Virtual Teachers' Toolbox – An Innovative Tool to Assist the

Creation of High Quality Open Distance Learning Courses

Peter Mazohl

, Ebba Ossiannilsson

, Harald Makl

, Maria Ampartzaki

and Michail Kalogiannakis

University of Technology Vienna, Wiedner Hauptstraße 8-10, 1040 Wien, Austria

Swedish Association for Distance Education, Sweden

Pädagogische Hochschule Niederösterreich, Mühlgasse 67, 2500 Baden, Austria

University of Crete, Department of Preschool Education, 74100 Rethymno, Greece

m_ampartzaki@hotmail.co.uk, mkalogian@hotmail.com

Keywords: Distance Learning, Self-evaluation Mandala, Innovation, MOOCs, OER, Technology, VTT-Box, Open and

Distant Learning, Technology Enhanced Learning, Open Educational Resources.

Abstract: Virtual Teachers’ Toolbox aims to create a special virtual toolbox for teachers as a sophisticated tool for

developing open, online, flexible and technology enhanced education (OOFAT learning). This toolbox assists

teachers/trainers in the course creation by offering a pedagogical framework with a special student’s view, a

quality enhancement framework and a new self-evaluation technic, the so-called mandala evaluation. This

project uses a strategic cooperation between formal and non-formal/informal educational providers using ICT

based teaching and the enhancement of digital integration in learning. It will be enhancing teachers’

professional development and support students‘ acquisition of values, skills and competences. Additional,

pilot courses as samples of proven praxis will be produced and be published as Open Educational Resources

(OERs).

1 INTRODUCTION

Traditional teaching methods, with teachers giving

long hours of lectures in front of a blackboard, do not

“work” with today’s student and certainly will not

work with students of tomorrow. Success counts,

quality matters, and innovation wins. Students want

to be more successful in their learning and modern

teaching methods, like Distance Learning (DL), help

them. Open, online, flexible and technology-

enhanced education (OOFAT), as an innovative

approach to Distance Learning (DL), needs a modern

pedagogical approach, an encompassing quality

enhancement framework, and students’ motivating

self-evaluation methods as well as self-determined

learning (called Heutagogy).

The project addresses two main issues which are

currently seen as important praxes in modern active

teaching in the digital area: Open and innovative

practices and the treatment of early school leaving

and disadvantage.

1.1 Open and Innovative Practices in a

Digital Era

Open and innovative practices are a core objective in

the Virtual Teachers’ ToolBox (VTT-Box) and focus

on Open Online Distance Learning and the intensive

use of ICT to strengthen the digital competences of

both students and teachers. The ultimate goal is to

increase students’ learning capacities and, to some

extent, combat underachievement and drop out. In the

OODL context, the educational material is of major

importance, and as such, the learning process broadly

implies instructor’s absence (Poulakakis, Vassilakis,

Kalogiannakis & Panagiotakis, 2017). The intensive

use of digital competences in this project combined

with the proposed pedagogical approach in

combination with Open Educational Resources

(OER) provide a modern approach to teaching in the

digital area. This is supported by the intensive use of

multimedia-based material in teaching. The VVT-

Box project will create innovative methods and

pedagogical approaches and develop learning

materials and tools that make use of Information and

Communication Technologies (ICTs) in education.

Mazohl, P., Ossiannilsson, E., Makl, H., Ampartzaki, M. and Kalogiannakis, M.

Virtual Teachers’ Toolbox – An Innovative Tool to Assist the Creation of High Quality Open Distance Learning Courses.

DOI: 10.5220/0006820005550560

In Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Computer Supported Education (CSEDU 2018), pages 555-560

ISBN: 978-989-758-291-2

555

Through the project OERs are created, which

ensure innovative access to education. OER use

metadata application profiles based on international

standards which result in interoperability

(Poulakakis, Vassilakis, Kalogiannakis &

Panagiotakis, 2017). The focus OODL, as well as

innovative evaluation methods combined with an

appropriate quality enhancement framework,

provides learning at the highest level. Furthermore,

the project is spreading the utilization of open and

innovative education and training. That covers work

methods in the same way as the project provides

resources for educators and learners at various levels.

The complementary project consortium is built

from schools, a University, a teacher-training

institution, and a national Assocation for Distance

Education (K12-Higher Edcuation). It includes

supporting synergies between education, research,

and innovation activities, and the digitization of

quality learning content. It promotes the use of ICT

as a driver for systemic change to increase the quality

and relevance of education and training. The project

results strengthen the acquisition of digital

competences in both target groups (teachers and

students).

1.2 Supporting Schools to Tackle Early

School Leaving and Disadvantage

The schools follow an innovative concept to keep

students motivated to finish school and terminate

their basic education. A special focus is put on

traditional science subjects (Physics, Biology), but

languages and arts education are involved as well.

From the experience of the participating schools,

difficulties arise in the learning success regarding

these subjects. Students often get demotivated by lack

of achievement - especially in science (and language)

subjects and finally drop school. The use of OODL

based on technology-enhanced learning, and

multimedia content, can motivate students. The

specially developed pedagogical approach which

addresses specifically the needs, desires and behavior

of students and it consists an innovative approach

targeting the decrease of early school leaving rate.

The VTT-Box project offers a diversity of

learners new chances, helps the disadvantaged

students by enabling an individual learning pace and

modern multimedia-based learning. This strategy is a

must in the participating schools due to their students’

profile (students with migration background or

different mother tongue) and are in line with the

priorities of the Erasmus+ partnerships. Here the

consortium will focus on students from the lowest to

the highest end of the academic spectrum, including

children with a migrant background who might face

specific (e.g., linguistic) challenges.

1.3 Project Aim

The project aims to innovate OODL and to make

students more successful in their learning. This will

be achieved by an innovative, motivating self-

evaluation method, an innovative and student-

centered pedagogical approach with a pedagogical

framework built on self-directed learning

(heutagogy) and an all-encompassing quality

enhancement framework. Teachers are supported in

course creation by an innovative web-based toolbox

(VTT-Box).

1.4 Project Objectives

The project objectives are:

1. Practical implementation of pilot courses in

OODL using an innovative learner-centered

pedagogical approach (including a quality

enhancement framework) and an innovative,

motivating self-evaluation tool for students

(Mandala self-evaluation, see next section) to

increase students’ learning success. Mandala

self-evaluation is an innovative element in

teaching (as described later)

2. Creation of a ready-to-use In-service and OODL

training-course for teachers. This course offers

work methods and resources for all kinds of

educators and offers a way for digitization of

quality learning content and promotes the use of

ICT as a driver for systemic change to increase

the quality and relevance of education.

3. The project supports teachers with a web-based

service, which includes a tool to assist the

course creation and the pedagogical framework;

both of them are based on an innovative learner-

centered approach (Hase & Kenyon, 2000).

Moreover, it includes a quality enhancement

framework (as described later). Implementation

of student-centered, problem-based, active and

authentic learning through a multidisciplinary

and an interdisciplinary approach are a crucial

issue in this development. This is the main

intellectual output, and it will be provided as an

OER.

4. A transferability and evaluation guide enables

the transfer of the developed products to other

educational sectors (Early Childhood

Education, Primary Education, Adult

Education, Higher Education).

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1.5 International Project

Pedagogical frameworks, including quality

enhancement frameworks, will match international

standards. Learning also shifts from locality to

internationality and finally to glocalization as

students attend schools in foreign countries.

Therefore, the development of a well-defined,

researched and tested learner-centered distance

learning environment can only be done in a

transnational consortium regarding the various

national outcomes and different knowledge.

The knowledge transfer of experts inside the

European countries is as well an impact on the project

as the experience of different national access to

distance learning.

2 METHODS

The used methods followed a classical way with

identifying learners’ needs, analyzing and studying of

the target groups and the development of innovative

methods.

2.1 Addressed Needs

Today students, living and acting in the digital age,

want to take ownership and to control their own

learning. Ownership and intrinsic motivation is the

primary issue for learning success. These students

have developed particular learning behaviours and

typical youth-related learning patterns (Beetham,

2014). A modern pedagogical approach should take

this into account. Therefore, teaching and learning

methods such as lecturing, repetition and rote

learning should be replaced, and theory should be

dropped and replaced by a well-fitting “learning

offer” tailored to the typical behaviour and needs of

the modern students. This requires an in-depth

analysis of current studies and, as a consequence, the

creation of the appropriate pedagogical framework.

2.2 Addressed Target Groups

The project’s target groups are:

 Teachers (School Education) teaching students

in the age of 13 -19 years and

 Students of this age (special focus on the age

group of 15 - 19 years old students

Project results can be used in Early Childhood

Education (ECE), Primary Education (PrE),

Adult Education (AE) and Higher Education

(HE) as well, therefore trainers and educators in

ECE, PrE, AE or HE are a secondary target group

also. A transferability guide will provide the

project’s results for these groups.

2.3 The Innovation Implemented in the

Project

The project is based on preparatory work done by

Mazohl (2016) and the attendance at several

Erasmus+ KA1 trainings about multimedia-based

teaching and learning.

2.3.1 Innovative Pedagogical Framework

and Quality Enhancement System

The framework uses the currently available research

work about the learning behaviour and typical

patterns found in the student target group (Bruyckere,

Kirschner & Hulshof, 2015; Liang, Wang & Hung,

2008, Gutierrez, 2014), the new publication from

Jacobs (2017) and students’ questionnaires (Mazohl,

2017). The project group will focus on Technology

Enhanced Learning (TEL), students’ ownership of

learning, use, and handling of multimedia-based

content, active and self-determined learning as well

as collaborative work. An impact comes from the

publication from Bergman (2015) about science

teaching.

The project fills the gap of a missing pedagogical

framework referring to the students’ view (Jacobs,

2017). This framework will use the learner-centered

approach and methods that satisfy students

expectations in modern learning, like interactive and

multimedia-based units (promoted by the EC

reference?), eTivities (Salmon, 2007) and methods

desired and expected by students (see studies above).

This type of pedagogical access means a heutagogical

approach to learning (heutagogy puts the learner in

the center of all learning activities).

An all-encompassing quality enhancement

framework, covering technical, educational, and

pedagogical items is embedded in the teaching

approach. This shifts the currently used quality

assurance (by authorities) (excluding pedagogical

issues) to quality enhancement, which is more

regarding self-evaluation, and benchmarking

(Ossiannilsson, Williams, Camilleri, and Brown,

2015). The framework ensures a basic quality

continuously amended by enhancement.

2.3.2 Mandala Self-evaluation

Mandala self-evaluation is a graphical-based method

to prove the students increasing competences and

Virtual Teachers’ Toolbox – An Innovative Tool to Assist the Creation of High Quality Open Distance Learning Courses

557

learning progress. This method of self-evaluation was

developed by Peter Mazohl in 2016 and will be used

and evaluated for the first time in this project.

Figure 1: Pattern of a self-evaluation mandala.

The Mandala self-evaluation

 Gives students the possibility to control and

measure their learning results easily

 Proves the increase of competences (as foreseen

in the European Community)

 Motivates the students

 Enables a simple and visible documentation for

the students (and teachers) of the competences

increased by their learning.

Strict definition of the competence-based learning

(SchoolEducationHighway, 2014) outcomes created

by the teachers are transformed in a graphical pattern

where the students can indicate graphically their

current status of competences. After the learning

process, the achievements are marked in the Mandala

again. The difference before-after shows the success

of the learning process at one glimpse. It also has a

motivating impact on the students because it’s a

success-based evaluation of their learning success.

The method is a complete innovation, and it has

not been published yet, but it is mentioned once in one

research paper (Rauchlechner, 2016).

2.3.3 Small Knowledge Alliance

The project bundles the experience, competences, and

knowledge of five institutions from different

educational backgrounds and it consists strategic

cooperation between formal and non-formal/informal

educational providers.

3 RESULTS

The project has just started (October 2017), so results

are not obvious so far, but the first signs already are

encouraging, and promising.

In a first pilot environment, the developed

Mandala self-evaluation was performed and

evaluated (in a small case study). The sample group

covered a high school class (24 students) at an age

level of 16 years. The evaluation was done by a

guided interview and focused on the feedback from

the students describing the acceptance and the

usability of the Mandala self-evaluation. The

feedback was positive, and the students appreciated

the quick visibility of learning success by comparing

the two mandalas.

This small case study will have an impact at the

teaching training event for the VTT-Box Project held

in February 2018. Teachers from 3 different

European high schools (Italy, Spain, Austria, and

Sweden) will get educated to use the method and they

will have the possibility to implement several pilot

courses.

The development of the pedagogical framework is

just finished, the results have an emphasis on active

learning methods, the use of interactive multimedia

material and engagement of learners in group work.

Moodle 3.4 (https://moodle.org/) is foreseen as the

learning platform for the development of the distance

learning course.

The first concepts for the teachers’ toolbox

include

 Selection of possible interactive eTivities,

following the concept of Salmon, (2007) with

special focus on collaboration between students,

a complete description of each eTivity with

instructional design hints and possible

assignment methods (if applicable for the

eTivity)

 Proposal of the course structure including

pedagogical hints

 Proposal for the used quality criteria and

valuable quality cycles (selected from the

developed quality framework)

 Checklists for teachers covering

- course preparation

- course execution and

- assessments and evaluation of taught

competencies

 Material for the course evaluation

 Tool for the definition of competence-based

course outcomes

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 Tool for using self-evaluation mandalas

including the templates to define competence

description

 Various checklists like

- Checklist to evaluate the definition of

competence-based course outcomes

- Checklist for the quality enhancement

process in a course definition

- Checklist for learner-centered activities

in courses

4 DISCUSSION

The use of the self-evaluation Mandalas is a

promising step to better teaching. It forces the teacher

to think very intensively and strictly about the

competences and includes fun elements for students

in the teaching process. Young students find it

“playful” (feedback from the case study). With a

well-fitting pattern (some kind of grid) the method is

also applicable to Primary Education, Higher

Education (Universities) and Adult Education. This

must be topic of further studies.

Without a doubt the use of multimedia is a

promising way of teaching. Following the ideas of

Jon Bergmann (2015) the concept of activating

students is integrated into the project. The idea is that

students do not only watch a video or perform some

interactive tasks, but they also learn something during

the interaction.

The open concept in teaching and learning is a

promising strategy for the future. Using open

educational resources enables students to select from

a wide scope of educational offers and to decide on

their own what they will use. This self-decision

motivates students in self-directed learning.

Most students are motivated by the self-

evaluation Mandalas and enjoy seeing that they have

increased their competences and in each field

(knowledge, understanding, and skills, or in their

behaviour). The problem in the project’s context is to

have motivated students. Nevertheless, students that

are not motivated and cannot be motivated by their

teachers will pass all the course offers without any

advantage.

5 CONCLUSION

Prensky’s so-called “Digital Natives” are using

rapidly evolving technologies and display decreased

tolerance for teacher-centered style (Prensky, 2001).

Students like to use their technical devices in their

learning (Mazohl, 2016). Teachers, instructors, and

researchers are continually seeking for new methods

and strategies to engage and motivate their students

(Jacobs, 2017).

The current state of the project brings up the first

positive results and offers a promising preview to the

final products. The selection of the used elements in

the pedagogical framework is currently finished and

discussed; it shows up a practicable method for the

teaching and the use in ODL courses.

Although the project targets distance learning the

project shifts partly into Blended Learning with a

specific focus on the distance learning part. Through

this overlapping area it offers a high potential of

transfer to Blended Learning. Traditional Blended

Learning is considered to be learner-centered,

offering flexibility, and ownership throughout the

learning process. In short, the concept simply means

the blend of virtual online digital media, training with

traditional classroom methods, and face-to-face,

instructor-led sessions (Ossiannilsson, 2017). In

School Education (SE) students are taking part in

onsite teaching and can receive assignments which

can be done in the frame of distance learning. This

links partly to the ideas of Bergmann (2017) and

carries some characteristics of flipped learning. As all

students attend onsite teaching daily (in the classical

brick-and-mortar environment), the typical

parameters for blended learning are fulfilled. The

project results, therefore, are also relevant to all kinds

of blended learning. This will be a specific item in the

foreseen transferability guide.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors would like to express acknowledgements

and thanks to the European Commission, who is

funding the VTT-Box project (2017-1-ES01-KA201-

038199), under the ERASMUS + KA2-Cooperation

for Innovation and the exchange of good practice, and

KA201- Strategic Partnership for School Education.

The authors would like to express

acknowledgements and thanks to all partners in the

project.

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