THE DEVELOPMENT AND SUPPORT OF BLENDED MULTICAMPUS EDUCATION FOR MATURE LEARNERS

Since October 2011 different partners within the Association of the University of Leuven collaborate in order to develop blended multicampus courses aimed at working students. Lecturers from several regions in Belgium, appointed at a series of universities and colleges for higher education work in pairs to create eighteen courses in various subject fields. Goal of the 2-year project (MULLLTI) is to realize highly flexible education for lifelong learners in the following education programmes: Social Work, Management and Teacher Education. This is done by identifying essential dimensions and tools for successful blended learning, and by means of a peer-reviewed approach for redesigning courses and their evaluation procedures. Ideally, the experiences should lead to a general educational and organisational framework for future multicampus initiatives. In this contribution we report on lessons learned after one year. In the first place we focus on the different formats for multicampus education that have emerged i.c. shared, semi-shared and individual courses, as well as on the essential components i.e. webcolleges, self paced study material, e-tutoring, digital group work and testing. Secondly we present the continuous quality improvement framework that is put into place. Thirdly we critically assess the reasons for attrition and the role of support in terms of technology and professionalization. In this way we hope to offer relevant insights for policy makers, practitioners and researchers interested in blended learning and/or lifelong learning.