Teachers that want to offer a MOOC for Credits in the Virtual Exchange

What is the Home institution?

The home institution is the higher education institute at which a student is officially enrolled as a degree candidate.

What is the Host institution?

The host institution refers to the higher education institute that has agreed to receive students from the Home Institution to follow an online course and undertake an assessment as credit-earning, non-degree students.

Can we offer any course in the Virtual exchange for credits?

The institution’s online course offered must also be offered to the institution’s own students for credits. This means that the MOOC or its’ on-campus equivalent must appear in the study plan. In order to be part of the Virtual Exchange the online courses must be assessed under regular academic conditions (i.e. proctored).

How much extra time and effort does it take?

One of the basic principles of the Virtual Exchange is modest effort. This means that ideally we should use the (online) courses that we have developed already. So we assume that no extra development efforts are needed. With respect to student monitoring, communication, exam preparation and grading we feel that only minimal extra effort is involved. Virtual students need to receive their information on time, and maybe need a little extra guidance every now and then because they are remote and come from a different institution with different processes and procedures. Many universities keep to the rule of accepting only 10% extra virtual exchange students in the course to keep the extra effort manageable.

Who is responsible for the exam?

The teacher who is responsible for the course develops the exam for the whole course. Assessment method and assessment regulations are up to the Host institution. If the exam is a written exam, it will be sent to the home universities of the registered Virtual Students. The Virtual students will take the exam at the same time and under the same conditions as your students at your own university, but in their own university. After the exam session, student work will be sent to the course teacher who will grade the exam. Official transcripts are then sent to the virtual students and their home university. The Home institution grants credit for courses and assessment completed at the Host institution in accordance with the Home institutions policies and procedures.

What are the benefits for me to offer my course to Virtual Students?

If you offer your course to the students in the Virtual Exchange, you can reach out to international .

Is the list of partners and courses likely to change?

The Virtual Exchange Programme is a ground-breaking pilot developed by a group of world-class partners which commenced as a pilot in 2017. It is expected that more universities and more courses will be offered as the pilot progresses. The pilot is running until 2019, and you could take a Virtual Exchange Program course now and another in the next semester/year if you have space in your study schedule.

How long will the Virtual Exchange Program run for?

The Virtual Exchange Programme will be run as a pilot until 2019 and many partner universities are committed to participating for the full period.