Winning project in the competition: "Advancement through education: open universities", 2nd funding phase of the 1st round of the competition.
Cooperation project of the Rheinland-Pfälzische Technische Universität Kaiserslautern-Landau (RPTU), University of Applied Sciences Kaiserslautern (HS KL) and Virtual Campus Rhineland-Palatinate (VCRP).
Funding provider: |
Federal Ministry of Education and Research |
| Project management | Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Rolf Arnold (RPTU) |
| Funding volume | 1.08 million euros |
| Duration: | 4/2015-09/2017 |
| Project Management Agency: | VDI/VDE-Innovation + Technik GmbH, Berlin |
| Project coordinator: | Simone Wanken |
The second funding phase of the OKWest II project has the sustainability and broad impact of the results of the first project phase as its primary goal. It continues to pursue this goal in relation to the three guidelines, which were already fundamental for the project in the first phase.
Expansion of transition counselling and study-supporting and hybrid learning scenarios
The development of the Online Study Choice Assistants (OSA) has proven its worth in the first project phase for the programmes Management of Health and Social Institutions as well as Social Sciences: Organisation and Communication as a counselling and information tool, especially for professionally qualified persons who gained access to the Master's programme via the aptitude test. In OKWest II, in close cooperation with the VCRP, online study selection assistants for further extra-occupational distance learning programmes are developed, implemented, tested, evaluated and transferred into regular operation.
In the context of the development of self-learning competences, the eDSL courses (online courses for the promotion of self-learning competences) developed in the first phase will be implemented into the curricula of the model study programmes together with the project "Self-Learning Promotion as a Basis". In addition, impact analyses on the use of the self-learning modules will be carried out. The development of hybrid learning formats in the first project phase was very promising. Here, essential organisational processes could be transferred to the learning platform OpenOLAT. Innovative, competence-oriented didactic scenarios were also implemented based on the model study programmes. Based on an impact analysis, the use of the organisational and learning scenarios in OKWest II will be evaluated and adapted. Furthermore, the new learning and organisational scenarios will be transferred to other programmes of the Distance and Independent Studies Center (DISC).
Sustainability and broad impact of competence profiling and competence balancing
In the second phase of the project, a modification of the so-called KERN model for the development of programme-specific competence profiles for a broadly effective and sustainable implementation will be carried out, so that further competence profiles can be designed for part-time distance learning programmes. In addition, it is planned in the second project phase to compare the programme-specific competence profiles with individual competence balances.
Research and transition research
In the second phase of the project, research will consistently pursue the goal of conceptual validation and theoretical embedding. The central research components are cross-network issues, which are addressed by the development and research of all partners of the network on the basis of the two research topics "e-portfolio" and "competence-oriented didactics".
One research focus at the RPTU is transition research in the distance learning Master's. One of the research focuses in this discipline is on the statistical recording of aptitude test candidates from application to enrolment through the programme process to the success of studies in the open programmes of the DISC.
Within the framework of OKWest II, impact analyses on products of the first phase and impact analyses on developments of the second project phase are also carried out. The aim of the impact analyses is to accompany the new developments and to optimise the products and application scenarios as well as to improve the studyability and the formats of counselling and support.
In addition, this research part is devoted to the question of the career orientation of the offers of advanced studies. The interest of the findings lies in the discovery of the substantial difference between scientific and vocational education and the personality-forming effects of scientific education.
