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“Credit where credit is due.”

Tim BirtwistleIndianapolis 28th May 2013

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Intentions

By the end of the session you will be able to:- Define the key features of ECTS- Compare and contrast ECTS with the Credit

Hour- Debate how and why credits reflect learning

within the context of accumulation- Place credits in to the context of learning and

quality within the frameworks of the DQP and Tuning

- Sigh, smile, reflect, move on.

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What do I know?

• Very little of course, but:• ECTS Counsellor for the UK• ECTS Site Visitor• Tuning USA participant• DQP Core Team• UK Bologna Expert (Higher Education Reform)

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Learners and Learning

• “4evers”: WhoeverWhereverWheneverHowever

• Quality has been sought and, rightly, is increasingly demanded by all learners

• Accumulation of credit required for the 21st Century learner

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Contentions

• Learning is the key• Quality assurance (QA) is vital• Consistency is needed• All learning should be subject to QA• All stakeholders are entitled to minimum standards

of quality• A credential level should be established• Some form of accumulation is required (credit)• Consistent vocabulary is vital (and is missing)

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What is a credit?• What is credit?Academic credit is a means of quantifying and recognising learning.

Most institutions that provide higher education programmes of study in England use credit.

• When is credit awarded?Credit is awarded when you meet a specific set of 'learning outcomes' for a module or programme. The credit value for a module is set before you begin your studies.

• Credit accumulation As you successfully complete modules you will start to gather credit. Accumulating credit may mean you can take a break from studying and return later. You will have to accumulate sufficient credit, as determined by the educational institution with which you are registered, to be awarded a qualification.

• Transferring creditCredit may be transferred to another programme at your institution, or to a programme at another institution. Our case study demonstrates how.

• Credit for other forms of learningFind out how learning that takes place in the workplace or in the voluntary sector may be recognised.

Per QAA England May 2013

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And so ...............

• Credit is used to express learning in terms of volume and, in the UK generally, is linked to intellectual demand by designating the level at which credit is gained. Credit is awarded after a student has successfully completed a block of learning, which may be a module, a unit, or a qualification.

• In the UK and increasingly in Europe, credit systems are based on what the successful student is expected to be able to do at the end of their studies ('learning outcomes') rather than the time taken to complete them.

Per HEFCE May 2013

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The credit hour per Cracking The Credit Hour, September 2012 NewAmerica.net

Amy Laitinen

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The Carnegie Unit credit hour “one hour of classroom or direct faculty

instruction and a minimum of two hours of out of class student work each week for approximately 15 weeks for one semester or trimester hour of credit, or ten to twelve weeks for one quarter hour of credit, or the equivalent amount of work over a different amount of time”.per CHEA website on the 2010 Final Regulations on Program Integrity and Student Aid, also see NAICU Summary Information (www.naicu.edu ......pdf on credit hour June 18 2010)

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Credit – this could be:

• Recognition of learning: each student achieving the learning outcomes for a segment of learning. This is demonstrated by summative assessment through assignments of the learning (or by some form of prior learning) and being awarded credits (the number being linked to the volume of learning (time) required by a typical student).

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And ..........

Credit is used in HE to summarise and describe an amount of learning; it canhelp to identify 'how much' learning was involved and 'how hard' it was.

Students are awarded credits after they have successfully completed a 'blockof learning'; that 'block' might be called a module, a unit or a qualification.

The number of credits awarded to a student is determined by the creditvalue assigned to a module, a unit or a whole qualification. It is a simpleway of indicating, using numbers, the amount of learning expected and howdifficult it is.

Credit is awarded to students who have shown that they have successfully completed a module, unit or qualification. To do this, they need to meet the specific set of learning outcomes for the unit, module or qualification.Learning outcomes outline what a successful student will know, understand and be able to do. It is the achievement of the learning outcomes that is important for the award of credit, not how or where the learning took place, or how it was assessed, or how long it actually took.

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What is ECTS? (#1)

• The principles are the vital components, the allocation of numbers is not and can be highly contextualised.

• The title (European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System) reflects its incremental growth (the addition of “accumulation”).

• ECTS does invert the core essentials – it is about output and not input and learning outcomes are (certainly now) the essence.

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ECTS (#2)• “ECTS is a learner centred system” (users’ guide 3.1)• It does sit alongside competencies (Tuning and

ECVET)• Learning outcomes and assessment criteria for the

award of credit are requirements• Fully compatible with lifelong learning (LLL) – prior

learning in all forms• Workload is a major component• Pedagogy/andragogy informed by the learning

outcomes

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Allocation of ECTS

Number of ECTS

Qualifications

Framework

Learning Outcomes

Workload

60 – 120 ECTS for Second cycle

180 ECTS – First cycle 3-year degree

60 ECTS – full time academic year

30 ECTS – semester

20 ECTS – trimester

1 ECTS – 25h workload on average

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ECTS (#3)

• Alternative numbers and hours equally fit the model if the principles are adhered to:

• 30 hours/credit (ECVET)• Or change the numbers but use an even distribution

around the total workload hours, for example:» 1800 hours workload/academic year» 40 weeks» 72 credits/year» 25 hours/credit» 45 hours/week» Division into modules e.g. 9@200hrs» Or play with the numbers (double, half etc..)

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Development of the moduleAims and competences of the module

Aims are reflected in the module LO (LO written in a way that they may be tested)

Assessment tasks

Criteria for grading the assessment

Teaching and learning strategy

NOTE:

Module –a course unit in a system where each course unit carries the

same number of credits or a

multiple thereof (ECTS)

NOTE:Small modules – information more specialized but less integrated Big modules – clearer structure of the programme, better coherence in the studied subject, but more difficult to transfer to other context and compare.

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Application of ECTS – macro level

ECTS

Accumulation

Transfer

Non-formal & informal

/experiential learning

Recognition

Quality assurance

Credits from LO only

Credits from LO only

Credits for

agreed LO

Credits from LO and student workload

Credits from LO and student workload

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Application of ECTS at micro level -a study programme perspective

Student

workload

Learning

outcomes

Credit and its application

Transparency and Quality assurance

Indication of the time students need to complete all learning activities

Statements of what a learner is expected to know , understand and be able to do after the process of learning

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Tuning meets QF:

Macro QF – levels - descriptors

Micro Tuning – ratcheting up – all in the

verbs

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LEARNING

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Alternatives include

• Australia – just gave up trying to achieve a common format

• South Korea – retained “seat time”• WGU – “competency unit” – a credit hour by

any other name?• College for America (quotes the DQP)• “Direct assessment” and acquiring

compentencies

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Robert Mendenhall April 30th:

• “We don’t award three credit hours when people spend a certain amount of time learning something; we award three competency units when they master learning, independent of time,” says Mendenhall. “If a student can pass 40 competency units in that term, which would be equivalent to 40 credit hours, that’s how much they can earn.”

Read more: http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2012/04/30/wgu-example-shows-chilly-policy-climate-competency-based-education#ixzz2UDp797iV Inside Higher Ed

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Questions remain, amongst others:• How do learning outcomes sit with

competencies?• Is “workload” of any use?• What do we mean by “time”?• How do frameworks fit together? Credit

framework alongside the DQP or “marry” them?

• Is the credit hour broken?• Does ECTS offer anything?