Integrating Transnational Mobility into the Core Curriculum

Professor Graeme RobertsSenior Associate, Higher Education Academy

UK Bologna Expert

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Mobility - “one of the key issues to be further developed.”

“The original expectation was that the creation of a single space of education would give mobility a further boost. This does not seem to have happened yet. With regard to...Erasmus type mobility the introduction of a two-tier degree system is sometimes pointed at as an obstacle...It is argued that shorter degrees make it more difficult to integrate a study period abroad and in some countries this argument has started massively to influence the debate about short-term mobility under the conditions of Bologna during the last years...It is therefore suggested that stronger curricular efforts should be made in order to ensure sufficient flexibility within study programmes and to create “mobility windows.”

Bologna Beyond 2010 (BFUG)

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states “mobility shall be the hallmark” of the EHEA sets target for 2020 of at least 20% of EHEA graduates to

have been mobile during their studies calls for the integration of opportunities for mobility in the

structure of all degree programmes within each of the three cycles, “thus creating mobility windows.”

Draft Ministerial Communiqué

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co-ordinated by the DAAD brought together higher education institutions and Bologna

Experts from six countries aimed to develop and test a set of guidelines that academic

staff and institutions can use to design degree programmes in which student mobility is an integral component

published by the DAAD last July under the title Yes! Go! addresses a wide range of issues that arise when one sets

out to develop or adapt curricula in the context of the Bologna reforms

• Focus today on how the aims of a mobility experience might be translated into a set of learning outcomes and what kind of assessment tasks and criteria might be used to demonstrate their achievement.

Model for Core Curricula with Integrated Mobility Abroad (MOCCA)

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translate the aims of a module or study programme into a set of competences – knowledge, understanding, skills and attributes – which the learner is expected to have acquired and be able to demonstrate at the end of a period of learning by satisfactorily performing a set of assessment tasks

help teachers to understand and recognise the learning achieved during a period of study at another institution or a qualification gained in another country; and employers to understand what can be expected of a recent graduate of a particular programme

can be used to capture and accredit informal learning; so also to describe generic competences and skills that learners are able to acquire or refine during a period of study in another country over and above the subject-specific knowledge and skills gained through their academic study programme.

Learning Outcomes: “one of the basic buildingblocks of European higher education reform”

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fostering student’s personal and professional development enhancing their employability in a global environment meeting the needs of the global labour market promoting global citizenship creating opportunities for beneficial learning experiences,

both planned and unplanned increasing the pleasure and satisfaction of learning.

Why mobility?

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1 Enhance learners’ knowledge and understanding of their discipline by exposing them to a different system of learning and teaching 2 Foster learners’ awareness of international dimension of knowledge 3 Give learners access to techniques, equipment, technologies, expertise and resources other than those available in their home institution 4 Improve learners’ competence in a second language 5 Provide an effective context for the development of the learners’

capacities for critical reflection and self-directed learning 6 Encourage learners to become more resourceful, adaptable and self- confident 7 Develop learners’ awareness of, respect for and ability to work within cultural diversity 8 Prepare learners to work successfully in novel situations and adapt their practice to take account of different social and cultural circumstances. 

Aims of the student mobility experience

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Level of study: defines level at which the learning outcomes are assessed

set at master’s level as guidelines were to be tested by being used to design a joint master’s programme in public health

used generic descriptors in Framework for Qualifications of the European Higher Education Area as common reference point.

Characteristics that distinguish a second cycle from a first cycle award include: - “knowledge and understanding that…extends and/or enhances that typically associated with the first cycle…” - the ability to “apply their knowledge and understanding, and problem solving abilities in new or unfamiliar environments…” - possessing “the learning skills to allow them to continue to study in a manner that may be largely self-directed or autonomous.”

Designing the mobility module

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“By the end of the module, learners will be expected to be able to: describe and explain how their knowledge and understanding of

their discipline has been enhanced by their experience of studying in a different learning and teaching environment (aims 1, 2, 5);

demonstrate improvement in their second language competence (aim 4);

reflect critically on how their mobility experience has prepared them to work successfully in novel situations and to adapt their practice to take account of different social and cultural circumstances (aims 5, 7 and 8).”

These also reflect three distinguishing characteristics of a second cycle qualification: enhanced knowledge and understanding; ability to apply these in new or unfamiliar environments; and studying in a largely self-determined and autonomous manner.

 

Learning outcomes of mobility module

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Two aims only indirectly translatable into specific learning outcomes:

3. “Giving learners access to techniques, equipment, technologies, expertise and resources other than those available in their home institution”

• about providing access to a new learning experience rather than what the student actually learns from this

• demonstrated by student satisfactorily completing and gaining credits for the academic modules studied in the host institution.

6. “Encouraging learners to become more resourceful, adaptable and self-confident” 

these attributes likely to be enhanced by a successful mobility experience

difficult to devise a valid and reliable way of assessing objectively whether or not development has actually taken place

so aim not translated into a specific learning outcome.

Learning outcomes of mobility module

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• Writing up a case study or preparing and delivering an oral presentation in the home institution that (a) describes and explains one particular feature of the way in which the learner’s discipline is taught and/or applied in the host country which is different from the practice of the learner’s home country and that (b) evaluates the relative effectiveness of that feature – outcome 1.

Keeping a reflective diary that (a) records week by week how the learner has responded to the challenges and opportunities of living and studying in the host country and institution and that (b) sums up the learner’s conclusions about the personal and professional value of the experience – outcome 3.

LO 2: “demonstrate improvement in their second language competence” - directly assessed by testing the learner at start and end of the mobility experience or by requiring case study to be written in second language - indirectly assessed (where it is the language of instruction) by learner’s performance in the academic course.

Assessment tasks for mobility module

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• Describe what learners must do to perform satisfactorily the tasks that demonstrate achievement of the learning outcomes at the required level

• Usually described in terms of “threshold” standards - minimum level of performance that will be judged as having demonstrated satisfactory achievement of the learning outcomes.

Assessment criteria for mobility module

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• Case study: “The learner will demonstrate achievement of learning outcome 1 by being able to:- choose an apt feature to exemplify the difference in practice

between the learner’s host and home countries- provide a clear description of the feature chosen- give a cogent explanation of the reasons for the difference- make a reasoned evaluation of the feature’s relative effectiveness.”[Additional criteria for oral presentation]

• Reflective Diary: "The learner will demonstrate achievement of learning outcome 3 by being able to:- provide a clear description and analysis of the challenges and

opportunities encountered- analyse and evaluate their own responses in a critical way- explain what they have learned from the experience about themselves and their host culture- summarise the personal and professional value of the experience.”

Assessment criteria for mobility module

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Volume of credits should reflect the total workload both

• while the learner is engaged in the mobility experience (e.g. collecting the information for the case study and keeping the reflective diary) and

• after return (e.g. writing up the case study or preparing the oral presentation and formulating conclusions about the value of the whole experience).

Credits and workload for mobility module

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