ECTS 1 & 2 completion

1. ECTS 1 & 2 completion Brief explanation of ECTS Assistance on completing the ECTS 1 & 2 combined document for EUC courses. By Andreas Grondoudis

2. What is ECTS? • The name stands for European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System • A mechanism to promote and assist higher-education student mobility where students can move from university to university taking courses that are compatible and interesting • Many countries have agreed to adopt ECTS • 1000’s of universities have applied for the so-called ECTS-label • Less than 100 have been successful • EUC is hoping to apply this coming January • Meaning that everything has to be done before Christmas

3. How does it work? • Universities have programs • Programs have (sets of) courses • Each course is worth some ECTS based on the student workload required. • 1 ECTS is awarded for every 25-30 hours • Every semester must have  30 credits • Every year must have  60 credits • A 4-year degree has  240 ECTS credits

4. ECTS focus • Learning outcomes: • What will the student have learned after completing the workload? • How do we (as instructors) • Deliver the material • Assess the successful ‘learning’ of the outcomes • We must document and justify the required workload

5. Document and justify • Complete the ECTS 1 planning form • Internal document; not to be publicised; will be required for ECTS-label purposes • Contains: 1)Some demographics; 2)the learning outcomes; 3)A weekly breakdown of the educational activities to achieve the learning outcomes; 4)A delivery and assessment scheme • Complete the ECTS 2 summary form • Public document, to go on website • Contains: 1)Some demographics; 2)objectives; 3)Learning outcomes; 4)description; 5)bibliography 6)assessment scheme summary

6. What is required by us.. • The ECTS counts for programs have been calculated and course counts have been assigned • We don’t need to re-calculate the ECTS • We need to: • Update the learning outcomes of courses and match/link/associate them with workload and assessment • Present the ECTS1 information (workload hours) to match the ECTS credit count • Complete/update any ECTS2 information • Import all information to a database for future manipulation

7. The ECTS 1 & 2 spreadsheet • Includes instructions • Includes a sample • Created to minimize input • Copies information from 1 to 2 (where applicable) • Auto-calculates workload; assessment and ECTS • Need to create one for each course you are responsible for • Usually after the first 2 things get a little easier  • Consult: 1)course syllabus; 2)course outline; 3)teaching experience; 4)any previous ECTS1 and ECTS2 documents

8. What is included? • Once you open up the file you have a set of sheets at your disposal • It will help if you read the instructions • You only complete ECTS1 and some remaining sections in ECTS2

9. ECTS 1 – Demographics From the syllabus and an existing ECTS2

10. The ECTS count • The ECTS credits is an auto-calculated field. Don’t edit it. • What should really happen is you should try and complete the remainder of the form so that the count of hours justifies the ECTS credits allocated (according to syllabus = 8) • So how do you know how many hours???

11. The learning outcomes From an existing ECTS2 form

12. Competences to be developed • Completed in according to and in line with the learning outcomes of the course itself. Wording is important to show what will the student be able to do… • Didn’t write anything for the NUR101 (to show you) as it would have been nonsense

13. Workload and assessment From syllabus (and logic)

14. Weekly breakdown • Matching education activities with the learning outcomes and linking workload and assessment with educational activities

15. Weekly breakdown sample

16. From ECTS1_sample

17. ECTS count updated • Now that some hours exist for some entries

18. ECTS 2 – Demographics • Some of the details already copied over (as they were completed in ETS1)

19. Objectives and Learning outcomes • Again, some details copied over from ECTS1 From syllabus (with some editing)

20. Description and teaching methods From syllabus for description (but keep it short)

21. Bibliography & assessment • Assessment information copied over from ECTS1 From syllabus

22. Reminder: Aims and objectives • We are • matching the given ECTS counts for each course so that the ECTS1 planning form justifies the credit given • One form per course (already taught) • If a course has not been taught: program coordinators to provide forms • Partially complete ECTS 1 (leave out the weekly breakdown) • Complete ECTS2 • updating the learning outcomes for our courses • Doing everything in English

23. A final word • Your contribution finishes here. • From there onwards • Courses need to be collected • Information imported in a database for easier manipulation • Packages to be prepared (one for every program) and submitted with the ECTS application • Let’s not forget • Feedback from the students for the proposed workload • Re-examination and correction(s) • Checking of all information by the official body for awarding the <ECTS label>

24. More information and help • http://ec.europa.eu/education/lifelong-learning-policy/doc48_en.htm • http://faculty.euc.ac.cy/agondoudis/ects • Read the instructions tab • Points to remember • Only complete white areas • Do NOT complete gray areas (they are automatically completed if applicable) • If you cannot write somewhere, it probably means that you are not meant to write there • One spreadsheet per course • Save as COURSE_CODE-ECTS.xls (EDG123-ECTS.xls, BUS101-ECTS.xls, ect