TABLE 1: IMPLEMENTING THE HANSA NOVA MODULE IN THE ACADEMIC YEAR 2007-2008 University Level Name of Course

ARCADA Bachelor Course 1: Multicultural Business Environment of the BSR Course 2: Project Management in the BSR

HIBU Bachelor Course1: Tourism and Management Course 2: Pedagogical Methodology

SPBSPU Bachelor Course 1: Business Communication

SPBSU Master Course 1: Theory and practice of business communications Specializa-

tion (Bache- lor +)

Course 2: Problems of Russia - EU integration

TBC Bachelor Course 1: Macro Economics Course 2: Global Communication Course 3: Organisation

TUT Bachelor Course 1:Multicultural working environment Master Course 2:Design for cost and environment

UT, Pärnu College

Diploma/ Bachelor

Course 1: Project personnel management

VIKO Bachelor Course 1: Project management

Bachelor Optional course for 5 study programmes: Business management, Adver- tising management, Trade management, Office and Enterprise admini- stration, Tourism and Hotel administration

VU Master Course 1: Globalisation of Economy Master Course 2: Cross-cultural management Bachelor Course 3: International Economics

Students participating in these courses will benefit from the experiences gained in the first phase of the pro- ject, and also contribute to the further development of the materials in the following way:

- Students will use the Hansa Nova course materials in stages 1 (Conceptualisation) and 2 (Experimentation) of their learning process. This is possible since the materials include both theory and practical assignments to the theory, as developed by the network partners.

- In stage 3 (Experience) the student will conduct own case-study research in some of the knowledge areas of Hansa Nova

- In stage 4 (Reflection) the new research results will be evaluated against previous knowledge in the Hansa Nova materials. As a result, the Module materials will yeah year be updated with the latest available knowl- edge.

During the coming years, the Hansa Nova module will be regularly updated based upon the INTERN/updated HANSA NOVA model. This is possible, since the Module is now integrated in the partner institutions curricula and can be delivered either on campus or online with other network partners.

We can therefore conclude that the student’s learning cycle in Hansa Nova truly corresponds to the topic of this seminar – Learning by Developing. New students benefit from knowledge developed by students of the previous years and also contribute with own new findings.

The Hansa Nova project has been closely followed by an external evaluator, based upon the evaluation prin- ciples presented in the next section.

4. Evaluation of the Hansa Nova project

The evaluation of the Hansa Nova project is carried out in three phases, which are 1. Evaluation of the Module draft

2. Evaluation of the piloting

3. Evaluation of the implementation

Phases 1 and 2 were carried out in spring 2006 and fall 2007, and the third phase will happen in spring 2008. This article focuses on the second evaluation and also discusses the role of European Qualifications Frame- works (EQF) as a reference point for evaluation.

The European Qualifications Framework (EQF) is closely linked to the Bologna Process which aims at creating a European Higher Education Area. It is intended to become a meta-framework, which enables various na- tional and sectoral frameworks and systems to relate and communicate to another. The European Qualifica- tions Frameworks consist of 8 levels of vocational education. They are closely connected to the ‘Dublin de- scriptors’, which were adopted within the Bologna process for coordination of higher education, and they have contributed to the 4 highest levels of the EQF. Actually, the three highest levels of EQF cover the three cycles of tertiary education as they are defined in the Bologna Process Documents.

According to the working document of the Commission, EQF would establish a common reference point- referring to learning outcomes and levels of competence and it would function as a common reference for quality assurance and development in education and training. The term “qualification” denotes here an act where some competent body determines that an individual's learning has reached a specified standard of knowledge, skills and wider competences. Qualifications at each level in EQF are described in terms of three types of learning outcomes:

• knowledge; • skills; and

• wider competences described as personal and professional outcomes.

All these items are competences of their own type. According to the document, “competence” may be i) an ability to the use of theory and concepts, as well as informal tacit knowledge gained experientially; ii) a thing that a person should be able to do when they are functioning in a given area of work, learning or social activity; iii) personal competence involving knowing how to conduct oneself in a specific situation; and iv) ethical competence involving the possession of certain personal and professional values.

The Hansa Nova project experimented with EQF as a tool for evaluation for a curriculum development pro- ject. EQF was chosen because it offers a transnational framework for the standards of tertiary education. On the other hand, its definitions are of a very general level. Due to this, it is difficult to develop analytical tools, like measuring instruments. The evaluation of the Hansa Nova project has been a kind of first step to- wards this target, but there is still a lot of work to do.

In Hansa Nova, the piloting of the module was carried out in two Lithuanian higher education institutions: in Vilnius University (Department of Management, Faculty of Economics) and Vilnius College in Higher Education (Degree program of Tourism, Faculty of Business management). The main aim of the evaluation was to assess whether the module meets the learning targets stated in project application and also meets the standards of higher education stated in the EQF. Due to this, the web survey consisted of three sets of questions: first a group of ten questions which were based on the learning targets of Hansa Nova, then ten questions which were designed to measure the learning targets of the European Qualifications Framework (EQF) for bachelor level and finally ten questions which measured the learning targets of EQF for master-level.

In addition to the web-survey, the external evaluator used two other sources of information: student group discussions and teacher interviews. The evaluator also got the presentations made by the international stu- dents at Vilnius University. Three different sources were used, because it was expected that web-surveys only give information about topics that the evaluator wants to ask, whereas the more spontaneous group discussions may focus attention on topics that the students themselves consider essential. In other words, the student discussions and teacher interviews contributed to the evaluation in two ways: first, they gave a richer picture of the strengths and potential weaknesses of the module. In addition, they gave some informa- tion about the intern validity of the web-survey. The group discussions succeeded quite well. The evaluator got reports from eleven discussions: ten from Vilnius College and one from Vilnius University. The web-survey suffered from a low percentage of responses, only 48% of the participants filled in the survey form.

All the three sources of information gave a positive assessment about Hansa Nova. The student discussions and teacher interviews gave the impression that Hansa Nova was considered to be good, useful and interest- ing. The student discussion groups and the teachers considered that Hansa Nova well meets the standards of

level. They also stated that Hansa Nova met the requirements of Bachelor level jobs, but perhaps not of mas- ter level tasks. In addition, there were some criticism about the language and lay-out.

As stated above, the Web-survey consisted of three types of questions:

1. Does Hansa Nova meet its own learning targets, stated in the project application?

2. Does Hans Nova meet the bachelor level standards of the European Qualifications Framework? 3. Does Hansa Nova meet the master level standards of the European Qualifications Framework?

The students got 30 statements, which they commented by setting a mark to a line with left end meaning “totally disagree” and right end meaning “fully agree” (See attachment 6). The survey program changed these answers to a numerical scale with 0 = “completely disagree” and 100 = “completely agree”. Table 1 presents the averages of each statement. As it was mentioned above, in EQF the competences have been divided in three groups, which are 1) knowledge, 2) skills and 3) wider competences described as personal and professional outcomes. This categorization is a bit difficult to use as a basis of analysis, because some areas of learning – like principles of accounting or the basics of business ethics – are difficult to categorize by using these three groups of competences. Due to this, the statements were typified according whether they measure 1) the student's assessment about his/her knowledge and understanding; 2) analytical skills and in- dependent learning skills or 3) other skills, motivation and commitment.

Table 2. Students’ assessment about the impact of Hansa Nova , statements grouped according to Hansa Nova learning targets and European Qualification Framework criteria (0 = completely disagree ... 100 completely agree) Average, bachelor level students Average, master level students Average, total

Statements about Hansa Nova learning

targets 71,8 60,1 68,5

Statements about EQF Bachelor standards 70,1 67,4 69.4

Table 3. Students’ assessment about the impact of Hansa Nova , statements grouped according to learning targets (0 = completely disagree ... 100 completely agree)

Bachelor level

students

Master level students

Total Statements about knowledge and

understanding 75,6 65,2 72,5

Statements about analytical skills,

independent learning 66,9 64,5 66,1

Statements about other skills, motivation,

commitment 68,0 61,1 65,9

According to the results of the WEB survey, the reception of Hansa Nova was quite positive and all the state- ments were assessed quite equally – none of them was totally rejected nor fully agreed. It appears that the web-survey revealed two topics quite clearly. First, it gave the indication that the Hansa Nova Module suits better for the end phase of bachelor level than to the master level. Usually bachelor level students gave more positive responses than master level students. In addition, statements about how Hansa Nova met the EQF master level standards were not assessed as positive as other statements. This opinion was expressed also in student discussions and in teacher interviews.

Second, it the web-survey pointed out that the piloting courses contributed more to the knowledge and un- derstanding of foreign cultures and in a smaller extent to analytical skills and other skills, motivation and commitment. The main reason for this is obviously the fact that the piloting modules consisted mainly in lec- tures, reading and short presentations. This type of studies may contribute to knowledge and understanding, but analytical skill, commitment to work and other similar competencies may need more time to develop.

5. Conclusion

The article described innovative e-learning models for international university-business collaboration pro- jects. A pedagogical model (INTERN) has been developed for integrating internationalization, use of ICTs and close contacts to business life in traditional pedagogical settings. In the HANSA NOVA project, this model was further developed to integrate case study research as a way to learn from Trans-Baltic companies. Based upon the research findings, a European Module has been developed on the topic “Managing a multicultural workforce in the Baltic Sea Region”. During the development process, EQF-criteria have been applied for the evaluation activities. Using EQF for e-learning projects is a piloting that has given the project partners valu- able experience for developing the Module further. This process of applying EQF for evaluation is now also under further development.

References:

Edwards, T. & Rees, C. (2006). International human resource management. Globalization, national systems and multinational companies. Harlow: Prentice Hall.

European Comission (2008). Official website on Education and Training.

http://ec.europa.eu/education/policies/lll/life/what_islll_en.html

Intern management group (2002 a). Virtual Internships: real experience in a virtual world -a best practice handbook for those interested in the concept of virtual internships in business education. Odense: Tietgen Business College, Denmark

Intern management group (2002 b). Intern evaluation report. Odense: Tietgen Business College, Denmark. Intern management group (2002 c). Intern research report. Odense: Tietgen Business College, Denmark. Kristensen, R & Källström, E & Svenkerud,J. (2007). Virtual Internships for international cooperation: experi- ences of learning, teaching and networking. In Palfreyman, D & McBride, L (Eds,), Learning and teaching across cultures in higher education. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

Nonaka, I. & Umemoto, K. & Sasaki, K. (1998). Three tales of knowledge-creating companies. In G. von Krogh, J. Roos and D. Klein (Eds.), Knowing in firms. Understanding, managing and measuring knowledge. London: Sage Publications

Raelin, J (1997). A model of work-based learning. Organization Science. Vol.8. No.6. November-December. Slotte, V. & Tynjälä, P. (2003). Industry-university collaboration for continuing professional development. Journal of Education and Work. Vol. 16, No. 4, pp. 445-464.

Undervisningsministeriet, Danmark (2005). Det Nationale Kompetenceregnskab – hovedrapport.

http://pub.uvm.dk/2005/NKRrapport/

Wenger, E & McDermott, R & Snyder, W. (2002) Cultivating communities of practice. A guide to managing knowledge. Harvard Business School Press