This document discusses the challenges of virtual mobility (VM) for institutions and practitioners. It outlines that VM is based on using information and communication technologies to obtain international learning experiences without physical travel. While VM provides opportunities for international collaboration and recognition, it also presents complex issues regarding implementation, resources, and differing institutional perspectives. Several European projects are working to address these challenges by facilitating VM processes, building competencies, developing open educational resources, and bringing professionals together to further the concept.

1. Virtual mobility – challenges
for institutions and
practitioners
Airina Volungevičienė
Kristina Mejerytė – Natkevičienė
Estela Daukšienė
Vytautas Magnus University

2. The concept of VM is based on
• the use of ICT for student exchange in the international
context
• “The use of ICT to obtain the same benefits as one would have
with physical mobility but without the need to travel” (from ‘e-
learning europa’ network)
• VM is an instrument for students to reach the international
learning content and gain international experience for those
who are not mobile in the international area due to their work,
family or other restrictions

3. The concept of VM is based on
• access to study subjects and schemes of foreign universities,
gives the opportunity for communication with teachers and
other students from foreign universities
• experience real educational process, interactive training of
intercultural competences
• effective studies for students in the sense of time and financial
expenses

4. Traces of VM phenomenon – ReVica work

5. Practical important questions
• What is the relation between (international)
collaboration and virtual mobility?
• What is the scope for recognition validation?
• To what extent VM overlaps with e-virtual-distance
learning?
• If different institutions understand VM differently –
how VM should be implemented?

6. What makes the concept different?
• The purpose of Virtual mobility:
– Competency building
– Recognition of performance (recognition of
learning, teacher workload, performance)
– Process implementation (virtual studies)
– Resources enriched learning

7. What makes conception complex?
• Target groups:
– Students (learning, study process)
– Teachers (study process, content development)
– Researchers (research)

8. What makes conception complex?
• Learning and teachning methods:
– research
– lectures
– seminars
– laboratories
– practice

9. It can be for Competency building

10. LLL Erasmus program Multilateral
Virtual Campuses
Teacher Virtual Campus:
Research, Practice, Apply
502102-LLP-1-2009-1-LT-ERASMUS-EVC
Vytautas Magnus University – coordinator
Partners:
• Innovation Centre of University of Oviedo (Spain) (www.innova.uniovi.es)
• Jyvaskyla University (Finland) (http://www.jyu.fi)
• Baltic Education Technology Institute (Lithuania) (www.beti.lt)
• Higher Education Quality Evaluation Centre (Latvia) (www.aiknc.lv)
• Jagellonian University (Poland) (www.uj.edu.pl)
• University of Aveiro (Portugal) (www.ua.pt)

11. European initiatives: Integrate the dimension of
VM into LLP/Erasmus programmes
TeaCamp project - to increase VM among HE academic
staff by facilitating:
- development, management and implementation of
virtual research and mobility and
- building their competency
- First international competency – building VM
sessions will take place in Autumn semester,
2010
More information at http://www.teacamp.eu

12. It can be for recognition of performance
• Recognition of learning, teacher workload,
teacher performance
• Formal performance
• Informal context performance
• Lecturing and research
• What institutional regulations are necessary for
this?
First suggested recommendations are available at
http://www.teacamp.eu

13. It can be for process implementation
(virtual studies)
• More challenges: administrative issues, ethics
and authorship
• User administration on international and
institutional level:
• Teachers and students
• Registration and participation
• Recognition of participation and learning results

14. It can be for resources enriched learning
• Here comes all in one, as we build competency,
recognise learning and design curriculum via:
• researching, designing and using resources
• sharing and re-mixing them in curriculum we use
• making our practice live and learning applicable
How?

15. Via Living, Creative Curriculum…
By Reflective Curriculum Re-Designing for Virtual Learning
By Melisa Frank

16. Prof. Brenda Gourley, Vice-Chancellor of The
Open University
Universities have a unique responsibility to exploit the
potential of the new technologies and embrace the
education opportunities now rendered possible by
them and also the networks they have spawned.

17. Open or closed?
Open Educational Resources (OER) is a term used to
describe:
“teaching and learning resources that reside in the public
domain or have been released under an intellectual property
license that permits their free use or re-purposing by others.
Open educational resources include full courses, course
materials, modules, textbooks, streaming videos, tests,
software, and any other tools, materials or techniques used to
support access to knowledge”
(William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, 2009).

18. Challenges: open or closed?
• Other concepts used are:
– open courseware
– open educational content
– open learning content
Open Up Education!
http://www.youtube.com/user/OUE2008
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BCCY5liKfk
1. Effective software tools to create meaningful learning
experiences
2. Appropriate collaboration and communication tools to
engage with other learners and create possibly even more
meaningful learning experiences that involve others (Andy
Lane, 2008).
Lane, A.B. (2008a) Who puts the Education into Open Educational Content? In Richard N.
Katz, ed., The Tower and the Cloud: Higher Education and Information Technology Revisited,
EDUCAUSE, Boulder, Colorado. pp 158-168. 2008. ISSN 978-0-9672853-9-9.
See also http://www.educause.edu/thetowerandthecloud/133998

19. Challenges: for user and for developer
• How quality, fitness for purpose and availability is
communicated?
• Is it re-usable?
• Is it adaptable?
• Can we re-mix it?
• How can we be sure users respect authorship?
• How can we be sure when and how much it is used?

20. What is the value?
Converting teaching from solo – sport, to collaborative
research activity (C.Thille)
From traditional/video lectures to online collaborative
activities! – this means more challenges for curriculum
authors and institution regulations….
It becomes a positive requirement for the creation of
new organisational models for providing HE in Europe

21. What is the value?
• It opens possibilities for all academic staff to develop
their skills and competences and to reach new
agreements with multinational European institutions
for virtual exchange
• HE institutions have competitive professionals and
researchers, ensuring possibilities to get jobs all
over Europe as professional members of educational
labour market
• European dimensions of quality for research and
studies are integrated into diverse HE institutions
• Experience and skills are gained by integration into
existing European cooperation frameworks

22. European initiatives: extend the
accessibility of high quality European
OER in the context of LLP
• Nordplus Horizontal program project NORDLET
- The Nordic-Baltic Open Community for
Learning, Education, and Training
http://www.nordlet.org

23. OpenScout - Skill based scouting of open user-generated and
community-improved content for management education and
training
Project goals
• accelerating the use, improvement and distribution of open
content in the field of management education and training with
a focus on SMEs and continuous training
• providing skill-based search of content to
– large communities for learning – either in professional user
communities (via integration with LMS systems)
– open web 2.0 communities (via integration to social
network platforms).
www.openscout.net

24. Let’s summarise
• Challenges:
– concept
– implementation (organization aspect)
– resources
– complex problems…
• Progress or how we moved forward:
– concept under discussion in international arena
(TeaCamp case)
– implementation process started (TeaCamp case)
– resources – contributions flow (Baldic,
OpenScout, Nordlet… more?)
– networks, professionals united under legal bodies,
projects

25. Suggestions
• How could the process be facilitated?
– By synergy in European and national resources
– By experiment, experience, reflection,
improvement, implementation
– By solving all problems in a complex view –
always envisage the rationale
– By finding as many occasions to benefit from the
process, as possible – use it for all possible
synergy – the value is here
– By investment in capacity building – international
discussions, exchange and stories – another view
brings benefit and value for all

26. Airina Volungevičienė
Vytautas Magnus University
a.volungeviciene@dsc.vdu.lt