The critical points of the quality of learning in competence-based education are assessment practices, which should be aligned with desired competences in Higher Education. EEP has identified a need to develop assessment of competences towards student centered direction by ensuring empowerment of students in their learning process, and develop digital competences of students, teachers and HE institutes. In addition, there is a common need to develop and strengthen the use of digital tools in assessment, to develop the participation of work life representatives in learning processes and thus, create new kind of collaboration between work life and HE institutes.The aim of EEP is to develop student centered education by enhancing transparency of assessment practices and developing empowering, dynamic approach to eportfolio process, which increases students’ motivation in their learning and career management, and fosters their employability (incl. social participation and digital competence). The objective is to develop students’ continuous engagement in assessment and steer their career learning using eportfolio by focusing on student’s process and teacher’s guidance. EEP seeks innovative ways on how students can use eportfolios during studies especially by making informal/non-formal and real-life learning experiences transparent. The aim is also to strengthen HE institutions’ operations and culture in recognition of prior learning and competences acquired outside formal education. During the improved eportfolio process the incongruity between the competence of students and the needs of work life will be decreased. EEP seeks to modernize educational environment by utilizing digital tools, e.g. eportfolio.EEP has three direct target groups: 1) students in HE, 2) teachers in HE, and 3) representatives of work life, indirect target groups are: 1) managers in HE, 2) ministries of education and other education policy makers, and 3) teachers and other staff in other school levels, e.g. in secondary education (VET).The number of participants is appr. 400 persons taken into account multiplier events, pilot activities and other activities. Teachers are developers of new pedagogical practices in their organizations and all of them have expertise in assessment and using eportfolios guiding students in HE. Students represent different fields of HE in both basic education and further education. Work life representatives are from companies with whom HE institutes have established collaboration and who are thus committed to the development of HE and its connections to work life.EEP will organize 5 thematic workshops which address different perspectives on assessment process and utilization of eportfolios. The experimental pilots during the project provide inputs to the workshops, and vice versa. In addition, EEP establishes a multimedia library with all the materials produced in the project, e.g. video reports from pilots, publication/collection of articles, etc. EEP will utilize co-creation and cross-fertilization, which are organized around thematic workshops during the project lifetime. Qualitative information is being collected systematically in every workshop by using questionnaires. The joint knowledge-creation processes are used to steer the progress of EEP.The results are at European, national and regional level, which means that activities and processes will be comprehensively researched and described at a general and common level and contextualized at national or regional country level, especially in respect to the specific policy and learning culture in each country. This gives possibility to exchange experiences, to contextualize and get inspiration from each other, and build up models and tools that are sustainable in national context.The main impact is the improved assessment process in which digital tools are utilized efficiently in inspiring way. Students get enlarged possibilities to use digital tools to reflect skills and competences in order to be more engaged to their own career possibilities from the perspective of lifelong learning. Teachers’ competence in guiding student centered and collaborative assessment processes will improve which has an impact to the future in education supporting lifelong learning. Work life representatives will gain new understanding about education and eportfolio as a tool for future workers. They will give their insight to students on how to achieve relevant competences, thus having better possibilities to find adaptable employees themselves. HE institutes will develop the assessment processes, the quality of learning, and student centered organizational culture will be strengthened which creates sustainable foundation for new kind of assessment practices incl. procedures for recognition of prior learning and adaptive creation of individual learning paths. In addition, long-term benefits of EEP are strongly related to human capital development of HE institutes.
EMPOWERING STUDENTS TO DYNAMIC EPORTFOLIO CREATION Context and aim: In competence-based higher education, the critical points of quality learning are assessment and guidance practices, which should be aligned with desired competences. Empowering Eportfolio Process (EEP) has identified a need to develop competence assessment towards student-centered direction by ensuring empowerment of students in learning process and by developing digital competences of students, teachers and HE institutes. In addition, there is a need to develop and strengthen the use of digital tools in assessment, to enhance participation of world of work in learning processes, thus, creating new kind of collaboration between employers and HE institutes. Eportfolios work as learning spaces and showcases in students’ competence development in education and world of work. EEP aimed to develop student-centered education by enhancing transparency of assessment practices and developing empowering, dynamic approach to ePortfolio process. This increases students’ motivation, and fosters employability, including social participation and digital competence. The aim was to develop students’ continuous engagement in assessment and steer their career management using ePortfolio by focusing on student’s learning process and teacher’s guidance. EEP sought innovative ways on how students can use eportfolios during studies by making informal/nonformal and real-life learning experiences transparent. The aim was to strengthen HE institutes’ operations and culture in recognition of prior learning and competences acquired outside formal education. During the improved ePortfolio process the incongruity between competences of students and needs of employers were decreased. The partners were HE institutes (6) from five countries representing multidisciplinary bachelor/master level education, teacher education and continuing education. Target groups: Direct target groups were students, teachers/study counsellors in HE, and the representatives of the world of work. Indirect target groups were managers in HE, ministries of education, other policy makers, teachers/staff in other school levels e.g. TVET. In total, appr. 1300 target group members took part in the multiplier and training events and pilot activities. In addition, other dissemination (newsletters/online platforms/meetings/seminars/conferences) reached at least double the amount of persons. Activities: - thematic workshops addressing different perspectives on assessment process and utilization of ePortfolios - experimental pilots in each partner HE institute - dissemination activities - multimedia library to share open access materials on ePortfolios - project management and quality assurance Methodology: EEP utilized co-creation and cross-fertilization, which were organized around five thematic workshops during the project. Qualitative information was collected systematically in every workshop. Joint knowledge-creation processes were used to steer the progress of EEP. Main results: - Baseline study/publication “Collection of best practices in ePortfolio process” - Pilots improved ePortfolio process and increased empowerment of students and teachers for using digital tools in partner HE institutes. The pilots demonstrated examples from different educational contexts that others can benefit from when establishing their own ePortfolio processes. - 40 open access articles from students’, employers’ and teachers’/HE institutes’ perspectives (available at https://unlimited.hamk.fi/articles-in-english/) providing tips, guidelines and experiences on the benefits, creation and utilization of ePortfolios - 15 recommendations for the successful use of ePortfolios in Higher Education - establishment of professional learning network for developing ePortfolio processes internationally (“Empowering ePortfolio process in education” Facebook group) Impact: The main impact is improved assessment process in higher education in which digital tools are utilized in an efficient and inspiring way. Students get enlarged possibilities to use digital tools to reflect skills/competences to be more engaged in their career possibilities from the perspective of lifelong learning. Teachers’ competence in guiding student-centered and collaborative assessment process improved which affected the future education supporting lifelong learning. Employers gained new understanding about education and ePortfolio as a tool to identify future employees by giving insight to students on how to achieve and demonstrate relevant competences. HE institutes developed assessment process and quality learning, and student-centered organizational culture was strengthened creating sustainable foundation for new kinds of assessment practices incl. procedures for recognition of prior learning and adaptive creation of individual learning paths. In addition, long-term impacts are strongly related to human capital development of HE institutes.