The evaluation approach developed for use within the EQUEL Project.

The purpose of this SIG is to bring together European research on the implementation of eLearning from an institutional perspective. The SIG will gather and analyse relevant published guidelines and case studies. We anticipate that this analysis will enable some cross-site generalisations particularly in relation to institutional strategies, issues of inclusion, resources, adoption patterns, technical infrastructure, quality control and contextual/cultural features. This analysis in turn will inform a set of prioritised themes for case study research of eLearning to be generated from participant institutions. This research will build on the expertise of Coventry University’s Centre for Higher Education Development in relation to the management of change and to the evaluation of eLearning at institutional level.

This SIG has a prime focus on the Learning Situation. The purpose of this SIG is to examine the inter-relationships between on-line communication and learner and tutor control over different aspects of the e-learning process, whilst taking account of the importance of context in the e-learning environment. This SIG will enable investigation of themes such as student and tutor interaction; collaboration and assessment; the discourse of e-learning; participation in e-learning environments; issues of social exclusion and inclusion within the networked learning community; and cross-cultural communication. It will build on the University of Glasgow's expertise in this area in three departments of the University, namely Glasgow University's Initiative on Distance Education (GUIDE), the Teaching and Learning Service (TLS) and the Department of Adult and Continuing Education (DACE) and the Scottish Centre for On-line Learning and Assessment (SCROLLA).

The SIG will enable investigation of the ways in which e-learning communities and collaborative groups work and produce their learning products. The collaborative issues and problems which these communities and groups work-on are often characterised as: complex, requiring negotiation and communication to understand them; involving a high degree of reflexivity, and requiring a collaborative (self/peer/tutor) assessment process. All of these issues may be the focus for e-seminars, workshops and research between the members of the SIG.
The SIG will gather and analyse relevant publications and cases studies. We can already identify three major cases:
1.University of Sheffield: Masters in Collaborative E-learning, which is a global programme run entirely virtually, which is concerned with learning and teaching via the Internet and the Web and is run as a research learning community / community of practice
2. Lancaster University MA in Management Learning: this is a programme which is run online for management learners, trainers and developers and also run as a research learning community.
3. Aalborg University: Master in ICT and Learning using a problem oriented project pedagogy.

The SIG will build on the research and practice of the Centre for the Study of Networked Learning in the School of Education at the University of Sheffield.

The design and implementation of e-learning environments implies new roles and tasks for the actors involved. Among whom, the position and place of the tutor requires more and more attention. Some studies (Domasik, 2001 ; ...) have already stressed the different facets of the tutor’s role ; the number of his/her functions is very large, depending for instance on the type of target public involved in the e-learning. If e-learning is to be effective, theoretical and contextual work in this field is needed, in association with illustrative experiences. Tutor’s training sessions are sometimes organised to increase the efficiency of the e-learning environment (eg. Learnett, dec. 2000). To be of greatest value they should be constructed and designed in conformity with the particular contexts with which they are concerned.

Referring to our experience and our potential network of experts we would like to provide a landscape/picture of best practices and recommendations adapted to different contexts of e-learning implementation.

The aim and vision of the Agora SIG is to investigate the role of networked learning and e-learning in the creation of boundary-spanning communities of practice that are the operational tools for realising the knowledge society. This will be done by bringing together diverse actors in an e-learning Agora to address questions of innovation and e-quality in cross-boundary activities and to identify research areas of importance in accordance with this.
The Agora SIG will also aim to describe the new potential for multidisciplinary, international and dispersed knowledge production cf. the ongoing discussion of mode 1 and 2 science and the new role of universities in sustaining a knowledge society, with a special focus on networked learning and e-learning.

To achieve this the Agora SIG will add to the EQUEL project a variety of existing collaborative networking activities spanning the national, regional and European level.

This SIG will focus on e-learning as an integral part of the mission of traditional higher education institutions, which is the model adopted by the Swedish government. An important issue is then how ICT-tools are designed,
developed and used to create flexible learning environments, and how these tools mediate between physically distributed learning situations in the shaping of an integrated and coherent learning culture. CSCL then becomes a major concern, with its focus on the dynamics of collective processes and the concrete conditions that computer-based tools give for these. Within this more general framework the SIG will specifically target the microanalyses of human – tool interactions within discursive practices as a way to describe and understand learning processes.
A complementary focus of this SIG is quality criteria and methodologies for (predictive and formative) evaluation of VLE (Virtual Learning Environments) and other tools that support the learning process.

The SIG draws on research and practical work carried out in a number of integrated networks: The upcoming Swedish National Network University; The ICT and learning program in the Göteborg IT-university; LearnIT, which is a national R&D program financed by the KK-foundation; The research network NAIL (Network for the Analysis of Interaction and Learning) with members from Göteborg University, University of Linköping, Intermedia at University of Bergen and Oslo Universit; and DISTUM, the Swedish Agency for Distance Learning.

The introduction of ICT, virtual campuses, and e-learning into universities and high schools has led to the development of hybrid systems mixing face to face and distance education, but also many different pedagogical, organisational, and institutional scenarios. Experiences and research conducted into universities but also at each level of school and training show that introducing educational technologies leads many to change and rethink teaching. So introducing ICT leads to innovation. Frequently, however, we observe that key competencies are absent such as how to analyse, sustain and pilot innovation. The absence of such competencies suggests that there is a need to design and conceive of new educational services (ASPI model for Analysing, Sustaining, and Piloting Innovation) to assist teachers who until now have been considered content experts. That is if we are to assist them to change their traditional practice and to scaffold their initiatives so they might become sustainable. Such an ASPI model seems to be an effective answer to a need that is increasingly identified in the research and evaluation of e-learning initiatives.
It is proposed that this SIG will address theoretical and practical issues since it will conceive a frame of reference (concepts, models, and methods), produce cases analyses and finally address issues in designing a model for action. It will be based on gathering and sharing experiences and knowledge of all the partners but also of external experts invited to participate to the conferences and seminars.