CEPHEI standards

Handbook Building a comunity of digital learners in university, industry and society is available for download in English and in Russian.

Content of handbook

Chapter One - Introduction

Chapter Two - The Four Elements of CEPHEI Project

Chapter Three - Recommendations for CEPHEI Courses

Chapter Four - Identifying Suitable Courses for the CEPHEI Learning Platform

Chapter Five - Andragogical Underpinnings for CEPHEI Courses

Chapter Six - Course Design

Chapter Seven - Advice for Creating Videos

Chapter Eight - Technology for Creating Videos

Chapter Nine - Assuring Course Quality

Glossary

1.1 Welcome to CEPHEI

Welcome to the CEPHEI project and welcome to the opportunity to broaden your knowledge about digital learning and industry-linked cooperative projects. At the heart of the CEPHEI project is the learning platform, which host master’s degree level courses (individual educational components), company courses, and online courses specializing in innovations in industry hosted by a consortium of partner universities. The CEPHEI learning platform offers industrial innovation courses to university students, companies, and the general public. It uniquely combines a digital learning educational approach with direct links to industry with the aim of educating the innovative leaders of tomorrow, solving current industry problems, providing freemium education to the general public, and creating a talent pipeline between university students and potential employers.

1.2 CEPHEI Aim

Universities currently face two challenges that are big opportunities at the same time. One is the digitalization and communication paradigm. Students are digital natives and use technologies all the time. However, most universities practise the traditional pattern of teaching. In response to their needs, universities need to adapt learning to millennials. Another challenge is the necessity to link education with practice, and integrate the reality of professional innovation activities to the context of education according to the demands of industry. Thus, the best university of tomorrow is one that is able to orchestrate a wide diversity in the supply of teaching materials and project-based learning in international and multidisciplinary teams in order to meet the real needs of industry and society. By project-based learning, we mean including projects which involve students gaining knowledge and skills by working for an extended period of time during which they investigate and respond to an authentic, challenging, and engaging problem. The CEPHEI project aims to meet these challenges through its learning platform for Industrial Innovation. Through the CEPHEI learning platform, we combine contemporary educational approaches with the latest technologies, connect universities with industries, integrate the reality of professional innovation activities into the context of education according to the demands of industry, increase the visibility of industrial innovations on a worldwide scale, provide contemporary education in innovations to students, create an employment pipeline between these students and industries, and provide free educational resources online to the general public through a freemium model. 

1.3 CEPHEI Stakeholders

There are a number of stakeholders in the CEPHEI project: companies that need international training/retraining on how to innovate; industries that have problems they wish to be solved; instructors and institutions who want to teach digitally and need support, or who want to teach internationally for industry and with industry; innovation degree programme directors who are open to digitalization and internationalization of courses; and learners who wish to learn innovation-related information, both digitally and internationally.

1.4 CEPHEI Courses

Three types of course are available for three groups of stakeholders: Master’s degree level university accredited courses are available for students who register for the courses through their own institution, these are blended and consist of a self-contained online element supported by face-to-face or virtual instruction and a practical, term project on site at a partner university; through a freemium model, any member of the public can sign up for the online component of each course, free of charge; blended or fully online courses are designed with and for companies to provide in-house training for their employees - these courses may be fully online or follow a blended model with some face-to-face teaching taking place on site at the company. There are also three types of pacing for the courses: self-paced; instructor-paced; instructor-paced and available to others.

1.5 CEPHEI Credentials

Various credentials are available depending on the type of course taken: European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) credits are provided to university students who take the course via their institution; micro-credentials/digital badges are available for members of the public who complete the fully online courses (while course content is free of charge, participants are required to pay a fee to access their digital badge; micro-credentials/certification are provided to participants who complete the course via their companies (these credentials/certificates are developed in line with the requirements of each company regarding the learning expectations they have for their employees).

1.6 CEPHEI Stages

CEPHEI went through the following stages to develop the platform.

1. Digital learning course elements were identified and recommendations made, a glossary was written, and course design templates were created. 
2. A consortium learning platform was identified and purchased to host the open education industrial innovation courses.
3. Digital learning labs (B-Labs) were designed and built at the partner universities. 
4. Partner universities worked together to identify, benchmark, coordinate and synchronize the requirements for, and contents of, industrial innovation courses. 
5. Partner universities connected with companies to participate in the course design, learning, and teaching. 
6. Partner universities designed their innovations in industry courses. 
7. The courses were uploaded to the CEPHEI learning platform and assessed for quality. 
8. The CEPHEI learning platform was launched to universities, industries, and the general public.

The ultimate aim of the CEPHEI project is to transform at least 50% of existing master’s level industrial innovation programmes at partner universities into digital courses on the CEPHEI learning platform. CEPHEI also aims to include at least 100 industry and business partners. 

1.7 CEPHEI Results

The results of the CEPHEI Project are the development of:

• The CEPHEI educational model for cooperation between academia and enterprise in the field of industrial innovation;
• The CEPHEI course design approach which puts the authentic needs of industries at the heart of course design;
• The CEPHEI course design model, which follows recommendations developed by experts in the field of digital learning design and innovations in industry;
• The CEPHEI B-Lab design for recording and editing labs;
• The CEPHEI learning platform for Industrial Innovation.

1.8 CEPHEI Customer Management System and Learning Management System

At the heart of the CEPHEI Project lies the learning platform where the courses on innovations in industry are hosted, and can be accessed by learners, instructors and institutions and industries (Figure 1).

1. The first contact users have with CEPHEI is through the customer management system (CMS), Webhare. The CMS provides information about the CEPHEI project, contains a contact link for industries wishing to work with CEPHEI, and gives information to the general public wishing to access the courses. The CMS has a front end for users (the public), https://www.cephei.eu/en/. It also has a back end where course information is uploaded by instructors. The host page on the CMS has information about the CEPHEI project, a gallery of courses, news and contacts. From the host page, you can click on a course which takes you to the course landing page which has more detailed information about each course.
2. From the CEPHEI CMS, visitors are taken to the CEPHEI learning management system (LMS), Open edX. On this page, each of the innovations in industry courses can be accessed. Bespoke courses designed for companies are also hosted here. Members of the general public can access the fully online component of these courses here. The LMS has a front end for users (the public), and a back end where course information is uploaded via Studio  https://studio.edunext.co.
3. To give access to their students, universities using CEPHEI courses will embed a link to the CEPHEI CMS into their own institutional learning management systems. Course policies and materials specific to each institution are hosted on the institution’s own LMS.

1.9 CEPHEI Handbook

This handbook has been written to support instructors and institutions wishing to join the CEPHEI project. It has been designed to enhance your skills in identifying, developing, implementing, and quality assuring master’s degree level digital courses in innovations in industry for the CEPHEI learning platform. The handbook includes: an overview of the CEPHEI Project; the four elements of the CEPHEI Project; recommendations for CEPHEI courses; how to identify suitable courses; the andragogical underpinnings of CEPHEI courses; an overview of course design; information on how to create videos; technologies for creating videos; and a framework for assuring the quality of your CEPHEI courses.

Figure 1: CEPHEI Technological Infrastructure