Masters degree AIGEME

Paris 3 Computer Applications,

Management, Multimedia

and E-learning

Website

A little bit of history Please watch this video for the context of

the program.History of Open and Distance Learning in France

European Distance education 0-3mns French Distance Education 3-6mns

Overview The professional masters in AIGEME is one of the

few online degree offered in France. This program is also particular because it is a distance program about distance education. It was launched in October 2006. It is an intensive program that is to be completed in one year. It combines both requirements from passing courses and the successful completion of a mandatory internship to ensure that students are ready for the work market.

What is AIGEME? AIGEME is the acronym of the French

components of the master. The translation of these components is equivalent to the following: Computer Applications, Management, Multimedia and E-learning

Who can enroll in AIGEME? The program welcome anyone looking to

become a professional in E-learning. Competences that will be acquired allow one to secure an array of jobs at the end of the program such as : manager/leader of distance education project, instructional designer, distance educator, online tutor, LMS manager, Head of resource or training centers, director of multimedia library.

Who can enroll (continued) Students

Are qualified as students People who have never worked People that graduated less than 12 months from

another program

Professional People that are currently working

Requirements to be admitted Can be admitted Students with a M1 from

any European country or French speaking country preferably with a degree in humanities but with good knowledge of common computer software. (France higher education system is different (a bachelor is obtained after 3 years. The Masters is split into two years: M1 and M2 thus allowing mobility across the European Union for students that want to study abroad.)

Program purpose The Master of AIGEME is designed as a professional master

(geared towards people that wants to integrate the work market) with a strong base on research (for people that wish to continue to the doctorate).

The master is a discovery into how to use technology pedagogically. Geared towards non-science students the curriculum allows them to acquire suitable skills in order to prepare them for computer related professions such as multimedia, open learning and distance learning. They become professional that can link the media between Professionals and users in the field of E-learning.

Graduates can explore different career paths upon of the completion of the degree: may have to design courses online, manage resources, conduct research, participate in the drafting of online learning program, evaluate bids, Tutor distance learning program etc.

Curriculum at a Glance

Curriculum at a glance (2) The curriculum is a core component of the infrastructure of a

distance education program. Referring to the development of the infrastructure of a program, Davis, Little and Stewart (2008) pointed out that “All teaching and learning systems should be built from two vantage points: the needs of the intended students, and the intended learning outcomes of the course or program – i.e., the knowledge, skills, and attributes that students will gain. An ideal online learning system will be based on a plan that flows from a full understanding of these two fundamentals” (p.123). The Venn diagram of the curriculum clearly expressed both the contribution of the program within the distance systems and the requirements from the students.

Objectives Develop e-learning both as a set of teaching methods involved in

the training process and as part of the information system of the enterprise, school, university or vocational training.

Master the hardware and software necessary to implement distance learning programs, understand the processes involved, to conduct projects within their political, organizational, pedagogical and technical context, learn to guide specialists that don’t have a background in distance education

introduce the concepts distance education, multimedia, internet besides graphic and ergonomic skills.

Enforce writing skills, production skills within the context of instructional design in order to create sites with distance education quality.

Objectives Master the key educational and technological contexts of e-learning in a

process of empowerment: the virtual classroom via videoconferencing and the Internet, college campuses or corporate virtual universities.

Use the Internet to update and organize educational content Be able to identify and access external resources relevant to broadcast

content, collaboration tools and interactivity to the Internet, application sharing, remote collaboration tools ...

 Knowledge of information system techniques, networks, servers, information structure and the principles of ergonomics.

Understand the strategic, organizational, political, legal and ethical issues of E-learning

 Be able to develop a multimedia project teams within a multicultural and multilingual settings

Produce professional quality statements in French and English in the field of E-learning.

Innovative program Hybrid between professional masters and

research masters. Thus graduates can decide to pursue either path.

Internship is a requirement to graduate thus students have a sense of what the E-learning professional world is like and they graduate with a strong sense of own strengths and weaknesses which open doors to self-growth.

Innovative (continued) In partnership with the Agency for

Francophony, the program offers 5 scholarship to students from developed countries yearly.

Price is competitive: Program cost (for about 75 credits) is about 2.500 US $.

2-3 tutors (for a cohort of 20) are available to help students navigate the program

Leaders (Venn diagram)Head of MjScientific Mj

affairs Mj

Head of MjPedagogical Mj

affairs Mj

Main Tutor Mj

Chief of Mjdistance Mjcampus Mj

Tutor Mj(responsible of Mj

IT support) Mj

Tutors Mj(humanities Mjand Media) Mj

Instructors Mj

Leaders and Support team

In a document geared toward supporting faculty of distance program, the Southern Regional Education Board (2001) recognized that “it takes both technical competence and effective pedagogy to teach in an e-learning environment" (p. 2). The Faculty Issues Subcommittee of the board has identified the following roles as important elements of an instructional team in a distance education program: Instructional designer, Graphic interface designer, technical support personnel, content expert, direct instructor, information resource personnel, tutor and assessor. The Venn diagram in the precedent slide shows that all these elements are present except that they are labeled differently. For instance the Head of Pedagogical affairs also play a role as an Instructional designer with the help of the Chief of the distance campus. The latter also is the graphic interface designer. The content experts identified by the SREB are the instructors that are also direct instructors. As the program is young it is understandable that one person plays different roles for budget concerns.

Quality insurance Online Degree from a well-known and respected university Paris III

- formerly known as Sorbonne-. The AIGEME program is integrated into the distance campus of the university: iSorbonne. Both the university and the program are accredited by the French Ministry of Higher Education and Research. Paris 3 is also affiliated to the European University Association (EUA); International Forum of Public Universities (IFPU) and is also a member of the following organizations promoting distance learning.

Quality insurance (2) Member of EDEN (European Distance

Education Network). EDEN “exists to share knowledge and improve understanding for professionals in distance and e-learning across the whole of Europe and beyond, and to promote policy and practice for this field of endeavour” For more information about EDEN please go to http://www.eden-online.org/eden.php?menuId=343

Quality insurance (3) Member of Open University of the Humanities

UOH: http://www.uoh.fr/ Created under the leadership of the Direction of

Integration of computer in teaching Services, entity linked to the Direction of Technology and Information Systems of the Ministry of Higher Education and Research and the Ministry of Education, Open University of the Humanities (UOH) is the Thematic Digital University devoted to the disciplines of Humanities, Social Sciences, Languages and Arts.

Quality insurance (4) Form@sup http://www.formasup.education.fr/ This catalog is published by CERIMES - Resource Center for

Information and Multimedia for Higher Education - under the Ministry of Higher Education and Research.Formasup is a website published by CERIMES. This online catalog includes courses:- Tutored, that is supervised by teachers,- Wholly or partially remote- Proposed by public institutions in all French regions: universities, schools or institutes, Cned (National Center for Distance Education), CNAM (Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers) and Agrosup-NCPC (National Center for Rural Advancement ). Formasup is built as an information system that lists the training that are available online. Formasup's primary mission is to promote distance learning in France.

Quality insurance (5) FIED http://telesup.univ-mrs.fr/ FIED (Federation Interuniversity for Distance Education) is a nonprofit associated,

created in 1987 from the initiative of Ministry of Education. Its purpose is to organize a network of French universities that have developped open and distance learning under different forms such as the Distance centers of certain universities (CTEU), the Services for Distance Learning (SEAD), units for Training and Research (UFR), the training departments

FIED provides a national and international representation of the French distance university education offer, in collaboration with relevant organizations (Ministry of Foreign affairs, Ministry of cooperation EduFrance…)

FIED coordinates or partners in several education projects based on Information Technology and Communication (ICT), which aim to improve the quality of the , the monitoring and guidance of students enrolled in distance program. FIED aims to be open to all universities or institutions which are concerned by Open and Distance Learning (ODL).

Quality and External Validity Internship

The professionalism is required in M2, in the form of an intensive internship in enterprise.

The partnership with industry is not only a device for professional status, but also a tool for guiding the qualification and its contents: Missions report trades jobs-Information Technologies and Communication.

All students must have a mission integrated enterprise training (150-300 hours of intensive training in the second half). The students attend, within companies, missions to "scale" designed to qualify them and provide them a first experience with online learning objectives.

Quality and external validity Based on a university-business partnership, the Diploma

Computer Applications: management, education, multimedia, e-training (AIGEME) occurs primarily on distance (in France and abroad).

The relationship with the corporate world brings to this training effectiveness in career choice. Students are offered the opportunity to become involved with teachers in colleges, universities and businesses thus strengthening the scientific and technical basis they were acquiring through their courses.

Pedagogical Choices In an interview that can be found on the website of the

Masters program, the chief of Pedagogical affairs stated that the program is based on participatory pedagogy and pedagogy of success. The AIGEME masters appears to have adopted a social constructivist theoretical framework. Such framework is described by Tisdell and his colleagues (2004) as a framework that “assumes that knowledge construction is ongoing and takes place in a social context as ideas are discussed and learning processes are negotiated, and is related both to the content and the process of learning” (p.120).

Pedagogical choices (2) Fosnot (1996) noted that social constructivism

“construes learning as an interpretive, recursive, building process by active learners interacting with the physical and social world” (p. 30).

According to Alley & Jankar (2001) learning is both social and private, and experiential and that higher order learning requires reflection and knowledge construction, which are key elements for quality assurance in online learning.

Student’s testimonials

Please listen to some students testimonials by clicking on the speaker icon.

Queen’s testimonial

Thomas’ s testimonial

Cherry’s testimonial

Success factors

Other success factors built in the program Effective leadership / Administrators

System

The Venn diagram of the Leadership team shows that everyone is interconnected directly or through other members. Taking care both of the management of the program is a team affair.

Head of MjScientific Mj

affairs Mj

Head of MjPedagogical Mj

affairs Mj

Main Tutor Mj

Chief of Mjdistance Mjcampus Mj

Tutor Mj(responsible of Mj

IT support) Mj

Tutors Mj(humanities Mjand Media) Mj

Instructors Mj

Effective leadership Weekly visit (forum)

The pedagogical director at least visits once a week (often daily) the common forum to answer students’ questions that can only be answered by the administration. She also attends to students personal or emotional needs to succeed in the program. She always have a nice word here and there. She is very encouraging.

Such practices can be written in what Karakas (2007)

identified as two of the eleven domains that constitutes the

heart-set and mind-set of leaders for the twenty-first

Century: Stewardship and care, growth and development.

Effective leadership (2) “Stewardship and care:

Develops empathy and understanding towards other people by taking their feelings into consideration; develops trusting relationships, listens with attention; emphasizes empowerment, delegation, and cooperation; seeks to be in service rather than in control.

Attends to the well-being (basic needs and human rights) of others and provides opportunities for them to sustain themselves.

Creates communities of reciprocal care and shared responsibility where every person matters and each person’s welfare is the common concern; creates a supportive environment where people can thrive, grow, and live in peace with one another, with strong trusting relationships forged by visioning, leading, learning, and acting together.

Growth and development: Strengthens and sustains individual growth and self-actualization. Deeply commits to the personal, professional, and spiritual growth of each individual

in the institution/organization; discovers, coaches, and nurtures each person’s Untapped” (p.48)

Instructors The leaders have hired great instructors. They practice some of the key elements

that have been identified by Watson and Gemin (2009) and written as a list of standards that online teachers should follow:

“Plans, designs and incorporates strategies to encourage active l earning, interaction,�� participation and collaboration in the online environment Provides online leadership in a manner that promotes student success through regular�� feedback, prompt response and clear expectations Models, guides and encourages legal, ethical, safe and healthy behavior related to�� technology use Understands and is responsive to students with special needs in the online classroom�� Demonstrates competencies in creating and implementing assessments in online learning�� environments in ways that assure validity and reliability of instruments and procedures Develops and delivers assessments, projects, and assignments that meet standards-based�� learning goals and assesses learning progress by measuring student achievement of learning goals Demonstrates competencies in using data and findings from assessments and other data�� sources to modify instructional methods and content and to guide student learning Demonstrates frequent and effective strategies that enable both teacher and students to�� complete self- and pre-assessments” (p.13)

Other success factors Tutoring system

Head tutorThe head tutor coordinates all the tutoring entities of the distance

education school of which the AIGEME program. However she holds monthly meeting with the AIGEME tutors to help them find solutions with problems they might encounter. And to help them support the students

There are three tutors available for the AIGEME program 1 for subject tied to the humanities 1 dedicated to support students with courses that are more

technical such as web designing, Learning management system etc.

1 that is the help desk for all the minor technical issue students might encounter

Other success factors (2) Forums

There are forum in each course. And students can freely add content either to offer complementary resources to the cohort to master the curriculum of the course or simply to ask question

There is also a section (not bound to any course) that is Free-speech forum where students can ask general questions and seek the help of tutors or the administration.

Other succes factors (3) FAQ sections

The FAQ section is updated at the end of each year with the help of all tutors. Tutors can submit their FAQs to students that might suggest to add other topics.

Previous students work made available Excellent assignments, projects and thesis of students

from previous cohort are made available thus students know what is expected from them.

Other Success factors (4) Students have a central role in

improvement At the end of each year, students can take a

satisfaction survey. There is room for comments. The survey has helped students’ voices to be heard. For instance, tutoring that wasn’t available the first year grew out of students’ concerns about a lack of support when they needed help. Tutoring was provided from the 2nd cohort to date.

Other success factors (5)E-Portfolio Students are regularly assessed and evaluated. It is

mandatory that they integrate all their assignment to an E-portfolio. Usually a blog where they can upload all their assignments. The blog will also serves as their learning journal during the 2nd semester while doing the internship. The E-portfolio allows students to keep track of their learning. They also have realizations readily available to show a possible employer.

Other success factors (6) Online access to resources free of charge

Access to the online library of the University Paris 3 Access to computers and multimedia resources at the local or regional

office of the Agency of Francophony (AUF)These privileges are particularly important for students that are from developed countries where access to libraries and multimedia can be limited. Jonhson, Trabelsi and Fabbro (2008) noted that in a distance education program “library services are an essential component of a quality online learning experience. As access to online courses grows, an increasing number of e-learners are dispersed around the globe, often in parts of the world where physical access to the collections of large academic and researchlibraries is impossible or severely limited. These learners are largely dependent on the quality and academic usefulness of services that the librarycan offer electronically” (p.412)

Other success factors (7) Convenience

Compared to some other distance programs, AIGEME is really convenient. All exams can be taken from home. There is no need to travel to another country or even go to an Embassy. Students have an allocated time to completed a summative evaluation and upload their responses.

Even the thesis is defended from the home country. However, students are required to go to the local AUF office for final identity verification purposes.

Other success factors (8) Mondays of the Masters

On mondays, students can take part in synchronous chats where tutors answer questions. Instructors are often present

On Mondays there are some video-conference based on the content of one of the courses. It gives a chance to student to socialize as a cohort. In fact they call these videoconference: the brunch, the lunch, the dinner meetings based on which part of the world students are located

Drawbacks Only one: When they launch the program in

october 2006, AIGEME disitributed the courses between two LMS. Moodle and WebCT. In 2007 they abandoned Moodle to make WebCT the official LMS of iSorbonne. To date students of the first cohort are still questioning that decision. Of course the Masters belong to a distance education program and might be required to adopt any policy decision taken for the entire university.

Summary and Recommendations The last 5 years have seen a boom in the offering of distance

education in France as the Ministry of Higher Education is supporting the implementation of distance Learning in many universities in order to increase the number of enrolled students.

Paris 3 has launched a distance learning campus formerly known as Tele3 but recently renamed ENEAD (“Enseignement a distance” or distance education).

One of the programs offered is the professional Masters degree in E-learning that in 3 years is classified as the #1 professional masters in France. Quality is insured because every members of the pedagogical team is really involved in the educational project. Instructors are available to help students. The tutoring system provides both emotional and pedagogical support.

Summary and Recommendations (2) The content of the program is really comprehensive and

offers students that graduate the opportunity to choose among a multiplicity of career paths.

The success of the program is certainly due to the 2 leaders (the chief of Scientific Affairs and the Chief of Pedagogical Affairs) that are involved in the program through constant contact with the Ministry of Higher education and Research, participate in European conferences to keep up-to-date about best practices in the Region and maintains close contacts with both the pedagogical team and the students.

the pedagogical team is also highly motivated and is available to cater their instruction to students’ needs or simply to provide support.

Recommendations Increase the number of students that are accepted each year without

sacrificing the quality of the program. To date the program has 20 places available per year. However the demand is high. To maintain the high quality of the AIGEME program it might be necessary to hire more tutors. The content of the courses are already available thus only the support system needs to be increase to match the enrollment. To date tutors are not allowed to grade students’ paper even if they are qualified; this a change that would be recommended if more students are accepted.

Watson and Gemin (2009) noted “while most online programs deliver quality curriculum, effective teaching, and improved student

outcomes, such positive outcomes are not assured. They are instead a result of forethought and diligent management, starting with defining and planning the online program, and extendingthrough all aspects of management and operations.” (p.22) Thus, the program will continue provide quality education and opportunity to a vast array of students if it continues to lead by excellent visionary.

New opportunities A) For the new cohort 2010-2011 there is a new

cohort that will have the option to choose between two options of the Masters: Instructional designer/E-learning Engineer Integration of media in teaching

B) Students that are less than 26 years old have the possibility to be hired by a company and be paid to be trained. Even though students will be hired full-time, time spent studying are considered as work; in practice students are working part-time.

References Alley, L.R., & Jansak, K.E. (2001). The ten keys to quality assurance and assessment in online

learning. Journal of Interactive Instruction Development, 13(3), 3-18 Davis, A., Little, P., & Stewart, B.(2008). Developing an Infrastructure for online Learning. In T.

Anderson (Ed.), Theory and practice of online learning, 2nd ed. (121–142).Athabasca, AB: AU Press

Fosnot, C. T. (1996). Constructivism: Theory, perspectives, and practice. New York, Teachers College Press

Johnson, K., Trabelsi, H., & Fabbro, E.(2008). Library support for e-learners: E-resources, e-services and the human factors. In T. Anderson (Ed.), Theory and practice of online learning, 2nd ed. (397–418).Athabasca, AB: AU Press

Karakas, F. (2007). The twenty-first century leader: Social artist, spiritual visionary, and culture innovator. Global Business and Organizational Excellence, March/April 2007, 44-50. Retrieved March 7, 2010 http://ssrn.com/abstract=976762.

Southern Regional Education Board: Distance Learning Policy Laboratory. (2001). Supporting faculty in the use of technology: A guide to principles, policies, and implementation strategies. Retrieved April 15, 2010 from http://www.ecinitiatives.org/policylab/Reports/Supporting_Faculty.pdf

Tisdell, E. J., Strohschen, G. I. E., Carver, M. L., Corrigan, P., Nash, J., Nelson, M., Royer, M., Strom-Mackey, R., & O’Connor, M. (2004). Cohort Learning Online in Graduate Higher Education: Constructing Knowledge in Cyber Community. Educational Technology & Society, 7 (1), 115-127.

Watson, J. & Gemin, B. (2009). Management and operations of online programs: Ensuring quality and accountability. Vienna, VA: International Associate for K-12 Online Learning. . Retrieved March 17, 2010 http://inacol.org/resources/promisingpractices/index.php