VM-BASE – Virtual Mobility Before and After Student Exchanges
1 October 2006 – 30 September 2008 Summary
The VM-BASE project aimed to improve the quality of student exchanges by offering virtual support, both before, during and after the physical mobility. Virtual support was used to prepare and follow-up the mobile student, as a complement to the existing ‘physical’ exchange programmes. In this way, the project supported teachers in coaching exchange students at a distance (e-coaching). The project started with a study giving an overview of the state-of-the-art in virtual exchange support measures and a needs analysis, making an inventory of student and teacher needs. The major activity of the project consisted of several pilots focusing on the orientation and selection of students, preliminary courses for students preparing for a physical exchange and examination facilities at the end or even after the exchange. Next to the pilots the need and feasibility of a Virtual Alumni Association for Erasmus students was being investigated. The VM-BASE project ended September 2008. All project results are collected in two best-practice manuals titled ‘Home & Away. Coaching exchange students from a distance’: the first one containing concrete guidelines and recommendations for blended mobility activities, the second one focusing on good practices in e-coaching. Both manuals, as well as the summary booklets in English, Dutch, Finnish, Estonian and Hungarian can be downloaded at the VM-BASE website.
Project partners:
EuroPACE ivzw (BE) Katholieke Universiteit Leuven - AVNet (BE) Katholieke Hogeschool Leuven (BE) Coimbra Group ASBL (BE) ESU – European Students’ Union (BE) University of Tartu (EE) BEST - Board of European Students of Technology (FR) University of West Hungary - Faculty of Geoinformatics (HU) Helsinki University of Technology, TKK Dipoli (FI) Laurea University of Applied Sciences (FI) University of Edinburgh (UK)
Project website: http://vm-base.europace.org
Contact details: Ilse Op de Beeck, EuroPACE ivzw
Supported by the European Commission under the Socrates-Minerva Programme