ECCOE: Toward a Robust Solution for the Cross-Institutional Recognition and Validation of Prior Learning

Abstract

ECCOE, the European Credit Clearinghouse for Opening up Education, aims to facilitate the endorsement and appropriation of open, online and flexible higher education by increasing trust in technology-enabled credentials among students, higher education institutions (HEIs) and employers. To this end, the project is developing a complete solution in the form of the ECCOE-system, with publicly reviewed credential descriptors, Model Credit Recognition Agreements (MCRAs), an online catalogue of over 60 disciplinary and transversal modules, and a robust solution for technology-enabled credentials and a network of stakeholder users. In this paper the analysis and classification of existing prior learning agreements (at higher education institutions) is presented as a first step towards a generic recognition structure that subsumes all types of recognition and can form the basis for the MCRA template. The result of this work was the identification of four characteristics present in each type of recognition agreement: its type, the objective of applying it, the process steps that need to be followed, and constraints for a successful application.ECCOE, the European Credit Clearinghouse for Opening up Education, aims to facilitate the endorsement and appropriation of open, online and flexible higher education by increasing trust in technology-enabled credentials among students, higher education institutions (HEIs) and employers. To this end, the project is developing a complete solution in the form of the ECCOE-system, with publicly reviewed credential descriptors, Model Credit Recognition Agreements (MCRAs), an online catalogue of over 60 disciplinary and transversal modules, and a robust solution for technology-enabled credentials and a network of stakeholder users. In this paper the analysis and classification of existing prior learning agreements (at higher education institutions) is presented as a first step towards a generic recognition structure that subsumes all types of recognition and can form the basis for the MCRA template. The result of this work was the identification of four characteristics present in each type of recognition agreement: its type, the objective of applying it, the process steps that need to be followed, and constraints for a successful application.