General Information

Transition from school to university and transition between universities’ programmes (bachelor/master) is very significant for students and does not always run smoothly. Possible reasons are gaps in knowledge and skills, loss of a learning network or difficulties in adaptation to decreasing guidance. The increasing mobility of students in Europe, and the resulting diversity of the student population, enhances this challenge, since this makes it hard for programs to adjust to one another. In order to facilitate the transition between programmes, several preparatory courses are offered by higher educational institutes in order to facilitate prospective students as much as possible by using ICT.  A separation of time and space might occur when (international) students are looking for a continuation of their study.

Problem statement

How institutes can facilitate the “lifelong learner”, and more specifically how to deal with the transitional problems that are inherent to this increasing need for mobility?

Goals

In this project, we aim to provide an integrated methodology to measure and assess the actual impact of ICT on learning of students. This project focuses on the added value of using ICT in the transition from one educational programme to another. Each institute in Europe is confronted with transitional problems and most institutes are using methods to overcome these, either supported with ICT or not. As the methods that are implemented by educational institutes deal with problems related to the transition to a new phase in the (students’) career, an assessment of both short & long-term learning effects is crucial to understand fully the possible effects of these programs. The project S.T.E.P. aims to develop a validated framework for assessing and comparing (online) preparatory transitional programs (EFTPC). 

Results

The results of this project will be:

• Literature review (WP 2)
• Description of practices (WP3)
• Development of framework to assess transitional courses (WP4)
• Validating the framework (EFTPC) using these courses (WP5)
• Good practices (WP6).
• Dissemination (WP7)
• Exploration (WP8)

The results will be presented at a final Conference in the Netherlands, and in a minimum of four publications.
 

(Since 25-11-2008)