eBac eLearning Platform
Luxembourg , 2005 to Ongoing
Compendium: Information and Communication Technology (ICT)
Background
The eBac is a blended distance eLearning platform which allows the eLearners to prepare for the baccalaureate online without being forced to attend classes at a specific time and specific place. Traditional presence classes are made available to eLearners but in order to allow them maximum flexibility such classes are optional. The baccalaureate itself takes place in a traditional school together with the students who attended presence classes. The eLearners receive exactly the same diploma as the traditional learners.
The motivation of the initiative
The drop-out rate for traditional evening classes is very high (about 90%) as it is very difficult for adults to combine studies, family and job. As presence learning showed its limits at this level, the Ministry of Education, in collaboration with mySchool!, decided to create the modular and blended-learning system of the eBac.
Participants
mySchool!, the pedagogical platform of the Ministry of Education in Luxembourg
Aims and targets
Objectives of the initiative
To create an eLearning platform that gives adults who dropped out of the traditional school system before the baccalaureate the possibility to take a BA in a blended learning structure with 25% presence learning and 75% distance learning.
Target group
Basically adults who left the traditional school system without a diploma. Due to the increasing interest of Luxembourg
Methods applied to reach the objective (technological and/or pedagogical)
Technically all the material of eLearning subjects is online and takes the shape of a website that can be accessed by the eLearners at any time and from any place. The websites are powered by the pedagogical platform mySchool!. The pedagogical needs are exactly the same as in a traditional school.
Strategy and actions
Level of implementation
At this moment some 80 eLearners are preparing for their baccalaureate and are therefore subscribed to the eBac.
Implementation
Implementation takes place at the traditional schools as an extra service and this is supplemented through a steering committee.
Monitoring and evaluation
Funding/Cost effectiveness
Budget
As the eBac depends on various departments, it is very difficult to give an exact amount for the budget.
Sustainability/Transferability
Outcomes/impacts
Achievements
Specific results
The most interesting thing is that some traditional schools have contacted the eBac steering committee to adopt the modular and far more flexible learning schema in their own school. Targeting the good students rather than the weak implies an opportunity to proceed faster and in a more autonomous and constructivism-orientated way.
Success factors
Lessons learnt
In blended adult learning, self-evaluation must be proposed but also has to stay optional. There is no reason for a strict stance since temporary students will drop out quickly and all the others who recognise the worth of their learning do not need watching over to do a serious job. The presence lessons are very important because eLearning without human contact leads to drop-out. Skype and VoIP form the core of efficient guidance of the eLearner by the eTeacher.
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