CEENet - E-learning without frontiers

13 September 2005ICETA, Kosice, Slovakia 1

CEENet e-Learning without

Frontiers Prof. Oliver B. Popov

CEENet & Mid Sweden UniversityDr. Jacek Gajewski

CEENet

13 September 2005ICETA, Kosice, Slovakia 2

What is CEENet?

CEENet

Central and Eastern European Networking Association is an association (registered in Austria, office in Warsaw) of 23 national academic networks (NRENs) from CEE and CAsia countries. Slovak member is SANET.

13 September 2005ICETA, Kosice, Slovakia 3

Geographical Scope of CEENet

13 September 2005ICETA, Kosice, Slovakia 4

CEENet ActivitiesProjects

– NATO (NIGs, ANWs)– Cisco (Cisco Academies)– EU (@DULINE, ANTITESYS) – SIDA (ICT4ICT)

Educational/Scientific Workshops– Technology– Management/Policy– DE (including E-course Incubators)

13 September 2005ICETA, Kosice, Slovakia 5

Workshop format

– Regular lectures (Theory + Hands-on exercises and labs)

– Sponsor’s Spotlights (SSL)– Evening Lecture Series (ELS)– Warsaw (1995), Zagreb (1997),

Bratislava (1998), Budapest (1996, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004) and Ohrid (2005)

13 September 2005ICETA, Kosice, Slovakia 6

Workshop Structure

Initially two tracks: Engineering the Network (EngiNe) & Network Knowledge Systems (NetKnowS)

From 1998 (Bratislava), a third track - Wired Education (WirEd) devoted to methodology of distance education

13 September 2005ICETA, Kosice, Slovakia 7

WirEd

Course content:• Learning theories• Target group analysis• Case studies• Content analysis• Objectives and assessment• Instructional strategies• Design of learning environments + Student (international) team project

evaluated by lecturers and peers

13 September 2005ICETA, Kosice, Slovakia 8

WirEd extensions

– Running a pre-workshop distance courses - effective instrument for the selection and the preparation for f2f (e.g. familiarity with WebCT);

– Running a pre-workshop distance course and WirEd (in Russian) in Tver; e-course incubator: courses suggested by students, done in teamwork, winning team supported to finish their e-course

13 September 2005ICETA, Kosice, Slovakia 9

WirEd results

- ca. 500 students studied in DE mode– ca. 150 students completed WirEd

becoming expert e-course designers; often pillars of DE in their countries

– ca. 15 students engaged in post-workshop activities (project, tutoring, e-course evaluation)

– overproportional AM presence

13 September 2005ICETA, Kosice, Slovakia 10

@DULINE ProjectAims and Objectives

• Promoting lifelong learning and developing the use of online learning amongst adult educators.

• Assist e-designers and e-tutors to master their skills and familiarity with the methods and best practice in flexible Web-based on-line learning.

13 September 2005ICETA, Kosice, Slovakia 11

@DULINE Results

Two e-courses for educators, fully tested and evaluated:• Course Design Course (for e-designers)• Online Tutoring Course (for e-tutors)Web-based course material has been produced by experts from 8 countries and translated into 7 languages (English, Portuguese, Danish, Swedish, Finnish, Estonian and Lithuanian).

13 September 2005ICETA, Kosice, Slovakia 12

teaching and tutoring staff (ca. 150 persons from 19 countries)

students (ca. 50 persons) unable to study in the stationary mode as full-time students

Target Group

13 September 2005ICETA, Kosice, Slovakia 13

Pattern 1: International (same culture) groups of learners and tutors (Finland, Sweden, Estonia)Pattern 2: National groups with international peer review

(Lithuania, Portugal)Pattern 3: National groups (Scotland, Denmark)

Pattern 4: ‘Without Frontiers’ mixed international groups (15 nations, 5 time zones, 5 religions) across an existing CEENet e-learning network.

Evaluated models

13 September 2005ICETA, Kosice, Slovakia 14

Course Design CourseIn 10 weeks a student learns to: Design a learner’s guide Design a web-course material, that will

motivate and engage the learner Suggest methods, tools, layouts to those

willing to convert their (traditional) ‘content’ into e-course

Identify the main e-learning approaches in their own organisation

13 September 2005ICETA, Kosice, Slovakia 15

Course Design Course

13 September 2005ICETA, Kosice, Slovakia 16

Online Tutoring CourseIn 10 weeks a student learns to:- Identify the differences between online tutoring,

mixed-mode learning and traditional face-to-face teaching

- Apply various activating methods- Maintain relations between e-student and e-tutor,

including various e-learning modes and patterns- Understand the roles and responsibilities of e-

students and e-tutors- Use of e-learning technology, as applies to online

tutoring

13 September 2005ICETA, Kosice, Slovakia 17

13 September 2005ICETA, Kosice, Slovakia 18

ICT4ICT project

- Financed by SIDA through SPIDER- Goal: study ICT diffusion in CEE

countries- Developed within ICT4ICT: an e-

course on usage of statistical data by governmental organizations has been developed in cooperation with Yerevan State University and taught to Armenian politicians.

13 September 2005ICETA, Kosice, Slovakia 19

Near future challange:2.4 Mio Euro Tacis project:

Development of e-societies in Caucasus

(tendering process still going on…)

13 September 2005ICETA, Kosice, Slovakia 20

E-Caucasus- Objectives

- Creation of new courseware (primarily for ICT sector)

- Support NRENs to master DE technology

- Establishment of skilled teams able to design, develope and deliver e-content

- Make e-LMS and e-courses available to Educational Organizations connected to NREN

13 September 2005ICETA, Kosice, Slovakia 21

Conclusions

– „e-Learning without Frontiers” in an evironment of vast ethnic and cultural diversity poses no significant problems;

– Physical anonymity made participants cooperate and understand each other much better;

– Motivation of the students is key factor;– Moderation and activation by tutors is

very useful;

13 September 2005ICETA, Kosice, Slovakia 22

Conclusions (cntd.)

– Proper combination of groups and individual assignments is important;

– Short pre-training to test and even the entry level of knowledge is useful;

– Different quality of Internet access, reflecting digital divide among CEENet members, was the only „Frontier".

13 September 2005ICETA, Kosice, Slovakia 23

CEENet Human Network

– 30+ lecturers in all aspects of networking, including e-learning

– 20+ course designers and developers for face to face and distance teaching.

– 10+ experienced e-tutors – 11 years of experience in logistic and

management of ICT education and training – 7 years of experience with distance

education – from design to running courses – Access to almost 30 member NRENs and

almost 1000 former students

13 September 2005ICETA, Kosice, Slovakia 24

THANK YOU !

Oliver PopovOliver.Popov (at) miun (dot) se

Jacek Gajewski Gajewski (at) CEENet (dot) org

Q / A ?