Special Interest Groups

 

e-Assessment: State of the art at Swiss universities

Thomas Piendl, ETHZ

In recent years the number of exams delivered has sharply increased due to the Bologna reform. To tackle the increased workload, many universities are considering the use of e-assessment scenarios. Some universities already conduct online exams in small to large scale scenarios. Since all universities are facing similar problems, we would like to bring them together to exchange their individual experiences in this Special Interest Group.

At this year’s theme table we would like to talk about the actual state of e-assessment at Swiss universities, the challenge of big student numbers in online exams and the needs of the community concerning the SIG E-Assessment. We would also discuss the findings of the e-assessment workshop held at ETH Zurich in February 2011. Furthermore, the possibilities of more collaboration within the SIG should be discussed.

As a further topic, the future of the SIG e-Assessment should be discussed. Do we still need and want such a SIG? How should the SIG be organised? How would we work together?

 

e-Collaboration scenarios, tools and experiences

Cindy Eggs, Marco Bettoni, FFHS

The aim of our SIG is to establish a network of e-collaboration people (teaching, research, e-learning, educational development, project management) from different universities.

Our topics are:

  1. State of the art (approaches, tools, educational and organisational applications)
  2. Scenarios (academic and business domain): What works? Why? Who does it and how?
  3. Projects (internal, with clients)

Our session will be open for participants adding their input (needs, questions, suggestions and experiences) starting from three subjects:

    1. What can I do? (scenarios)
    2. What tools can/should I use?
    3. How can I introduce e-collaboration in my work?

 

e-Portfolio process: Some considerations for its deployment

Andreas Hediger, FFHS; Céline Restrepo, Nadia Spang Bovey, UNIL

In this presentation we would like to discuss some issues about e-portfolios and their deployment in higher education settings. We distinguish three spheres of action within this theme, that we will tackle:

      • Course level: changing teacher practice; Language Centre of UNIL experience
      • Curricular level: adventures of a learning objective; IFeL of FFHS experience
      • Personal level: the lifelong paradigm

 

International perspectives and initiatives – OER at universities

Ricarda T.D. Reimer, PH-FHNW

In cooperation with the Open Educational Quality Initiative I would like to show international views on this topic. A member of the OPAL-Initiative will give an insight view of their activities via Adobe Connect. We have the opportunity to discuss with the speaker and so there is the possibility to create some new international relationships – six countries are already involved. And last but not least – we can strengthen our OER movement in Switzerland.

Mr. Abel Caine, responsible for the Open Educational Resources (OER) programme area for the UNESCO Communication and Information (CI) Sector based at the UNESCO HQ in Paris, France, will participate virtually in this presentation held with SWITCHpoint Adobe Connect.

Abel Cain is responsible for the development of a new, innovative UNESCO OER platform which will offer selected UNESCO publications as OERs allowing stakeholders to freely copy, adapt, and share their adaptations. The platform is expected to be launched in early 2011.

 

Cumulus-project: know, apply, understand

Martin Vögeli, HWZ

"Making the impossible possible" was a feedback of one of my students in a course evaluation. The student thought it was "impossible" to create a computer game on her own. It became possible, because she tried it anyway…

In this session we’ll discuss the "making of" of such a learning process for a course about multimedia, when the impossible becomes possible and the actual learning and knowledge transfer take place. Keyword in this session are: assessment, assignments, collaboration, English textbook for German-speaking students, examination, exceed self-inflicted limits, ICT, lectures, multimedia, multiple-choice, problem based learning, project work, teamwork, testing.

The word "cumulus" in this context means to accumulate or collect knowledge in the first phase of the course in order to learn how to apply it effectively during the successive "project" phase.

 

Designing an international online course in continuing education

Gerd Bräuer, PH Freiburg

The design of the International Literacy Management Certificate course faces specific challenges posed by the participants, e.g. different levels of computer literacy, inconsistency in the individual work processes, fluctuation within the group of participants. www.international-literacy-management.org ("certificate") provides information about the setup of the course. I am very interested in feedback on how to best accommodate the different needs and expectations of my international audience through specific methods of e-learning.

 

SWISScards

Karin Niffeler, UZH

Is this topic relevant for the exam? This is a question frequently asked by students.

The project SWISScards involves students in the exam-question process. They receive the possibility to contribute with excellent questions, which may become "prof-proofed" and therefore potentially appear in exams. Furthermore, SWISScards is a simple exam preparation tool for students. The ideal situation is nation-wide access for universities in Switzerland, co-operation with SWITCH and storage of the learning and testing cards in SWITCHcollection. Therefore, we are looking for three or more universities, who would be  interested to participate in this project.

 

Working in decentralised support units

Guillaume Schiltz, ETHZ

Centralised support refers to support that is provided from a central unit, such as CCSPs. Decentralised support allows individual units to make autonomous decisions to bring it closer to the point of service or action. Some Swiss universities have adopted the decentralised model (i.e. ETHZ, UZH, UNIL), either as standalone units or linked to a central support center. We want to discuss working conditions and outcomes related to a "third space" situation as outlined by C. Whitchurch. Topics will range from change and innovation potential to structural problems and impact limitations. We invite all persons involved or interested in the decentralised model to join the discussion.