European Maturity model for Blended EDucation Erasmus Project

Project Title

European Maturity model for Blended EDucation

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for higher education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2017

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: ICT – new technologies – digital competences; Pedagogy and didactics; New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses

Project Summary

The EMBED strategic partnership is established by the European Association of Distance Teaching Universities (EADTU, coordinator), KU Leuven (Belgium), Delft University (the Netherlands), Aarhus University (Denmark), the University of Edinburgh (United Kingdom), Dublin City University (Ireland) and Tampere University of Applied Sciences (Finland). The coordination is in the hands of EADTU, the European institutional network of leading universities in online, open and distance education. During a period of three years (2017-2020), experts in the field of blended and online learning worked closely together to achieve objectives related to the introduction and sustainable implementation of blended education in European universities.

The consortium has created the European Maturity Model or Blended Education (EMBED) which is a reference framework entailing dimensions, guidelines and instruments to assess and improve the degree of maturity of blended education and innovation in higher education institutions. The model is embracing all levels education: blended course and programme design; institutional policies, strategies, framework conditions making the institution continuously innovative; and governmental policies related to digital higher education. The maturity model offers a framework for innovative change, addressing internal stakeholders like learners, teaching staff, teaching and learning departments, technology departments and university leadership, and also targeting external stakeholders like governments, European University alliances (EUI) and networks and the EU.

The EMBED model is based on a thorough research and innovation review, coordinated by KU Leuven, related to concepts and theories on blended teaching and learning and its educational conditions and contexts. Also, dozens of interviews with educators and management of the EMBED partners were performed. Based on this research, the dimensions of the maturity model was compiled. In the period from December 2018 until July 2019, the dimensions are validated by experts European-wide in a Delphi study. All experts had multiple years of experience with blended education. Experts reached consensus regarding the dimensions and indicators of the maturity model. This validation was coordinated by the University of Delft, which also developed guidelines to improve maturity.

The Consortium has developed a, EMBED MOOC “Making blended learning work”, coordinated by the University of Edinburgh and delivered on the FutureLearn platform for the continuous professional development of staff and leadership implementing blended education. The MOOC deals with emerging theories and practices of blended learning and the EMBED maturity model, its instrumentation and guidelines for improvement. After two interactive runs, the MOOC is continuously available on FutureLearn as a self-paced online course.

Finally, the consortium has developed recommendations for institutional, governmental and EU leadership, based on the framework conditions needed for the implementation of blended education and on expectations of institutions expressed during interviews and project events.

EMBED defines blended learning as “the deliberate combination of face-to-face and technology-based modes of teaching and learning”, achieving an optimal exploitation of ICT and internet integrated with the conventional technologies of physical material, and co-presence in space and time. The value of blending the two is that digital methods offer much greater personalization, flexibility, inclusiveness and efficiency than conventional methods can, but they have to be used appropriately (Laurillard, 2015).

This is important, because universities face challenges as keeping quality with large student numbers synchronously and asynchronously and lower budgets per learner, supporting study progress and success and meeting the needs of part-time students. Innovation by blended education will lead to quality enhancement of the learning experience, flexibility and inclusion.

This is even more relevant after the COVID-crisis, which the large-scale implementation of digital learning has accelerated, in which the blended learning approach plays a crucial role next to synchronous hybrid (eg virtual classrooms) and asynchronous online distance teaching and learning.

The EMBED model is a framework which can be used to understand conceptual or implementation issues regarding blended education. It indicates which dimensions are relevant for teaching staff and support services, but also institutional leaders and policy makers. It aims to help, inspire and guide anyone who wants to implement or improve digital education in higher education. The dimensions and indicators help to assess and improve maturity at all levels.

Project Website

https://embed.eadtu.eu/

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 444056 Eur

Project Coordinator

VERENIGING VAN EUROPEAN DISTANCE TEACHING UNIVERSITIES & Country: NL

Project Partners

• DUBLIN CITY UNIVERSITY
• THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH
• AARHUS UNIVERSITET
• TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITEIT DELFT
• KATHOLIEKE UNIVERSITEIT LEUVEN
• TAMPEREEN AMMATTIKORKEAKOULU OY