UNIVERSAL - Universal exchange for Pan-European Higher Education Borka Jerman-Blažič Laboratory for Open Systems and Networks Institut Jožef Stefan and Faculty of Economics University of Ljubljana - SLOVENIA

UNIVERSAL is a project from the V. Framework Program V.Framework program is funded R&D program by the Commission of the European Union The program last four years, from 1998 to 2002 It has several subprograms, UNIVERSAL belongs to the program: Information Society Technologies or IST URL:

Project clusters Testbeds Future and emerging technologies 9% Key action4 38% Essential Technologies and Infrastructure Key action 1 18% Key action 3 16% Key action 2 15% Total initiative budget: M Support activities Take up measures Shared cost R&D Activities Integrated Key Actions Complementary Initiatives 4%Research networking

UNIVERSAL CONZORTIUM Bureau for International Research and Technology Co-operation (Austria) Wirtschaftsuniversität Wien (Austria) Institut National des Télécommunications (France) University of Lancaster (UK) NCSR Demokritos (Greece) Hellenic Open University (Greece ) Iceland Telecom (Iceland) Universidad Politecnica de Madrid (Spain) Hautes Etudes Commerciales (France) Helsinki University of Technology (Finland) Warsaw University of Technology (Poland) Infonova (Austria ) Aachen University of Technology (Germany) Université Libre de Bruxelles (Belgium) T-Nova Deutsche Telekom Innovationsgesellschaft mgH (Germany ) Institut Jozef Stefan (Slovenia) Eidgenossische Technische Hochschule Zürich (Swizerland) The Universal project unites leading European Business and Engineering schools as well as research centers and high-tech companies with the vision of creating a pan-European exchange for on-line educational content.

DE,UK,GR,BE, AT,FI,IS,FR ES,PL,US and SI UNIVERSAL partners are from

UNIVERSAL MAIN CONCEPT: connect consumers and suppliers of learning resources through a brokerage and delivery platform The content providers - suppliers HEI - Higher Education Institutions alliances of HEI other content brokers, such as commercial consortia The customers - consumers HEI faculty HEI staff the individual user without enrollment in a HEI

The major goals The goals is to put together the consumers and suppliers in a common platform and in addition to that...  Universal aims to become the reference platform throughout Europe, attracting the best educational content from the best institutions  Universal intends to provide a brokerage platform which can be adapted to the needs of : degree-granting consortia such as the Cems Master academic educational content providers rival educational content brokers large corporations federating educational content from their world-wide sites  Universal aims to become a key player in the E-education market, allowing European initiatives to co-operate with North American projects  Universal aims to provide richer content through the use of remotely- sourced course units and enabling: Easier co-accreditation of courses by allied HEI in Europe

Interactions transferred to a business model Basic interactions transferred to a business model  Content requestor  Content provider Delivery Profile Engine Course Profile Engine Contract Engine

The design of the business model is a product of the business process in education Generation of Content Business Process: Teaching Creation of Course Strategy Feedback Consumption of Content Distribution of Content Course Deliverers Course Consumers

Main properties of the business model Universal is focused mainly on a B2B approach : the users of the brokerage platform are mainly HEI, not end-users Nevertheless, the platform allow access, in a second phase, for individual users, acting not only as catalogue browsers, but also as potential customers, without any link to an existing HEI This evolution takes into account the evolution of the E- education market during the length of the project and the growing orientation towards the individual citizen of European Union initiatives enabling life-lomg learning resulting in: Business-2-Business Platform of UNIVERSAL where ==> Content requestors are primarily Course deliverers (i.e. Instructors in HEI) Business-2-Consumer Platform of UNIVERSAL where ==> Content requestors are primarily Course consumers (i.e. Learners)

What is new - The innovation in UNIVERSAL The key innovation : service vs technology  the brokerage of educational content between Higher Education Institutions (HEI)  the brokerage implies a market with providers with consumers within a legal and contractual environment  the technology applied is merely a means to provide a brokerage engine interfaces with delivery engines

The type of Learning Resources regarding delivery mode “Live” learning resources are referred to as learning resources, which are delivered in a synchronous. “Packaged” learning resources are used in an asynchronous mode. Packaged courses are also referred to as “canned” courses. The term “packaged” does not imply that a packaged learning resource is used for self-directed learning (i.e. learning without the help of an instructor).

Types of Learning Resources regarding granularity of the content  Course: is defined as a set of lessons and/or modules contributing to one learning goal and lasting not longer than one semester (term).  Module: is part of a course and comprises of lessons contributing to one learning goal.  Lesson: is part of a course or a module. Lesson is also referred to as course unit.  Fragment: is the smallest learning resource. A lesson can comprise of multiple fragments. Provision of granularity of learning resource - is an adaptation to the market

Example - Learning resource with different granularity

Data Model - Learning Resources - building the catalogue IEEE standard on Learning Object Meta Data

UNIVERSAL General platform architecture UNIVERSAL Engines Assessment Engine Delivery ManagementEngine User Profile Engine Learning Resource Metadata Engine Administration Engine UNIVERSAL Data Resources Log Data, User Data, Learning Resource Metadata, Contract Data, Assessment Data Contract Engine User Interface / User Interface Engine UNIVERSAL Engines Assessment Engine Delivery ManagementEngine User Profile Engine Learning Resource Metadata Engine Administration Engine UNIVERSAL Data Resources Log Data, User Data, Learning Resource Metadata, Contract Data, Assessment Data Contract Engine User Interface / User Interface Engine High activity Lower activity No activity Current level of activities

Administrative issues in UNIVERSAL Platform host: grants access rights, maintains user profiles, supervises billing process Multimedia service providers: support the delivery process in complex settings Roles derived from the business model (e.g. advertising manager, etc.) Provision of legal framework Provision of security - encryption, data integrity and authentication

The legal framework - administration engine UNIVERSAL provides full IPR and ownership The legal framework for IPR provides:  contract between the HEI and the brokerage platform  contract between the brokerage platform and the delivery engines  contract between the HEI and their customers  contract between the brokerage platform and the individual customer

ASSESSMENT is a part of the delivery system

Assessment of the usability: Identifying the multiple user roles in UNIVERSAL Course instructors: responsible for course delivery process Teaching assistant: supports delivery process Coach: assigned person, serve as motivator Moderator: encourages discussion on discussion lists, asks and answers course related questions Lecturer: contributes to the course by holding lectures Students in classes (--> student record available) - other involved, Students with individual interests External students with some kind of link to the HE institution (e.g. Alumni, livelong learners) External, independent learners

Platform components in the assessment service

Success rate in each courseware analysed by cohort of entry, as well as major demographics. Attendance (live courses) and exam pass rates. Correlation between entrance qualifications and subsequent course success. Distribution of number of assignments submitted by module and programme. Correlation between assignment submission rate and success rates for each module/programme on a cohort basis. ASSESSMENT OF THE USABILITY AND EVALUATION in terms of

Assessment in terms of Grade Distribution Profile  Distribution of grades awarded for modules within a programme and for the major demographics such as study centre, region, gender and previous qualifications.  Distribution of grades awarded by assessors on the same module/programme, for moderation purpose.

 With respect to students in identifying the most and least successful aspect of “courseware”.  With respect to external relevant information regarding: i. Courseware offered by similar “open” systems. ii. Pass rates of other organisations. iii. New developments in distance teaching iv. New developments in non-formal adult education.  With respect to the extent and nature of public awareness of programme/units offered by the system.  With respect to student feedback on study habits and intentions i.e. those who study on their pace, those who are temporarily resting and those who do not intend to continue.  With respect to general course issues such as workload, level of difficulty, whether the material is motivating, etc. Monitoring procedures and assessment

Communication Systems Department 3.Provision of course specific assessment in terms of - Course aims - Contents - Level - Length - Pace - Workload - Presentation and media utilisation - Quality of access etc.

CONCLUSION Universal is still in development Specifications and implementation of the platform finished First entries (35) in the catalogue data base of learning resources Live trials planning finished - to begin in March 2001, packaged trials - on going First review in front of CEC reviewers in April next year Home page: and