Home > e-Learning > European Virtual University

A step closer towards a European Virtual University

They say a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. The Federated European Virtual University is not as far away as one might think, and the innovations of the CUBER project bring it even closer to reality.
CUBER has developed a system for classifying distance learning course modules in a machine-searchable way, using a comprehensive XML metadata schema. Details of modules can be accessed regardless of the location of the Host University or language used. CUBER supports a course brokerage with which students can locate the course modules they want.

Flexible learning and student mobility are central to the EU's vision of an integrated Europe. The idea is to accommodate, as far as is possible, all the barriers to learning: location, language, age, family commitments, work commitments, and so on. A notion that has been gathering momentum in recent years is that of the course brokerage, for students and institutions to see what courses are available.

The central problem is to find a way of describing courses in a coherent way, taking into account all the educational attributes that enable students and academics make their choice. "There are lots of course databases and repositories on the web, from universities and colleges round the world," observes Bernd Kramer, co-ordinator of CUBER. "The trouble is that they are described inadequately. Course attributes such as academic level, entry requirements, etc., are not described in a consistent way. For some courses, a credit is obtained by simply handing in an essay, for others a credit is only issued when a formal exam has been passed."

Defining principles
One of CUBER's innovations has been to devise a conceptual model that defines the essential concepts of the subject domain, together with their attributes and relationships to one another. The project has also devised a meta-ontology that captures the definition of all the concepts in the conceptual model. This level of complexity is unavoidable if one wants to represent course information in a coherent and rational way, and represents a quantum step compared to the current situation with web-based course repositories.


Using an XML-based representation enables the information to be accessed by search engines. "CUBER has developed the ontology and metadata schema based on LOM (Learning Object Metadata, developed by the IEEE) , which enables us to describe courses in quite an elaborate way," comments Kramer. "The metadata schema covers such things as preparation time, how the course is delivered, teacher requirements, and more."

How it all works
The course broker system comprises three main elements, a knowledge base, authoring interface and search engine. The knowledge base currently has course details for 50 study programmes and over 500 courses that are offered by various European distance-learning universities in the subject domain of information technology. The ontology and metadata schema was designed so that it can be easily extended to other subject domains; the project restricted itself to the IT domain for budgetary reasons only.

The authoring interface provides the means by which educational institutions maintain their entries on the knowledge base. "It has the tools to structure the information and establish logical relationships between educational objects. We can describe a study program in terms of its constituent courses and the study materials," notes Kramer.

Students use the search engine to access the knowledge base. It provides an 'exploration interface' according to individual educational and learning requirements, including free-text and keyword search, and conceptual content analysis based on expert-defined classification schemes. The search engine also supports problem-solving dialogues, where constraints such as location, time, preferred learning mode, etc. can be resolved iteratively.

Credit transfer and the Federated European Virtual University
"CUBER also provides an ECTS-based (European Credit Transfer Standard)  decision model for mutual recognition of course credits from CUBER-compliant universities," says Kramer. "The CUBER methodology allows the equivalence of two courses to be checked automatically in terms of ECTS credits, placement of course in curriculum, examination method and course content. This automatic decision support provides a quick, fair and objective evaluation of course alternatives, and will help to handle the growing numbers of applications for places on courses."

Where's all this leading? "CUBER has the vision of a Federated European Virtual University, where resources and services of affiliated institutions could interact with one another," answers Kramer. "As a student, you will be able to design your own study programme, using a variety of courses from different institutions. All the necessary administrative information would be co-ordinated automatically because of the trusted relationship between institutions. The problems now are political ones, not technical ones."

Subject Descriptors : Communications networks, Information transmission
Subject Index Codes : Telecommunications, Information Processing, Information Systems
Subject Class : IT, telecommunications
Remarks : Results entry form
Collaboration Sought : Further research or development support, Information exchange/Training
Sources of Support : CEC
Programmes : IST
Projects : IST-1999-10737
Project Title : Personalised Curriculum Builder in the Federated Virtual University
of the Europe of Regions

Contact Details
  Contact Name : KRAMER, -Ing. B. J. (Prof)
  Department : Phillip-Reis-Geraude (PRG)
  Contact Organisation : FernUniversitat in Hagen
  Address : Universitatsstr. 27
  City : Hagen
  Region : NORDRHEIN-WESTFALEN
ARNSBERG
Hagen, Kreisfreie Stadt
  Postcode : 58084
  Country : GERMANY
  Telephone Number : +49-2331-987371
  Fax Number : +49-2331-987375
  Electronic Mailbox : bernd.kraemer@fernuni-hagen.de

Privacy Policy | Terms of Service
© 1999 - 2004, MultiMedia SRL
Send articles and materials to be published on this website to: Publishing
If you see unauthorized or illegal materials on this website, please send an e-mail to: Abuse