Interactive work shop on digital transformation and quality at OEB 2016

ICDE led a highly interactive work shop at Online Educa Berlin 2 December titled: “Digital Transformation: Opportunity or threat to Quality Higher Education?”. Four invited panellists kicked off the discussion by introducing quality and the digital transformation from various perspectives, represented by Ebba Ossiannilsson, Jacques Dang, Christan M. Stracke and Christoph Stueckelberger.

The introductions were followed by buzz group discussions where participants were encouraged to exchange views on concrete allegations raised by the panellist on quality perspectives, Big Data, MOOCs and Ethics in education.

A crucial question is how education should benefit from the digitalization and provide increased capacity and quality. In this context technology enhanced learning was seen as superior compared with traditional on campus education, with an explicit demand for a student centered approach. Big data is a huge driver for digital transformation, but also for quality enhancement, hence the opportunities for personalization and adaptive learning through learning analytics. MOOCs are already in use in formal education, but a main challenge is certification and sustainable business models for MOOC providers. Ethics should be an obvious cornerstone in all education, not only focusing on knowledge building, but also values and moral sense.

Another highlighted subject from the work shop participants was the teacher role and the relation between students and teachers. The change in the teacher role from instructor to facilitator, and the need to switch from portfolio thinking to a pedagogic design  integrating technology, demands for change on many different levels: from the student-teacher relation up to strategic change leadership at institutional, national and international levels.

The work shop gathered valuable input to ICDE’s quality work, and to the UNESCO quality agenda, where ICDE is a core partner.

Presentations for download: 

Digital Transformation: Opportunity or Threat to Quality Higher Education
ICDE Secretary General 

Digital transformation in Higher Education Institutions: Opportunity or threat to quality
Jacques Dang,Fondation UNIT

Ethics in Higher Education: Values-driven Use of Technologies 
Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Christoph Stückelberger, Global Ethics Forum 

A Global overview on quality in open online learning
Dr. Ebba Ossiannilsson, V President for the Swedish Association for Distance Education (SADE), and the V President for the Swedish Association for E-Competence (REK)

Digital transformation: An opportunity – or a threat to quality Higher Education?
Christian M. Stracke, Open University Netherlands