Brussels, 23/10/2014 (Agence Europe) - The European Union's High-Level Group on the Modernisation of Higher Education published its report on Wednesday 22 October on 'new modes of learning and teaching in universities'. The group, chaired by former President of Ireland Mary McAleese, makes 15 recommendations highlighting the need for better targeting of resources to promote the development and use of more flexible digital learning and teaching methods in higher education. Androulla Vassiliou, Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth, stated “Europe is facing the challenge of coping with greater numbers of students, greater diversity among them, and the need to improve the quality of learning and teaching”. McAleese added, “Although Europe is starting to make progress, it is still lagging behind the US in using new technologies… We should capitalise on the strengths”.
Educational resources from around the globe are becoming more freely accessible and increasingly interactive, moving beyond the simple, online lecture. Digital learning and teaching can be better tailored to the needs of individual students and advances in learning analytics allow professors to give quicker feedback on students' performance and to identify areas where more support is needed. Digitally based teaching methods are starting to be integrated both on-campus and online as many European higher education institutions are using the new opportunities technology offers. But too often developments rely on a few enthusiastic staff members and there is no coherent strategic uptake within the institutions or across countries. Based on a thorough analysis of the current situation and of good practices across the EU and beyond, the high level group has identified pathways to support the introduction of new technology-based education. While accepting that higher education institutions themselves are the main actors in delivering changes, the group has underlined the responsibility of public authorities to create an environment conducive to change. The high-level group was launched in 2012 to tackle the most pressing issues in higher education in Europe. In its first year the group developed recommendations targeted at higher education institutions, member states and the European Commission (EUROPE 10869).
In a press release, the European Students' Union (ESU) welcomed the report positively and said that it highlighted individual student needs in education and advocated new and varied online learning tools. The ESU said that these new methods contribute to creating a genuinely student-centred education. (IL)