Virtual University Model in Finland – from strategy to practice

1. Virtual University Model in Finland– from strategy to practice FVU Workshop At the EDEN Conference 15 June 2006

2. FVU 2006 The structure of the workshop • FVU in a nutshell – Organisation - Goals • Specific competence areas to be discussed • ICT in education strategies • Flexible studies (student mobility) and related electronic access services • Discussion • Quality management in e-learning • Staff training in ICT • Discussion • Web-based tools to support learning and teaching • Discussion

3. FVU 2005 FVU in a nutshell • a partnership of the 21 universities in Finland • several collaborative university network projects • not a distance education university • does not award degrees or qualifications • operates on a project basis, 2001 – 2003, 2004 –2006 University of Lapland University of Oulu University of Vaasa University of Kuopio University of Joensuu University of Jyväskylä Lappeenranta University of Technology • Tampere University of Technology • University of Tampere • Helsinki University of Technology • University of Helsinki • Helsinki School of Economics • Academy of Fine Arts • National Defence College • Sibelius Academy • Swedish School of Economics and Business Administration • University of Art and Design • Theatre Academy • University of Turku • The Turku School of Economics and Business Administration • Åbo Akademi University

4. FVU 2006 FVU is a collaborative university network which: • develops flexible study opportunities across university boundaries, including the supporting electronic access services • promotes the shared use of online instruction and educational materials among different universities • produces ICT training and support services for shared use • develops virtual university activities in the context of the European Higher Eduction Area • Each of the above-mentioned strategic areas is supported by a special Issue Group (experts from the FVU member universities)

5. FVU 2006 FVU’s competence building Competence development is based on the Finnish universities’ • best expertise and research • sensible division of labour • shared knowledge • collaboration

6. FVU 2006 FVU’s specific competence areas … ICT in education strategies

7. HiEd and ICT for Teaching and Learning – Four Stages Age of networks 2004- Strategy age 2002 -2003 MinEdu requests all the 21 Finnish Universities to prepare ICT strategy for teaching and learning at the end of the year 2002 Age of know-how 2000 -2001 Iron-age 1995-1999

8. The Framework for Strategy Process for Ict in Teaching And Learning UNIVERSITY MISSION CONVERTING MISSION AND VISON TO OBJECTIVE ORIENTED PLAN OF ACTIONS A) STRATEGY ELABORATION PROCESS SCENARIOS VISIONS PRESENT STATE STRATEGY REVISING GOALS AND STRATEGIES ACCORDING TO PRESENTSTATE CONVERTING STRATEGIES INTO MEASUREABLE OPERATIONS EXECUTION AND FOLLOW-UP B) STRATEGY EXECUTION PROCESS

9. Virtual University & Strategy Servicewww.virtualuniversity.fi • Strategy service • Support services for strategic planning of educational information and communication technology use • Including a pool of experiences, an expert register and tools for monitoring and evaluation • Database of all finnish university ICT strategies • ProAktori tool and concept

10. ProAktori tool and concept

11. The Theory and Practice – Lessons Learned • NOTHING IS AS PRACTICAL AS A GOOD THEORY - tools • UNIVERSITIES ARE ORGANIZATIONS OF A SPECIAL NATURE - fact • STRATEGY CONCERNS EVERYONE - commitment • AS IMPORTANT AS THE RESULTS IS THE PROCESS - learning • STRATEGY MANAGEMENT IS AN ART – be flexible • STRATEGIES SHOULD BE BASED ON ANALYSES – not only on hunch • THE DIMENSIONS OF A STRATEGY - multidimensional • A STRATEGY IS MEANT TO BE CHALLENGING AND SHOULD LEAD TO THE TAKING OF CONCRETE MEASURES – vision and action • STRATEGY IS MAKING CHOICES – not just options • THE QUALITY OF TEACHING AND LEARNING - behind everything

12. FVU 2006 FVU’s specific competence areas … Facilitating student mobility

13. Flexible studies and related electronic access services Agreement between all 21 Finnish universities • Defines theprocess how a student who has the right to study for degree in one university, can study part of the degree studies in another university • Defines how much the ”home university” shall pay for these studies to the ”visited university”. Joopas Online Service • for students and study administration • Information about studies, quidance, electronic application service etc.

14. WWW FVU-portal services like www.joopas.fi or Library article database etc. e.g. Learningmanagementsystem WebCT Haka: Federated identity management using shibboleth Need for trust in using shibboleth leads to the concept of federations. Federations are groups of similar organisations such as universities, who have agreed to a common set of policies Local usernames Institution A Local usernames Institution B Localusernames Institution C

15. Shibboleth • one solution to the problem of accessing multiple resources with a single identity (a product of the US’s Internet2 initiative) • does not carry out authentication itself but defines a set of protocols for the secure passing ofidentity information between institutions and service providers • relies on the institution to establish identity, and on the service provider to confirm access rights, given information about institutional affiliation. • How authentication is carried out by the institution, and howrights management is carried out by the service provider is leftup to the respective parties The word comes from the Old Testament (Judges 12:1-6). The Ephraimites who lived to the west of the river Jordan invaded Gilead on the other side of the river and were defeated. Retreating, their way was blocked by the Gileadites who controlled the fords. They had different accents and the Ephraimites pronounced the ‘sh’ sound as ‘si’. To separate friend from foe, those crossing the river were asked to pronounce the word ‘shibboleth’ (it means an ear of corn). According to the bible, the 42,000 who pronounced it ‘sibboleth’ were killed.

16. Hakafederation the identity federation of Finnish higher education Haka identity federation (operated by CSC) • User’s home institution (Identity Provider, IdP) maintains user’s identity and attributes (name, contact info, role, major etc) • Home institution authenticates the user (e.g. by password) • Home institution releases attributes to the Service Provider (on user consent) • Based on the attributes, service provider decides what kind of service the user gets Identity Providers Service Providers Univ Library portal ”Nelli”(Metalib) Shib IdP Shib SP Library Management System (Voyager) Univ Shib IdP Shib SP Learning management systems Univ Shib IdP Shib SP Finnish Virtual University Portal UAS Shib IdP Shib SP CSC’s extranet services UAS Shib IdP Shib SP UAS Shib IdP

17. Next steps • FVU has until now focused on national cooperation which • has created a good basis for international cooperation • The aim now is to develop FVU’s portal and services to support international exchange of studies and study materials

18. FVU 2006 Topics to be discussed Strategies for educational use of ICT • Do you have any specific strategies for educational use of ICT in your country • at the national or institutional level? • What are the benefits or disadvantages of having a specific strategy for ICT in • education? Is it better to have only general strategies and include educational use of ICT in • these general strategies? Flexible studies (student mobility) and related electronic access services • What do you think your current and future students would like to know about Finnish universities? What kind of web-based information services would be most helpful for someone planning to come to study in Finland? • The FVU pools and distributes information on the educational provision offered by • the Finnish universities and provides an electronic access service for students to • apply for studies outside their home university (Flexible Study Rights Service). The FVU also offers web-based guidance for effective studying. Should there be similar services at the European level to promote student mobility and if so, how could they be arranged?

19. FVU 2006 FVU’s specific competence areas … Quality assurance in online education

20. Quality Management in e-Learning (Vopla) project in a nutshell Goals: • to support and enhance development and improvement of quality in e-learning in universities • to develop the expertise and commitment of staff in improving e-learning quality Actions: • to develop models and criteria for e-learning quality • to strengthen national quality network • to design and implement e-learning quality onlineservices

21. Steering group, follow-up and evaluation Research Developing Quality manual and web pages Dissemi-nation of results Piloting Online questionnaires Interviews Workshops Report Testing Reporting Dissemination Seminars Seminars Training Report on piloting Seminars Workshops Development of portal Year 2004 Year 2005 Year 2006 Year 2007 Development of quality service Enhancement of quality consciousness Schedule of the project

22. Quality Manual - a roadmap to quality improvement The QM includes: • steps into building e-learning quality • quality matrices with questions on aspects of e-learning quality (e-courses, online resources, e-learning support), quality criteria, evaluation measures and indicators for e-learning • examples of process descriptions for e-learning, online resources and e-learning support system • links to other quality materials

23. Piloting the contents of Quality Manual 2006 • six pilots from Finnish universities are testing the contents and functionality of the QM • pilots were chosen so that various aspects and viewpoints in e-learning quality improvement is covered to test the suitability of QM for different users • pilots have begun by describing the present state of their e-learning and chosen some activities for improvement • pilots have used the contents of QM in various ways to suit their needs and targets in quality improvement

24. FVU 2006 FVU’s spesific competence areas … Staff training in educational ICT use

25. TieVie project – national staff training programme • A networked project by 5 universities • A nationwide support service project of the FVU providing training on the use of ICT in education. • Helsinki University of Technology, • University of Helsinki, • University of Jyväskylä, • University of Oulu (coordinator) and • University of Turku. • Financed by the Ministry of Education (2001 – 2006)

26. Training offered to all university staff in Finland • The general aim of the TieVie training programmes is to support the development of online learning and teaching in Finnish universities • The training is based on a blended learning approach: a combination of web-based study modules supported by local face-to-face meetings and national seminars

27. Structure of the TieVie expert training programme (15 ECTS) Mega conference II 16.2.2006 Mega conference I 14.1.2005 I national seminar Organizational change 25. - 26.8.2005 in Oulu II National seminar Pedagogical change 27. - 28.10.2005 in Helsinki IV National closing seminar 27. - 28.4.2006 in Turku III National seminar Evaluation and Quality19. - 20.1.2006 in Jyväskylä Web-based study modules Organizational change 29.8. - 2.10.2005 Pedagogical change 31.10. - 4.12.2005 Orientation 15. - 21.8.2005 Evaluation and quality 23.1. - 24.3.2006 Collaborative working in interest groups and peer groups Local mentoring and support in groups guided by mentors ICT in teaching and learning – participants’ own development project Personal portfolio and literature August 2005 April 2006

28. FVU 2006 TieVie Community • Participants in two programmes(8 ECTS + 15 ECTS) • 2001 – 2002 (200 + 60 participants) • 2002 – 2003 (160 + 80participants) • 2003 – 2004 (120 + 93participants) • 2004 – 2005 (120 + 100participants) • 2005 – 2006 (15 ECTS: 100 participants) • Planning group (13 persons) • Contact persons in all universities (21 persons) • Mentors in universities (29 mentors) • Trainers, tutors, lecturers in seminars, material producers University of Lapland University of Oulu University of Vaasa University of Kuopio University of Joensuu University of Jyväskylä Lappeenranta University of Technology Tampere University of Technology University of Tampere Helsinki University of Technology University of Helsinki Helsinki School of Economics Academy of Fine Arts National Defence College Sibelius Academy Swedish School of Economics and Business Administration University of Art and Design Theatre Academy University of Turku The Turku School of Economics and Business Administration Åbo Akademi University

29. FVU 2006 Topics to be discussed Quality management in e-learning • How and in what context is e-learning quality discussed in universities in your country? • How is e-learning quality linked to the overall management of learning and teaching quality in your country? Can you give some examples? Staff training in pedagogical use of ICT • Do you have national teacher training programs related to ICT in your country? • What do you think are the benefits of nationwide training? Are there any disadvantages?

30. FVU 2006 FVU’s specific competence areas … Web-tools for planning and evaluatingonline education

31. Web-based tools for supporting learning and teaching • Developed for students and teachers to enhance effective learning in web-based and campus-based environments • Developed by FVU partner universities or by thematic networks • Shared use for various purposes: - assessment of learning skills,- assessment of group work skills,- assessment of teacher’s ICT skills;- evaluation of usability and accessibility of online learning material- web-course design- tutoring- etc.

32. FVU’s tools in European context eLene-TT project www.elene-tt.net • Some tools in pilot use in European teacher training workshops to be selected to virtual Teacher Training centre > available to a wider e-teaching community • TT centre includes also guidelines and other resources to enhance the pedagogical use of ICT at the European HE education level Co-operation agreement between FVU and VHB (Virtuelle Hochschule Bayern) • Exchange of webcourses, modules, and online learning material • Exchange of know-how

33. National web-tools for wider European use • In development phase collaboration with other institutions, countries, networks etc. essential to avoid overlapping • Open source tools allow creative further development • Dissemination using existing virtual centres/tool boxes – in addition user training needed to introduce new tools • Bringing out pedagogical way of use e.g. organising workshops • hands-on experience (learning by doing) in small groups inspires and stregthens self-confidence • discuss pedagogical viewpoints • long enough time to test out tools to include even less experienced users

34. Challenges when bringing in European dimension • ’European dimension’ ≠ exporting completed national educational entities but collaboration • Language and cultural differences • Differences in learning styles and pedagogical traditions e.g. • individualistic – collaborative • competitive – collaborative knowledge creation • Differences on management level and operational cultures

35. FVU 2006 Topics to be discussed Web-based tools for supporting learning and teaching • How are university teachers prepared to use web-based tools in your country? Are pedagogical training, support personnel, the services of instructional designers, or other resources offered? • Is there collaboration in developing web-based tools among universities in your country? What kind of European collaboration would benefit your institution/country in the development of web-based tools?

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