WATCH THE RECORDING View the Presentations

Presentations & panel discussion

Description:

For flexible, open and online education to become reality, it is vital to increase trust in recognition and credentials through robust and reliable solutions. In Europe, we already have standards and tools that can be used to transparently describe qualifications. The European Qualifications Framework gives an indication of the level of various qualifications; the European Diploma Supplement provides a standardised template to give additional information about a degree; the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS) allows for individual learning units to be described in terms of knowledge, skills, responsibility and autonomy; the European Skill, Competences, Qualifications and Occupations (ESCO) database provides a standard terminology. However, while theoretically these same tools could be used to describe virtual mobility and open education, there is a long way to go until open education modules are treated the same way as their traditional counterparts.

This webinar will provide a deeper analysis of this challenge and introduce a few European initiatives, such as the new Europass, MicroHE, ECCOE and more, that aim to facilitate the recognition of open, online and flexible higher education and increase trust in technology-enabled credentials among students, higher education institutions (HEIs) and employers.

Moderator: Deborah Arnold, AUNEGe, EDEN Senior Fellow

Presenters:

Deborah Arnold
National and International Projects Coordinator, AUNEGe, France

Formerly Digital Strategy and Communication Officer in the Directorate for Digital Affairs at the University of Burgundy, and Manager of the Learning Technology and Distance Education unit, Deborah has nearly 20 years’ experience in European projects. From 2010 to 2016 Deborah served on the Executive Committee of EDEN (European Distance and E-learning Network) and held the position of Vice-President Communication (2015-2016). She was awarded Senior Fellowship of EDEN in 2016, currently serves on the EDEN Fellows Council board, and represented EDEN in the ET2020 Working Group on Digital Skills and Competences (2016-2018).

Anthony F. Camilleri
Director at Knowledge Innovation Centre, Malta

Anthony’s expertise is in Quality Assurance processes and knowledge transfer of research. Within Quality Assurance he has given training on techniques for peer-review to quality assurance agencies around Europe, and contributed to the UNIQUe and ECBCheck guidelines on quality assurance of e-learning. With respect to knowledge transfer, he has worked with several associations to better describe their research outcomes through their communication channels, included through improved and more targeted web presence, better social media handling and production of final publications, including most recently OERTest and EQUNET. He has also developed a methodology for improving impact measurement of dissemination and exploitation activities within EU projects. Mr. Camilleri was previously engaged as Quality Services Manager for EFQUEL, where he was responsible for coordination of projects linked to OER including OERTest and VMPass.

Ildiko Mazar
Research & Development Associate, Knowledge Innovation Centre, Malta

Ildiko has worked in the field of open & distance education and e-learning since 1998, accumulating particularly significant experience in the management of EU co-funded projects. She enjoys collaborating with project partners across borders, cultures and various educational and training sectors and is passionate about making a contribution to the widespread practical application of technology in education and learning. In her former positions at EDEN (1998-2016) and ICWE (2017) Ildiko also took care of the planning, implementation and assessment of dissemination and exploitation activities within EU projects and international conferences, using traditional communication tools and social media. She was awarded the title of EDEN Fellow in 2019.

Chiara Carlino
Consultant, Cineca, Italy

Chiara is a consultant in the Cineca’s Business Unit dedicated to Universities. With a background in Philosophy, Chiara works at the intersection between humans and technologies: from semantic web to digital communication, from web analysis and monitoring to user interfaces, from functional requirements to technological applications capable of changing social interactions – such as Open Badges and Blockchain.

Piet Henderikx
Senior Executive Advisor at EADTU

Formerly Secretary General, currently Senior Executive Advisor of EADTU (European Association of Distance Teaching Universities) Piet has an ongoing experience in the changing pedagogical landscape in European higher education, specifically online. Having a high amount of expertise in blended and open teaching and learning, institutional and governmental policies, empowering universities for new modes of teaching and learning as well as international policies, Piet can give a thorough insight into flexible education, collaborative courses and curricula, quality assurance and accreditation online and distance education as well as online short learning programs (SLPs), strategies and business models for MOOCs and university-business knowledge alliances.