The strategic partnership will design, develop, implement and evaluate innovative, free on- and off-line access modules to master's courses in Europe (we use the word 'course' for the entire 2-year education program and the word 'module' for the segments that comprise the course). The project is innovative in several ways: 1) The modules will be delivered via an innovative system which allows the student to visualise their skills and knowledge profile as it develops in comparison with those required to study the master's course2) The system is accessible both on- and off-line thereby increasing its accessibility3) The system is scalable and transferable4) The module is enhanced by the use of peer assessment providing a balanced view of a student’s skills and knowledge5) The learning interventions, designed specifically for the module, will be made available as open educational resources6) The content of the module spans subject knowledge and academic and employability skills preparing the student for the master's course and for transition to employmentA pre-survey has shown that, in spite of that fact that many students have the formal prerequisites to register for master's courses, they lack skills or competences that European universities expect them to have. The access module will allow potential students, both national and international, to test if they have the necessary knowledge and skills (in addition to the formal requirements) to enter a desired master's course in Europe. If they do not, then the module will provide them with these knowledge and skills. (The potential students must also have the formal requirements to enter the course.) An Application Programme Interface (API) will connect the learning and assessment content and the assessment tool to Digital Connextions existing platform Hiryzr, for enhanced peer assessment, to provide students with the ability to identify and discover employability skills and employment opportunities. This will enable potential students to relate learning outcomes of the course material to their employability skills.For the Student, the system will: 1) Assess a student's existing skills and knowledge profile (including academic study and employability)2) Provide the student with a visualisation of their existing skills and knowledge as compared to those identified as necessary for study on the master's course3) Present the student with a series of learning interventions designed to develop the required knowledge and skills4) Invite the student to upload evidence of successful completion of the learning interventions5) Allow students to reassess their skills and knowledge after completing the learning interventions6) Permit other students (peers) or tutors to confirm or adjust skills and knowledge assessment, by reviewing the evidence the student has uploaded7) Provide the student with a 'post intervention' visualisation of their new skills and knowledge profile8) Provide the student with an option to compare their profile with employment opportunities available after completion of the master's courseFor the University the system will:1) Be discoverable and accessible via a web link on the University's webpage2) Be administered by each University3) Be housed in a secure Amazon server in accordance to each country's data protection laws 4) Support multiple languages (English in the first instance)5) Be integrated with a University’s Virtual Learning Environment6) Provide the University with a range of analytics related to a student's progress through the access module7) Provide the University with competent students for the master's courseThe pedagogical approach is innovative in its own right. It is inspired by existing approaches such as asynchronous self-directed learning, where students choose their own pathway through the learning presented to them without tutor input. The learning interventions will be designed to promote enquiry based learning where students take an active approach, developing knowledge and transferable skills such as the ability to undertake critical review and, a key employability skill, digital literacy.The project results will be widely disseminated so that the system can be extended and used by other European institutions. The techniques used to develop the access module can readily be used to develop similar modules for other levels of education and for courses given in other languages. This will further increase the impact of the innovation. Hence we are opening up education offered in Europe and we are using innovative tools that are embedded in the digital age.
• Context/background of the project; When this project was initiated it was considered a problem that many students had the formal prerequisites to register for a master's programme, but still lacked skills or competences that are important to be successful in the master´s courses. As a result, many students did not get their degree within the allocated time and several dropped out without a degree. Of all students that enter a master´s programme in Europe about two thirds will get their degree. For a university there are many ways to evaluate and improve their results, as measured by government and society. OECD's annual Education at a Glance looks at who participates in education, how much money is spent on education in different countries and results. For educational institutions the four statistical indicators below may be used to evaluate how well their programmes meet the demands of society and students. Enrolment; i.e. to recruit the most suited prospective students. Completion rate; make students successfully complete their studies with a degree. Time-to-degree; make students complete their studies within a specified time period. Retention; encourage the less successful students to re-enrol in a study programme and get a degree rather than drop out. These four points are strongly connected and together they indicate to what extent students are suited and/or prepared for studies they enrol in. The access modules developed in this project give interested students much of the information needed to avoid the frustration and possible cost of a failed attempt to earn a degree, and provide suitable material for those who want to prepare for their selected programme. • Objectives; The primary objective of this strategic partnership was to design an online platform to house free (on- and off-line) access modules to four master's programmes in Europe. The modules are intended to help universities attract suitable students and prepare them by evaluating and improving knowledge and skills that are pertinent in order to successfully study on the master's programmes in question. Each access module provides potential students with a visualization of their skills and knowledge as compared to those identified by lecturers as desirable for the master's programme. If there are any weak spots identified the student are presented with a series of learning interventions designed to develop the required abilities. Users are also presented with an option to enjoy all learning resources. The study material developed in this project had to be licensed as Open Educational Resources (OER) i.e. free to redistribute and use for public education in accordance with the Paris Declaration. • Number and profile of participating organisations; There were four partners in the project; three universities; University of Borås (UB), University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI), University of Alcalá (UAH) and a soft-ware developer; Digital Connextions Ltd, (DC). • Description of undertaken main activities; AToM: The Access to Masters platform, a HTML5 System developed by Digital Connextions is accessible to prospective students online. The access modules below can be used online or downloaded and run offline. Instructional video on how to use the platform, as well as information about the project for students and teachers, was developed and published by UHI. Access module for a Masters´ programme in Textile Engineering, (UB). Access module for a Masters´ programme in Education, (UHI). Access module for a Masters´ programme in Leadership and Management, (UHI). Access module for a Masters´ programme in Telecommunication Engineering, (UAH). A multiplier event at each partners university, UB, UHI och UAH • Results and impact attained; The final product of the project is the AToM platform and four modules that allow prospective students to assess their skills and knowledge profile as compared to that desired for study on a master's programme. If needed the student is presented with a series of learning interventions designed to develop the required knowledge and skills. The content of each module spans subject knowledge and academic skills preparing the student for the master's programme and for transition to employment. The study material developed in this project are licensed as Open Educational Resources (OER) i.e. free to redistribute and use for public education. Three multiplier events was organized, one by each university. A poster and a leaflet presenting the project was designed and printed to be available at those events.