I am extremely lucky to be able to coordinate a team of experts working together to develop online degree cross-studies in applied higher education. The group is part of eAMK project, a national project where all universities of applied sciences in Finland have joined forces to create a platform for year-round online course selection. The aim in the project is to develop online pedagogy and create quality online courses for flexible and accessible studies in applied higher education. The eAMK Online Degree group is working to share good practices and create a common understanding about online degree education at a national level.

So far the eAMK Online Degree group has two main results:

1. Recommendations for the use of the term ‘Online Degree’ in relation to ‘Part-time Studies’, as these are used differently at HEIs and there is a need for consistent and clear use of these terms (read the article in Finnish here – English translation to follow!)
2. Webinar Series for Planning and Implementing Online Degree studies, organised in collaboration with XAMK, TUAS and eAMK. The webinar series gives a practical tips and examples from different universities of applied sciences around Finland, and is the first of a kind for developing online degree education! See the full programme here (only in Finnish, sorry!)

The next step for developing national online degree education is to share my Pedagogical Model for Designing Online Degrees in Higher Education (PIMOD) based on my research results thus far, and co-design with the eAMK Online Degree working group the aspects that they see important in national cross-studies and online degree education. Can’t wait to see how the model develops with them!