DHBW Forschungstag 2020

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The German OEPass Multiplier Event was part of the Forschungstag, an event of DHBW across all nine locations, which took place in Mosbach on 30 January 2020. In a workshop session, an overview of the OEPass project and the current challenges of the present credentialing system was presented by Jochen Ehrenreich and Raimund Hudak.

At the beginning, the difference between recognition and validation in the German Higher Education system was explained and placed into the context of Open Learning and MOOC recognition. Subsequently, the current mechanisms for this process at the DHBW were shown and described in more detail. This formed the basis for the later discussion whether and how small-scale training courses could be recognized and offered at the DHBW.

The OEPass project created an “Open Education Passport” in which education certificates can be collected safely and transparently to facilitate the recognition and credition of credentials not acquired at one’s own university. A reference was also made to the thematically related Erasmus+ projects MicroHE and ECCOE.

Following the theoretical part, it was discussed how we could enable more flexible learning paths in the DHBW study programmes.

The Multiplier Event produced the following results:

  1. Validating all OEPass Intellectual Outputs in a German context, with a focus on the Learning Passport and the Future Scenarios and Policy Recommendations.
  2. Stimulating strategic thinking about e-learning, open learning recognition, flexible learning pathways and unbundling of education at DHBW institutions.
  3. Exchange of ideas and good practices on open learning recognition.

OEPass European Multiplier Event in Berlin

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The OEPass team held a strategy workshop on Future Scenarios for Digital Credentials and Open
Learning Recognition at the International Strategies Beyond Borders conference on December 10, 2019 in Berlin. The conference was organized by Hochschulforum Digitalisierung (HFD) and DAAD. Our partner Stifterverband is a leading player at HFD, therefore integrating the Multiplier Event into the strategy conference was a logical step. It gave us the opportunity to discuss and validate our results with a larger audience. Marie Ullmann and Florian Rampelt were on site for Stifterverband, while DHBW was represented by Jochen Ehrenreich and Raimund Hudak.

The workshop started with a presentation on open education, digital credentials and the strategic implications for higher education, followed by a short overview of the OEPass project. To find answers to the question of how open education through credentialisation could transform higher education by 2030, the project team determined five future scenarios:

  1. A wallet in your pocket (fully open)
  2. European scenario (hybrid – focus on standards)
  3. Fluidity between Higher and Continuing Education (hybrid – focus on collaboration)
  4. Higher Education Institutions as credentials clearing house and testing center (hybrid – focus on quality degrees)
  5. Higher Education Institutions resist open learning recognition (fully closed)

For the following discussion, the participants were divided into three groups:

  • Group 1: Labour Market and Society 6.0 (employer perspective)
  • Group 2: Learning in the Cyberspace – Higher Education Institutions in a Virtual World
    (institutional perspective)
  • Group 3: A Brave New World – Technology & the Learner in 2030 (learner perspective)

Each group developed their own ideas in a three-stage process (10 minutes each) and shared them after each stage:

– “dreamer” – creative distruction;
– “critics” – inhibitors and barriers;
– “realistic”.

Finally, the participants were asked to select their top 3 scenarios using a scoring system. The result showed that Scenario 3: Fluidity between Higher and Continuing Education (hybrid – focus on collaboration) is considered as the most likely, followed by Scenario 2: European scenario (hybrid – focus on standards) and Scenario 4: Higher Education Institutions as credentials clearing house and testing center (hybrid – focus on quality degrees).

We would like to thank all workshop participants for the intense discussion. The workshop provided valuable input for validating and further refining the future scenarios.

Open Learning Recognition

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At the end of November of 2019, the sixth Multiplier Event of the OEPass project entitled “Open Learning Recognition” took place at UNED, Madrid (Spain). The main purpose of the event was to disseminate the project results and discuss the following topics:

  • volume, scope and types of open credentials offered by open educational providers;
  • current state of recognition of open educational credentials in Europe;
  • the Learning Passport as a way to facilitate recognition of open credentials in Europe; and
  • impacts of increased open educational provision on HEIs.

These topics were covered by a total of four presentations and one open debate. Firstly, Timothy Read and Beatriz Sedano from UNED presented the OEPass project and its objectives, stages, outputs and results with publications. Following this introduction, José Antonio Márquez Aguirre, educational consultant and leading expert on digital competences in Spain, gave a presentation about the scope of open educational credentials in Europe. The third speaker, Jorge Arús-Hita from Universidad Complutense de Madrid (Spain), talked about the impact of increased open educational provision for HEIs. As a fourth and final presenter, Ildiko Mazar, from Knowledge Innovation Centre, introduced and explained the functions of the Learning Passport that was developed within the OEPass project as a way to facilitate the recognition of open credentials in Europe. After the presentations, Elena Martín-Monje and Timothy Read from UNED moderated an insightful debate on the future of open education recognition and certification.

Among the participants, there were mostly university professors from different European HEIs (Spain, Belgium, Turkey, UK); and some master and doctoral students related to online open education at national and European level.

The detailed programme, all the presentations and their video recordings are available for consultation.

Lithuanian OEPass Multiplier Event

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The third official OEPass multiplier event was organised by the Lithuanian Distance and e-Learning Association on the 27th of September, 2019. There are 50 Lithuanian educational institutions (universities, colleges, adult learning centres, etc.) in the membership of the Association. The educators from these institutions were invited to participate in the event, leading to the attendance of more than 25 participants at the event.

The OEPass project results, and their applicability for other educational institutions, were presented and discussed. Thus the results of event may be summarised as follows:

  • The OEPass Learning Passport is a useful tool for the representatives of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) as it is a tool for today’s learners to gather and provide institutions with the evidence of learning; it is a tool for institutions to analyse what kind of information may be provided by learners; and also to guide learners that when selecting open learning opportunities they need to focus not only on the topic of a MOOC, but also to think how it might be recognised in their formal learning records.
  • Other types of institutions (Schools, VET centres and teacher qualification centres) found the Learning Passport too complicated to be used in their daily activities due to its availability only in English (that is not spoken by the majority of older teachers) and due to the fact that their programmes are relatively short and former recognition possibilities are not a necessity.
  • All institutions’ representatives were glad to learn about the classification of education credentials. The quality criteria for credentials attracted most attention from the institutions which focus on open course preparations.
  • The technological roadmap of open credentials was an interesting outcome for the event participants, but as most of them are not IT experts but teachers working in online learning, it drew less focus and led to limited discussion.

Report from #EDENRW10

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On the 25th of October in Barcelona, at the 2018 EDEN Research Workshop titled “Towards Personalized Guidance and Support for Learning”, the OEPass project has introduced, for the first time in public, its Learning Passport to an enthusiastic conference audience.

In two consecutive workshop sessions, one in the morning and one in the afternoon, we had the opportunity to collaborate with almost 20 educational practitioners. Working in small groups on the various possibilities of issuing and recognition of micro-credentials allowed space for discussions and a stimulating round of questions at the end of each workshop.

Thanks to all participants!

OEPass at 10th EDEN Research Workshop

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The 2018 EDEN Research Workshop, titled “Towards Personalized Guidance and Support for Learning”, will be organised in Barcelona on 24-26 October. The workshop focuses on the crucial and changing roles of teachers in supporting student learning in the digital world, and with its Learning Passport ready for public review, OEPass will have a highlighted position within the conference programme.

You are kindly invited to participate in a 2 x 90 minutes workshop on the 25th, where the project representatives will explain how the Learning Passport facilitates the recognition of open education credentials in Europe.

Higher Education is changing in nature. A new way of thinking is evolving, shaping a new paradigm of HE based on modularization. In the centre of this paradigm, the vision of personalized patchwork pathways of higher learning, qualifications and certification is manifested. The OEPass workshop will show how this vision evolves, and analyses its consequences for HE institutions, outlining also the challenges of our current practice. The explanatory presentations will be followed by an introduction to the Learning Passport and conclude with a practice session about the use of this new tool.

More information will follow on the Research Workshop website soon.

Research Workshop participants can register to the OEPass workshop here. If you are registered as a student and also take part in the OEPass event, your registration fee will be reimbursed.