Ready for Virtual Mobility? MoreVM LLP SI-ERASMUS-EVC With the support of the Erasmus/Virtual Campuses of the European Union. Ready for virtual mobility? MoreVM! Erasmus/Virtual Campuses project 2007 – 2009 Presented by Mateja Geder, project coordinator for MOVE-IT webinar on e-coaching

Ready for Virtual Mobility? MoreVM LLP SI-ERASMUS-EVC With the support of the Erasmus/Virtual Campuses of the European Union. Mateja Geder Education: MA in Online and Distance Education Position: Director of Development &Distance Education Employer: DOBA Faculty of Applied Business and Social Studies Maribor, Slovenia the largerst distance education provider in Slovenia 1341 students (81 % distance students) Virtual mobility courses in English International virtual summer school Website:

Ready for Virtual Mobility? MoreVM LLP SI-ERASMUS-EVC With the support of the Erasmus/Virtual Campuses of the European Union. Partnership DOBA Faculty of Applied Business and Social Studies Maribor, Slovenia Faculty of Management, Open University of the Netherlands OULU University of Applied Sciences, Raahe School of Ingineering and Business, Finland NEWTON College, the Czech Republic

Ready for Virtual Mobility? MoreVM LLP SI-ERASMUS-EVC With the support of the Erasmus/Virtual Campuses of the European Union. Background EU goal by 2011: 3 mio students taking part in Erasmus exchange programmes. At the moment only 1 mio studnets had done it. Internationalization of colleges and universities in higher education is promoted by Bologna process. 80 % students don’t have an opportunity to participate in Erasmus programmes because of social, financial and other reasons. Virtual mobility as an alternative to gain international experience.

Ready for Virtual Mobility? MoreVM LLP SI-ERASMUS-EVC With the support of the Erasmus/Virtual Campuses of the European Union. Background Virtual mobility is not yet widely spread because –students don’t know about it –students are not aware of the skills needed to successfully participate in and finish a virtual mobility course Students need support before, while taking a virtual mobility course Diversity of students taking part in virtual mobility (in/experienced online learners, digital natives, digital immigrants, etc. Universities/colleges need staff to be aquainted with characteristics and requirements of virtual mobility (and a personal experience is the best teacher)

Ready for Virtual Mobility? MoreVM LLP SI-ERASMUS-EVC With the support of the Erasmus/Virtual Campuses of the European Union. Project objectives encouraging participation and enhancing the efficiency of virtual mobility in higher education preparing students for and raising awareness of the importance of virtual mobility providing support for colleges/universities in organizing virtual mobility strengthening the co-operations among colleges/universities and thus encourage them to develop joint programmes

Ready for Virtual Mobility? MoreVM LLP SI-ERASMUS-EVC With the support of the Erasmus/Virtual Campuses of the European Union. Project Outcomes Prepartory course for virtual mobility coordinators –Virtual mobility coordinators profile –Virtual mobility supervision scheme –Cultural Survival Kit Introductory course for virtual mobility students –Cultural Survival Kit –Supported by a tutor and trained coordinators according to the supervision scheme Virtual Mobility Community Virtual Mobility Centres

Ready for Virtual Mobility? MoreVM LLP SI-ERASMUS-EVC With the support of the Erasmus/Virtual Campuses of the European Union. Virtual Mobility (VM) Coordinators’ profile Based on the research among Erasmus coordinators (198 coordinators responded) Goal of the research: defining the virtual mobility coordinator profile designing the virtual mobility supervision scheme. The ideal VM coordinator: has good organisational, communication and social skills; has good management and marketing skills; is well educated and willing to learn more; has an acceptable level of foreign languages and intercultural experience; is acquainted with the virtual learning environment that supports a VM course; is informed about the content of a VM course; has personal experience of being an online learner and of distance education; believes in VM.

Ready for Virtual Mobility? MoreVM LLP SI-ERASMUS-EVC With the support of the Erasmus/Virtual Campuses of the European Union. Cultural Survival Kit It is a freely available, stand-alone learning object for students to develop their intercultural, communication and linguistic skills. It enables an ongoing content development. It can be also used by teachers in courses with multicultural topics. It will help virtual mobility/Erasmus coordinators to advise students on countries they have chosen for their virtual or physical (Erasmus) trip abroad. The VM survival kit is available at

Ready for Virtual Mobility? MoreVM LLP SI-ERASMUS-EVC With the support of the Erasmus/Virtual Campuses of the European Union. Introductory course for VM students Course aims and objectives: experiencing collaborative learning in an international virtual learning environment knowing the principles of good online communication and collaboration having the knowledge to apply business ethics in multicultural business situations getting acquainted with Cultural Survival Kit for European Union Member States becoming more confident in using English and Web 2.0 technologies Pilot course: 2nd – 15th February 2009 with tutorial support 80 students from 11 different EU countries 2 ECTS (accredited by OUNL)

Ready for Virtual Mobility? MoreVM LLP SI-ERASMUS-EVC With the support of the Erasmus/Virtual Campuses of the European Union. Virtual Mobility Community Supported by the project portal ( Encouraging dialogue with our target groups More than 500 registered users by the end of the project Over web site visits by the end of the project

Ready for Virtual Mobility? MoreVM LLP SI-ERASMUS-EVC With the support of the Erasmus/Virtual Campuses of the European Union. Preparatory course for VM coordinators Course aims and objectives: getting to know concepts of online learning and virtual mobility getting acquainted with Cultural Survival Kit for European Union Member States getting acquainted with VM coordinator ’ s role and duties Demo course

Ready for Virtual Mobility? MoreVM LLP SI-ERASMUS-EVC With the support of the Erasmus/Virtual Campuses of the European Union. Preparatory course for VM coordinators Virtual Mobility Supervision Scheme

Ready for Virtual Mobility? MoreVM LLP SI-ERASMUS-EVC With the support of the Erasmus/Virtual Campuses of the European Union. Preparatory course for VM coordinators – evaluation Pilot course: 15th – 29th September 2008 with tutorial support 29 coordinators from 10 different EU countries Participants’ satisfaction (1 to 5 scale): course organization (4.1/5) course tutoring (4.0/5) developed interest in virtual mobility (4.5/5) information provided in the course (4.3/5). 93% participants stated that the course provided them with the necessary information in order to be able to function as a VM coordinator successfully. 57% of the enrolled participants are going to tell his/her colleagues about the coordinators’ course. 43 % will tell his/her colleagues about the MoreVM project. The average willing to actively promote VM activities in his/her own university/college/school was higher after the course than before the course (from 3.4  4.2).

Ready for Virtual Mobility? MoreVM LLP SI-ERASMUS-EVC With the support of the Erasmus/Virtual Campuses of the European Union. Recommendation for future users Profile of Virtual Mobility Coordinator and the Supervision Scheme Can be used by institutions which are offering or developing virtual mobility courses or which coordinate these courses It can provide them with information who is the ideal candidate for the position of virtual mobility coordinator and which competences and responsibilities he/she is involved in It provides the supervision scheme showing how all coordinators´ activities relate to the development of successful management of virtual mobility

Ready for Virtual Mobility? MoreVM LLP SI-ERASMUS-EVC With the support of the Erasmus/Virtual Campuses of the European Union. More Virtual Mobility! ‘Virtual mobility is a great opportunity to actually feel as if you're on student exchange, even though the time and responsibilities would not allow me that. The experience was great and "meeting" and communicating with other students from different countries was interesting, refreshing and we did have a lot of fun, especially at the virtual Dubai fair.’ Ana Huravik, a former virtual mobility student from the Czech Repbulic ‘The virtual mobility course I enrolled in 2007 enabled me to recognize the potential advantages and pitfalls of cross-cultural communication without passing any country’s borders. In addition it allowed me to reflect on my own language and culture making me one time more aware of uniqueness of each single nation and its culture within today's Europe.’ Anuša Hojnik, a former virtual mobility student from Slovenia

Ready for Virtual Mobility? MoreVM LLP SI-ERASMUS-EVC With the support of the Erasmus/Virtual Campuses of the European Union. More Virtual Mobility! VM 101VM 101 Website: Next VM 101 course start: October 2010