Policy and Strategy – Page 9 – Digital Learning Dispatches

A team from the NIDL comprising of Dr. Orna Farrell, Dr. James Brunton and Prof. Mark Brown is pleased to be representing DCU as an active partner in a new EU Erasmus+ funded project called ENCORE+: The European Network for Catalysing Open Resources in Education.

The project aims to create a European network that supports innovation and entrepreneurship with Open Educational Resources (OERs). While current evidence suggests there are pockets of engagement with OER in European academic and business contexts, there is no fully integrated European OER university-business ecosystem able to identify, catalyse and share best practices.

The ENCORE+ project seeks to address this gap. The scope of the initiative also includes promoting Open Educational Policies (OEPs1) and Open Educational Practices (OEPs2) through business and academia by sharpening value propositions and implementation strategies for OER use in higher education and the world of work.

During the next 3-years, the initiative aims to use its funding (€993K) to create four strong European networks which will consolidate a new vision and understanding of how OER and OEPs can foster innovation in higher education and business.

ENCORE+ aims to bring about an overarching consensus through sharing expertise across business and higher education; and will sustain community ‘Circles’ that will apply, validate and disseminate outcomes. The goal is to build a stronger foundation for a European OER Ecosystem which can best support:

Innovation and inclusion in education and training;
Improve digital skills;
Improve employability; and
Share the benefits of open online learning with as many Europeans as possible.

Some of the project outputs and deliverables include:

Developing a validated, shared vision and roadmap for OER in Europe;
Providing a sustainable European collaboration model which responds to authentic needs;
Working with diverse stakeholders to create and pilot the ENCORE+ OER Quality Framework;
Establishing European OER Strategy Guidelines for higher education and businesses,
Establishing a well-connected European OER Ecosystem of technologies and communities.

The project team has committed itself to a really innovative and collaborative approach to sharing knowledge and practice about open education, which was evident in our recent series of kick off meetings. DCU is leading a work package related policy and strategy and the Padlet image above from our recent envisioning and information sharing workshop offers some initial thoughts.

Project Partners:

International Council for Open and Distance Education (ICDE), Norway (Project Coordinator)
Baden-Wuerttemberg Cooperative State University (DHWB), Germany
Dublin City University (DCU), Ireland
International University of La Rioja (UNIR), Spain
Joubel AS (JOUBEL), Norway
Knowledge 4 All Foundation Ltd (K4A), United Kingdom
Instructure Global Ltd. (CANVAS), United Kingdom
The Open University (OUUK), United Kingdom

If you would like to hear more about this exciting and ambitious project, then members of the ENCORE+ project team will be contributing to a panel discussion as part of EDEN’s Webinar Series during Open Education Week. You can register for this webinar scheduled for Tuesday, 2nd March 2021, 16:30 (CET) through the EDEN website.

What is your vision of Higher Education by the year 2030? What are the big questions we need to be thinking about in shaping the post-pandemic world for Higher Education? What are the major challenges and opportunities facing universities over the next decade? Who will get to shape the future environment and whose voice is missing from efforts to reimagine Higher Education in response to Industry 4.0?

Our new online masterclass starting on March 8th explores these questions and more. In Higher Education 4:0: Certifying Your Future we take a closer look at the future skills agenda, the rise and the rise of the micro-credentialing movement, and how we can harness new pedagogies for new times.

The masterclass offered over 3-weeks through the FutureLearn platform begins by establishing why universities and other educational stakeholders need to engage with the future skills agenda.

We explore the future of work along with the increasing focus on transversal skills, and in doing so attempt to answer a number of key questions:

What are future skills?
Why are they important?
How can they be measured?

In Week 2, we look at the new possibilities and challenges micro-credentials offer for certifying the future.

This rapidly evolving approach to accredited learning and continuing professional development has the potential to redefine Higher Education and the traditional credential ecology, which arguably is a legacy of the 20th Century that may no longer be fit for purpose.

We will explore a number of the different micro-credentialing initiatives around the globe profiled in the Micro-Credential Observatory, including a recent ECIU white paper and the European Commission’s groundbreaking work in this area, and in doing so try to answer several key questions:

What are micro-credentials?
Why the growing focus on them?
Are they just another passing educational fad?

In Week 3, we explore how the future skills agenda and micro-credentialing movement may be able to support new authentic forms of pedagogy that help to develop more active citizens, lifelong learners, and innovative work-ready graduates. More specifically, we discuss the value and transformative potential of new approaches such as Sprints, Hackathons and Challenge-Based Learning (CBL) and how they can be intentionally designed to harness the pedagogical affordances of new digital technologies. We will share a number of case studies, including how CBL is being adopted by the new ECIU University as a “signature pedagogy” to support more impactful and real-life learning; and in doing so endeavour to answer a number of key questions:

What are authentic pedagogies?
What do we already know about learning?
How will Higher Education 4.0 impact future pedagogy?

We have been told for over a decade that today’s universities and colleges are at risk of preparing a new generation of students for jobs that don’t yet exist, using old fashioned teaching methods, and out of date technologies.

This free online masterclass, supported by and developed under the umbrella of the new ECIU University initiative, gives you the opportunity to debunk, challenge and/or add your own perspective to some of the current debates about the future of Higher Education.

We hope to raise your critical awareness of major change forces influencing the future, and provide useful examples of how different institutions and/or organisations are responding to the new global Higher Education environment. Participants can engage in a number of ways. Some people may wish to work through each topic on their own at their own pace, or alternatively as part of a group of educators from their own institution. Keep in mind that FutureLearn is a social learning platform and so the masterclass is designed to promote your active participation.

Our NIDL team at Dublin City University (DCU) will be facilitating your learning over the 3-weeks but we don’t have all the answers. Accordingly, the masterclass endeavours to be highly interactive throughout each week as we “open the floor” to your contributions.

We hope you can carve out some time in your busy calendar in March to contribute to Higher Education 4.0 as we discuss some of these big issues. You can learn more about the topics we cover and register for the masterclass on the FutureLearn website. We hope to see many of you online!