Parallel to the vision building process, the programme team has been busy with writing a project proposal for the EUR app. This proposal was formally approved on 21 June 2016.
One of the results of the Online Education tender (first round in 2014) is the ESL legal battle app. This is an educational app developed as a game that gives students the opportunity to test their knowledge in the field of law. The formative tests are challenging and informal and they take place without the involvement of a lecturer. App users can play individually or against other users and in doing so, they are unconsciously engaged in learning their subject matter. At the same time, students obtain insight into their own progress and it clarifies for them which subjects require more study. In light of the interest from different faculties, there is an intended plan to scale up the app to a university app. The current version of the ESL app is not stable enough and doesn’t offer sufficient options for other faculties to offer their faculty-specific content to students. To realise the Erasmus app, it is necessary to discard the existing prototype and develop a new app. The app is an enjoyable and accessible way for students to engage with their study materials and it is a suitable instrument for formative testing.
The primary objective is to use the app to make formative assessment independent of time and place. Additionally, there are a number of secondary objectives; the app aims to:
- make studying more enjoyable and challenging;
- activate students;
- support independent learning;
- create a repository of test items to promote the quality of test questions.
Moreover, the app can also be used to test knowledge in advance and to appropriately modify the content of lectures based on the level of knowledge of students. A content management system (CMS) will be provided to enable lecturers to view study progress per group and independently make new material available. The export of user data can be used for research. It is desirable for objective data research to also be conducted regarding the app’s user experience and effectiveness and an EUR-wide user population as opposed to a faculty-specific app is ideal for this purpose.
The app is under development in collaboration with various services and academics using an iterative process and fully in line with ‘smart working’ in the Innovation Lab. Project managers Farshida Zafar and Tamar van Heyningen (both D=N) are the connecting links between the lecturers, architects and the ITD department. At the faculties, the lecturers involved in the project will act as the coordinators (participating faculties are ESE, RSM, ESHCC, ESL, Erasmus MC, iBMG and FSW). They will receive guidance and support from the project managers. A link will be forged with the Digital Testing projects so that experiences can be shared. A connection will also be made with the DLWO Education project so that in due course, the battle app can be offered in the correct DLWO context. All partners have committed themselves to the project.
Interested lecturers can register by email at zafar@law.eur.nl.