EduContact - Brussels, Feb.2008 – 1 Erasmus Mundus – Action 4 Martine Vidal, Project coordinator Centre National d’Enseignement à Distance (Cned) EduContact,

EduContact - Brussels, Feb.2008 – 2 EduContact, a European partnership Agreement number : / 001 – 001 CNED : Centre national d’enseignement à distance (France), coordinator OU UK : The Open University (United Kingdom) UNED : Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (Spain) EITSA : Estonian Information Technology Foundation (Estonia) OUNL : Open University of the Netherland (Netherlands) Anadolu University ( Turkey) FIED : Fédération interuniversitaire de l’enseignement à distance (France) EADTU : European Association of Distance Teaching Universities (Netherlands).

EduContact - Brussels, Feb.2008 – 3 EduContact, a website :

EduContact - Brussels, Feb.2008 – 4 How did it happen ? and also …

EduContact - Brussels, Feb.2008 – 5 EduContact : objectives of the project Enhance the global promotion of European distance higher education, with : –A selection of courses from European universities, –A multilingual contact centre on distance higher education, –An observatory on the motivation and demand for European distance higher education. Show the diversity of contexts, cultures and languages of distance higher education in Europe within one contact centre acting for all the present and future partners of the project.

EduContact - Brussels, Feb.2008 – 6 EduContact : the services Contact centre, personalised contact in English, French, Spanish, German, Arabic, … : –for students around the world, –Institutions and anyone intererested  and/or www.educontact.eu Evolving « searchable » Catalogue, with distance courses selected by partners, Observatory on demand and motivation : online multilingual questionaires for « real visitors »

EduContact - Brussels, Feb.2008 – 7 EduContact : the partnership CNED (coordinator), OU UK, UNED, OU NL, EITSA, Anadolu University, FIED, EADTU  Major European distance universities and distance teaching operators  Long standing institutions and new ones  National and European networks of distance teaching universities  From all over Europe, from a third country

EduContact - Brussels, Feb.2008 – 8 EduContact : how Methodology : Partnership –A four days seminar and kick off meeting to settle and agree on : A three years programme and agenda, Tasks and deliverables Methodology, Tools : within the partnership…(collaborative website, yearly seminars, monthly follow up letters, …) Regular monitoring, updating of agenda, … Coordinator’s team –own programme and agenda within the general one, –regular meetings and regulation with reports to project partners, –use of coordinator’s regular services for financial follow up, –External quality assessment, …

EduContact - Brussels, Feb.2008 – 9 EduContact, what we have accomplished so far … 1 Website visit : –(or copies of website pages)

EduContact - Brussels, Feb.2008 – 10 Observatory data : where requests came from in 2007 EduContact, what we have accomplished so far … 2

EduContact - Brussels, Feb.2008 – 11 EduContact Observatory data, end of 2007 One out of two persons has discovered EduContact while browsing on the Internet. Those who contacted EduContact are mostly men, employed, about 32, They are mainly interested in distance higher education because most of them are working or attending training sessions. However, about 3 out of 4 have no experience of distance education. They are interested in EduContact courses as “individuals” (employees, students) but also as teachers/training officers. Their first motivation is the added value of a European diploma. They make up two groups, those who are looking for a European diploma (54%), and those who are looking for European courses/training (46%). Professional training and social sciences come 2nd and 3rd with respectively 23% and 20% of requests. The level of studies the most often looked for is the Bachelor level (after 3 years at university) (47%). EduContact, what we have accomplished so far … 3

EduContact - Brussels, Feb.2008 – 12 EduContact : experience and reflection to share - 1 Running the first stage (getting started …) Methodology issues (not necessarily solved !) –Coordination, obtaining input form partners on time, of own team, etc. –Keeping track of all, financial details, contracts, etc. –Stimulating everyone when results are slow to show … Outcome issues (not necessarily solved either …) –European issues, European representativity –Contents of catalogue, –Running the services : interaction with partners, … –Dissemination and communication issues … …

EduContact - Brussels, Feb.2008 – 13 Opening to second stage :  Independance from financed project status EduContact, a working system of 3 interacting services, –contact centre, –catalogue, –observatory, that can be applied on a larger scale, and have been audited by ACA and JWT for the « Global Promotion Project » « Marketing » the services to new participants (European universities, operators, …) : which status, how to reach them, … Collaboration with other European projects EduContact : experience and reflection to share - 2

EduContact - Brussels, Feb.2008 – 14 Opening to second stage : Independance from financed project status  EduContact most recent participants ( ): Italy : UNINETTUNO, Portugal : Universidade Aberta United Kingdom : –CL (College of Law of England and Wales), –LSHTM (The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine), Russia : MESI (Moscow State University of Economics, Statistics and Informatics), EduContact : experience and reflection to share - 3

EduContact - Brussels, Feb.2008 – 15 And …  Conceptual issues, probably some common to all of us : EduContact workshop and third seminar –Share them with us in Lisbon ! –And take advantage of EDEN conference for disseminating your own project :  June 11-14, 2008, Lisbon, EduContact : experience and reflection to share - 4

EduContact - Brussels, Feb.2008 – 16 EduContact workshop and third seminar : June 12th, 2008, Lisbon Workshop introduction :  Promoting European higher distance education via EduContact : making use of an Erasmus Mundus, Action 4 project to reflect on some intercultural processes involved in the development of a European project. By essence distance education -and e-learning- takes cultural traits from one environment, that of the distance teaching institution, straight into the personal, social, regional environments of the distant learners ; and vice-versa, it draws people from different cultures into the specific pattern and environment of the distance teaching institution, without any of the protagonists changing places physically. And indeed the distant learner, who does not necessarily belong or relate to a group of fellow students, is directly and individually addressed, tutored, taught, … Distance teaching, thanks to information and communication technology is an ever more personalised process, with blurring of virtual and physical limits, where geopolitical, social, cultural backgrounds can be made highly noticeable and may vary with each learner. EduContact : experience and reflection to share - 5

EduContact - Brussels, Feb.2008 – 17 Thank you for your attention ! Visit and call us at :