Finnish Virtual University

The Finnish Virtual University (FVU) describes itself as a partnership of all 21 Finnish universities.

It supports and develops collaboration among universities in the utilization of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in teaching and studying. As a consortium it develops information network -based training and educational services for the shared use of its member universities.

See http://www.virtuaaliyliopisto.fi/?node=vy_front_page_eng.

Partnership of universities

The Finnish Virtual University (FVU) is a partnership of all Finnish universities. Its goal is to support and develop collaboration among universities in the utilization of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in teaching and studying. As a Consortium, it develops information network –based training and educational services for the shared use of its member universities. The Finnish Virtual University is not an online or distance education university and it does not provide university education. For online or distance education one has to enrol in one of the FVU member universities.

In the FVU framework, universities participate in the national collaboration, and in addition, each member university has a special unit to promote and support online learning and teaching locally. These units may be educational technology centers, learning centers or other locally relevant units. The FVU Service Unit implements the targets and tasks set by the Advisory Board and the Executive Board of the FVU consortium. Its operations are steered by the Executive Board. The Service Unit operates as an independent institute under the Helsinki University of Technology in 2007-2012.

The operations of the Finnish Virtual University are based on an Agreement establishing the Consortium of the Finnish Virtual University (FVU) signed by all Finnish Universities in January 2001, on an Agreement signed in November 2006 on the revision of the Rules and Regulations of the FVU Consortium and the establishment of the FVU Service Unit as an independent institute, as well as on the strategy approved by the Annual Consortium Assembly in March 2005. The Finnish Virtual University has special experience in the following areas:

1. Promoting student mobility: negotiating a nation-wide agreement on flexible study rights, providing online information services
2. Quality assurance in online education: developing tools and systems
3. Online learning materials and learning objectives: developing functional exchange systems
4. Teacher training in ICT: courses for university staff and local experts at universities
5. Web tools for planning and evaluating online education

The ideas and experience generated by the FVU are instrumental in the development of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA). The two prerequisites of EHEA, the two-tier degree structure and the ECTS-based system, were adopted by the FVU member universities in August 2005. To gain experience and to meet the other prerequisites of EHEA, the FVU is also involved in more than 40 national virtual university projects (2006) and several EU eLearning projects. Additionally, the Finnish (FVU) and Bavarian (VHB) Virtual Universities signed a Cooperative Agreement on the exchange of their member universities’ online courses and online learning materials in 2006.

Since the establishment of the FVU operations on a permanent basis as of 2007, the universities took on more responsibility for funding the operations. Part of the FVU operations are financed through a consortium fee, which member universities contribute to in relation to their staff and student numbers. Moreover, a number of development projects to implement the strategy are still operated with project funding awarded by the Ministry of Education grounded in the performance contracts between the Ministry of Education and the FVU member universities. The Ministry of Education also supported the startup of the Service Unit with information society program funding. The virtual university support units within universities are financed with budget funding from the universities.

History

The idea of a national virtual university came from two directions: from the universities themselves and from the Ministry of Education’s Strategy for Education and Research 2000 – 2004. Terms such as ‘virtual university’ and ‘online university’ started to pop up in the international and domestic university discussions at the end of 1990’s. At the same time, discussion begun about the globalization of educational markets and the European Higher Education Area. In Finland, the discussion swiftly crystallized into concrete proposals:

• At the 1998 term-opening ceremony of Helsinki University of Technology (TKK), rector Paavo Uronen brought up the idea of ‘Finland’s Online University’
• At the same time, the Minister of Education of that time, Olli-Pekka Heinonen, suggested that the committee preparing for the Information Strategy for Education and Research should include a proposal for a virtual university in the strategy. Such proposal was, in fact, included in the new information strategy for 2000 – 2004.
• In summer 1999, the Minister of Education Maija Rask set up an organization for implementing the strategy, including a working group on the virtual university.
• The working group prepared an implementation plan, according to which the development unit of the virtual university was established in 2000.

Based on the new strategy, the Ministry of Education financed a number of virtual university projects and activities in years 2001 – 2006, and the development of FVU during that time was, indeed, rapid:

2001: FVU Consortium Agreement is signed. 2003: Nation-wide Agreement on Flexible Study Rights is signed. 2004: Networks and ICT support units become part of everyday university life. Flexible Study Rights Service, JOOPAS, is launched. 2005: FVU Strategy for 2005 – 2010 is adopted. 2006: Cooperation Agreement between the Finnish Virtual University and the Bavarian Virtual University is signed. 2007: The FVU Service Unit starts operating as an independent institution of the Helsinki University of Technology, and the FVU cooperation among universities continues within the framework of the new consortium statutes.

In the implementation plan of the Information Strategy for Education and Research 2000 – 2004, there was also a mention about integrating polytechnics, companies and research institutes into the virtual university consortium. However, the polytechnics decided to launch their own ‘virtual university’ project at about the same time (2001), so the Finnish Virtual Polytechnic was set in motion.

Services for students, teachers and developers

The various FVU services are meant for both universities’ internal use and their shared used throughout the country. All services are available in Finnish, and some also in Swedish and/or English. The support services for ICT use and cooperation include:

• Local ICT support units in universities
• Training in educational ICT use
• Information pools for shared use
• Guidance for setting up networks and projects
• Communication and events

Online services for Finnish degree students consist of (1) online services for online studies, as well as of (2) counselling services on studies and learning skills. The online services for online studies include JOOPAS – Online Service for Flexible Study Rights and FVU Online Course Database – Database on online and multiform courses and flexible studies (JOO courses), whereas the counselling services on studies and learning skills include OVI, opintojen ohjaus – Tool for designing personal study plan and IQ Form – online tutoring system.

Online services for teachers include VerkkoVelho – Interactive guide for designing online courses, Softaräätäli – Educational technology selection tool, ARVO – Usability evaluation tool and OSKAR – Evaluation tool for staff ICT skills level. Developers’ online services, in turn, consist of Extranet – Materials and guidelines of nation-wide cooperative networks, Academic Forum – Interactive community forum, Strategy Service – Resources for developing universities’ strategies for educational use of ICT and Kokousympäristö – Meeting agendas and materials of FVU development operations.

Additionally, the Finnish Virtual University is one of the partners in the EU funded eLene-TLC – e-Learning network for Teaching and Learning Center project developing an online Teacher Training Center, which is a Europe-wide collaborative space for teachers, trainers, instructional designers and learners in educational ICT use to meet skills, needs and expectations of the Internet-generation students.

Quality assurance

(mainly sourced from: Finnish Virtual University, Quality to the Web and VOPLA)

The Finnish Virtual University and the Finnish Online University of Applied Sciences established the quality criteria for materials published on virtual university portals in 2005. The criteria cover both the quality assessment and the development of materials. The criteria are used in such content providing projects, which are carried out by collaboration of HEIs and which produce outcomes to be published on the aforementioned portals. Additionally, the quality criteria can be used by other online material producers, administrators, developers and external evaluators.

Before publishing any material on the FVU portal, it must be evaluated using these criteria. The purpose of the evaluation is to make sure that the material is informative, functional and easily available. High-quality material must also meet the legislative demands.

The quality criteria base on the quality criteria of public network services developed in the ‘Quality to the Web’ project carried out by the Ministry of Finance. Additionally, the criteria have been adapted and supplemented so that they are suitable for the evaluation of materials particularly published on the portals.

Another FVU project (2004 – 2007), funded by the Ministry of Education, was the Quality Management in e-Learning (VOPLA). The VOPLA project was a joint venture between three Finnish universities; University of Helsinki, University of Kuopio and Lappeenranta University of Technology. Its work was steered, monitored and evaluated by a steering group, consisting of members from the Ministry of Education, Finnish Higher Education Evaluation Council and the universities.

The VOPLA project aimed at developing materials and tools for e-learning quality improvement. Its goals were:

• to develop quality service,
• to support and enhance e-learning quality improvement in universities,
• to develop the expertise and commitment of staff in developing e-learning.

The Quality Manual (QM) for e-learning (available in Finnish) was one of the main outcomes of the project. The Quality Manual is a tool for developing quality in e-learning. It aims to give a wider perspective on quality management in e-learning by identifying contents and methods for quality management work. The main goal of the contents of the Quality Manual is to provide tools to enhance teaching and learning.

There are four quality handbooks in the Quality Manual: Handbook of Online Courses, Handbook of Online Resources, Handbook of Online Support and Handbook of Learning Organization. They all contain five aspects and three phases of e-learning quality management. The five aspects are: management, skills, resources, processes and evaluation. And the three phases are: describing the present state of e-learning, building up quality, and maintaining and developing.

The future of FVU

(mainly sourced from: Finnish Virtual University)

In November 2008, the Executive Board of Finnish Virtual University decided to set up a working group to plan for the future of FVU and its reorganization. The objective of the working group is to make a plan, how the Finnish Virtual University should operate in the future and how its current services should be organized from year 2010 onwards. The proposition will be discussed by the Advisory Committee of Finnish Virtual University in March 2009.

The Finnish Council of University Rectors (a co-operational organization for Finnish universities, founded in 1969) has also discussed the future of FVU as well as its funding in years 2010 – 2012. The Council sees that the current situation is not sustainable. However, functional services, such as JOOPAS, should be offered also in the future. Only the organization and the funding need to be changed.

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