.gl/GyfbX
www.europeanschoolnet.org - www.eun.org 4

5. Trans-national Topics
(MUST BE PRESENT)
The resource addresses curriculum topics
that could be
considered trans-national.
For example, teaching multiplication is
usually covered in every national
curriculum, but teaching the folklore of a
very specific region is not. It can also be
a resource well suited for use in multi-
disciplinary or cross-curricular contexts.
http://lreforschools.eun.org/web/guest/resour
ce-details?resourceId=280919
http://lreforschools.eun.org/web/guest/resour
ce-details?resourceId=400452
www.europeanschoolnet.org - www.eun.org 5

6. Knowledge of a specific language is not
needed
(MUST BE PRESENT)
The resource can be used without having to translate
accompanying
texts and/or the resource may be available in at least 3
European
languages.
For example, a resource might be a video where
the narrative can be turned off, or it employs icons,
images, animations, maps, etc. making its contents
understandable for everyone.
http://lreforschools.eun.org/web/guest/resource-
details?resourceId=400117
http://lreforschools.eun.org/web/guest/resource-
details?resourceId=264342
www.europeanschoolnet.org - www.eun.org 6

7. Stored as a file type that is usable
with generally available software*
The resource can be used in any
environment (online and off-line) and
runs on multiple platforms (also
hand-held, IWB).
For example this can be an
animation that plays in a web
browser without the need for
additional software.
http://lreforschools.eun.org/web/gues
t/resource-
details?resourceId=264832
http://lreforschools.eun.org/web/gues
t/resource-
details?resourceId=250809
www.europeanschoolnet.org - www.eun.org 7

8. Methodological support for teachers
is not needed
Subject teachers can easily
recognize how this resource meets
their curriculum requirements or how
this resource could be used in a
teaching scenario without further
instructions. This criteria should not
be used to assess the usability
(technical qualities) of a resource.
http://lreforschools.eun.org/web/gues
t/resource-
details?resourceId=399084
http://lreforschools.eun.org/web/gues
t/resource-
details?resourceId=401108
www.europeanschoolnet.org - www.eun.org 8

9. Intuitive and easy to use
The resource is intuitive to use in the
sense that it has a user-friendly
interface and is easy to navigate for
both teachers and students without
having to read or translate complex
operating instructions.
Example are resources with simple
button commands to create maps for
use on computers, printouts or
interactive white boards.
http://lreforschools.eun.org/web/guest/res
ource-details?resourceId=261871
http://lreforschools.eun.org/web/guest/res
ource-details?resourceId=280960
www.europeanschoolnet.org - www.eun.org 9

10. Interactivity with or without feedback in a digital
environment
This kind of resource invites or requires a significant
degree of user input or engagement, other than just
reading something on a page in an online or offline
environment.
The interactivity can be simple or complex. Simple
forms can be feedback on correct or incorrect
answers in a drill/practice scenario. Complex forms
can be lab activities that produce different results
depending on user actions or hints to help complete
tasks successfully in an online environment. An
interactive resource that does not provide feedback
but still requires user input would be a geometric 3D
shape that can be moved and turned.
http://lreforschools.eun.org/web/guest/resou
rce-details?resourceId=248375
http://lreforschools.eun.org/web/guest/resou
rce-details?resourceId=264849
www.europeanschoolnet.org - www.eun.org 10

11. Clear license status (MUST BE PRESENT)
The user can easily find information about the
license/rights (sometimes called Terms of Use,
Copyright or Permissions) for this resource.
These statements explain if users or educators are
allowed to make copies, or remix or redistribute
a resource, or use images from the site in a
blog without contacting the photographer, or if
they can put this resource in a VLE like Moodle,
etc.
This license/rights information should be
understandable for a typical user.
http://lreforschools.eun.org/web/guest/resource-
details?resourceId=265528
http://lreforschools.eun.org/web/guest/resource-
details?resourceId=399091
www.europeanschoolnet.org - www.eun.org 11

12. http://goo.gl/GyfbX
www.europeanschoolnet.org - www.eun.org 12