Abstract:

Higher education (HE) today faces high requirements such as digitalisation and challenges such as internationalisation, as a response to globalisation. Virtual Mobility (VM) has a great potential to contribute to both digitalisation and internationalisation of HE. Mobility of students and staff has been one of the central objectives and main policy areas of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA), since it enhances development of competencies, increases cooperation and competition, fosters respect for diversity, and encourages linguistic pluralism underpinning the multilingual tradition of Europe.

In recent years, the options for extension of VM have increased through the advent of Massive Open Online Courses, Open Educational Resources, Open Credentials and Open Educational Policies. The Open Virtual Mobility project (openVM), which builds the context for this paper, explores synergies between Open Education (OE) and Virtual Mobility (VM).

The paper introduces a framework for Quality Assurance (QA) for attainment, assessment and recognition of VM skills in context of OE as applied in the openVM project. OpenVM is a strategic partnership for innovation and the exchange of good practices founded under Erasmus+ program and is composed of nine European partner organisations from HE. The project aims at enhancing the uptake of VM in HE by improving VM skills of HE teachers and students though OE practices.

The key outcomes of openVM include the VM Learning Hub for achievement, assessment and recognition of VM skills in line with OE principles, the conceptual framework defining VM/OE alignment and VM skill sets, and the QA framework.

The QA framework in the openVM project is rooted in the Design-Based Research model by Reeves [1] and is conceptualised as a cyclic process leading to the creation of the VM Learning Hub and its components.

The QA framework is composed of 3 elements:
(1) QA standards for the VM Learning Hub and its components (such as collaborative learning activities for OER co-design, algorithmic mechanism for group formation in the VM MOOC, e-assessment and recognition of VM skills with open credentials such as Open Badges and Blockcerts);
(2) QA processes for all stages of agile development including requirement elicitation, user testing and peer-reviews of iterations, based on the ADDIE framework with 5 phases (Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation and Evaluation); and
(3) QA instruments for quality assessment of teamwork (such as bi-monthly assessments) based on a set of qualitative and quantitative radiators (indicators) such as mood, agility, congruence and velocity.

The paper presents the components of the QA framework and provides insights into QA design and method validation, including empirical data from on online survey assessing fitness-for-purpose of the openVM QA framework following ENQUA guidelines [2].

References:
[1] T. Reeves “Design research from a technology perspective ” in Educational design research (J. V. D. Akker, K. Gravemeijer, S. McKenney & N. Nieveen), pp. 52–66, New York: Routledge, 2006.
[2] ENQUA, Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the European Higher Education Area, 2009. Retrieved from http://www.enqa.eu/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/ESG_3edition-2.pdf

Keywords:

Quality assurance, virtual mobility, open education, Design-Based Research.