FVU 2006
Virtual University Model in Finland
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Conference
15 June 2006
FVU2006
2006
FVU
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
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2006
FVU
FVU in a nutshell
 a partnership of the 21 universities in Finland
 several collaborative university network projects
University of Oulu
 not a distance education university
 does not award degrees or qualifications
 operates on a project basis,
University of Vaasa
2001 – 2003, 2004 –2006
University of Lapland
University of Kuopio
University of Jyväskylä
•Tampere University of Technology
•University of Tampere
•University of Turku
•The Turku School of
Economics and Business
Administration
•Åbo Akademi University
University of
Joensuu
Lappeenranta University of
Technology
•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
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FVU
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)
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FVU
FVU’s competence building
Competence development is based on the Finnish
universities’
best expertise and research
sensible division of labour
shared knowledge
collaboration
FVU2006
2006
FVU
FVU’s specific competence areas …
ICT in education strategies
HiEd and ICT for Teaching and Learning
– Four Stages
Age of networks
2004Strategy age
2002 -2003
Age of know-how
Iron-age
1995-1999
2000 -2001
MinEdu requests all the 21 Finnish
Universities to prepare ICT strategy
for teaching and learning at the end of
the year 2002
kari.liukkunen@oulu.fi
The Framework for Strategy Process for
Ict in Teaching And Learning
UNIVERSITY
MISSION
SCENARIOS
VISIONS
CONVERTING MISSION
AND VISON TO
OBJECTIVE ORIENTED
PLAN OF ACTIONS
PRESENT STATE
REVISING GOALS AND
STRATEGIES
ACCORDING TO
PRESENTSTATE
B) STRATEGY
EXECUTION PROCESS
A) STRATEGY
ELABORATION
PROCESS
STRATEGY
CONVERTING
STRATEGIES INTO
MEASUREABLE
OPERATIONS
EXECUTION AND
FOLLOW-UP
kari.liukkunen@oulu.fi
Virtual University & Strategy Service
www.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
kari.liukkunen@oulu.fi
ProAktori tool and concept
kari.liukkunen@oulu.fi
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
kari.liukkunen@oulu.fi
FVU2006
2006
FVU
FVU’s specific competence areas …
Facilitating student mobility
FVU 2006
Flexible studies and related electronic access services
Agreement between
all 21 Finnish universities
Defines the process 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.
FVU 2006
Haka: Federated identity management using shibboleth
Local usernames
Institution A
Institution B
WWW
Local
usernames
e.g. Learning
management
system
WebCT
Institution C
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
FVU-portal services
like www.joopas.fi or
Library article
database etc.
FVU 2006
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 of identity 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 how rights management
is carried out by the service provider is left up 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.
FVU 2006
Haka federation
the identity federation of Finnish higher education
Identity Providers
Service Providers
Univ
Shib IdP
Shib SP
Library portal ”Nelli”
(Metalib)
Univ
Shib IdP
Shib SP
Library Management
System (Voyager)
Univ
Shib IdP
Shib SP
Learning management
systems
UAS
Shib IdP
Shib SP
Finnish Virtual
University Portal
UAS
Shib IdP
Shib SP
UAS
Shib IdP
Haka identity federation (operated by CSC)
CSC’s extranet services
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
FVU 2006
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
FVU2006
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FVU
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?
FVU2006
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FVU
FVU’s specific competence areas …
Quality assurance in online education
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 online
services
Schedule of the project
Steering group, follow-up and evaluation
Research
Online
questionnaires
Interviews
Workshops
Report
Year 2004
Developing
Quality
manual and
web pages
Seminars
Workshops
Developme
nt of portal
Year 2005
Piloting
Dissemination of
results
Testing
Reporting
Dissemination
Seminars
Seminars
Training
Report on
piloting
Year 2006
Year 2007
Development of quality service
Enhancement of quality consciousness
Quality Manual - a roadmap to
quality improvement
The QM includes:
steps into building e-learning quality
quality matrices with questions on aspects of elearning quality (e-courses, online resources, elearning 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
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
FVU2006
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FVU
FVU’s spesific competence areas …
Staff training in educational ICT use
FVU 2006
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)
FVU 2006
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
FVU 2006
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
Orientation
15. - 21.8.2005
II National seminar
Pedagogical change
27. - 28.10.2005
in Helsinki
Web-based study modules
Organizational change
29.8. - 2.10.2005
IV National
closing seminar
27. - 28.4.2006
in Turku
III National seminar
Evaluation and Quality
19. - 20.1.2006
in Jyväskylä
Pedagogical change
31.10. - 4.12.2005
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
FVU2006
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FVU
TieVie Community
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Participants in two programmes
(8 ECTS + 15 ECTS)
» 2001 – 2002 (200 + 60 participants)
» 2002 – 2003 (160 + 80 participants)
» 2003 – 2004 (120 + 93 participants)
» 2004 – 2005 (120 + 100 participants)
» 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 Jyväskylä
Tampere University of Technology
University of Tampere
University of Turku
The Turku School of
Economics and Business
Administration
Åbo Akademi University
University of
Joensuu
Lappeenranta University of
Technology
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
FVU2006
2006
FVU
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?
FVU2006
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FVU
FVU’s specific competence areas …
Web-tools for planning and evaluating
online education
FVU 2006
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.
FVU 2006
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
FVU 2006
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
FVU 2006
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
FVU2006
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FVU
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?
FVU 2006
we share, we care, we learn
Join us !
www.fvu.fi