Budapest, 12 February 1998

EUROPEAN TRAINING
FOUNDATION

The Phare Multi-Country Programme in Distance Education

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Course Module Development Projects

Contract No.: ETF/97/VET/0067

EUROPEAN LAW in the FIELDS OF TRADE AND SERVICES, LEGISLATION OF THE SINGLE MARKET, CONSUMER LAW

EUROLAW 10-MONTH progress REPORT

REPORTING PERIOD: 24.12.1997-31.12.1998

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KAUNAS UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY
DISTANCE EDUCATION STUDY CENTRE

LITHUANIA

Studentu 48A-221
LT-3028 KaunasLithuania
Tel.: +(370) 7 799798
Fax: +(370) 7 761746
Email: virga@soften.ktu.lt

Project co-ordinator: Danguole Rutkauskiene
Contact Person: Virginija Limanauskiene

LIST of Partners (including lead partner)

Partner	Status*	Organisation/Institution	Country
P1	LP	KAUNAS UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY DISTANCE EDUCATION STUDY CENTRE, KAUNAS	LITHUANIA
P2	P	Kaunas Business College, Kaunas	LITHUANIA
P3	P	TALLINN TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY, Tallinn	ESTONIA
P4	P	tALLINN PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY, TALLINN	ESTONIA
P5	P	LYNGBY BUSINESS COLLEGE, LYNGBY	DENMARK
P6	P	UNIVERSITY OF BATH, BATH	UK

15.01.1999 Kaunas
Danguole Rutkauskiene

Progress Report

1. General Project Progress Report

1.1 Project general schedule and milestones

Ref. No.	Project milestone	Date	Note
1	Contract signed:	11.12.97
2	Project duration (in months):	16
3	Project deadline:	22.04.99
4	Contract expiry:	01.07.99
5	Prototypes of course module(s) completed:	10.12.98
6	Pilot delivery start date:	12.12.98 12.02.99 23.02.99	English Lithuanian Estonia
7	Pilot delivery completed:	31.01.99 03.04.99 10.04.99	English Lithuanian Estonian
8	Pilot delivery evaluated:	17.04.99
9	Final version of course module(s) completed:	01.04.99
10	Final evaluation of project completed:	22.04.99
11	Final report submitted:	30.06.99

1.2 Summary of activities undertaken

Ref. No.	Activity Title (as given in the contract and/or Inception Report)	Partners involved	Start Date	Finish Date	Status
A1	Identification of user needs	P1,P2	01.01.98	30.01.98	F
A2	Kick-off meeting in Kaunas. A workshop on the technical distance education issues	P1,P2,P3,P4,P5,P6	18.02.98	20.02.98	F
A3	Preparation of course material.	P1,P2,P5,P6	10.03.98	30.10.98	F
A4	Development of prototype.	P1,P2,P3,P4,P6	22.04.98	10.12.89	F
A5	Design and test technical infrastructure.	P1,P2,P3,P4,P5,P6	01.05.98	30.08.98	F
A6	Seminar for course trainers (supporters) in Lyngby.	P1,P2,P3,P4,P5,P6	09.09.98	11.09.98	F
A7	Test prototype and improve course design	P1,P2,P3,P4	01.12.98	30.01.99	NF
A8	Mid-term meeting.	P1,P2,P3,P4,P5,P6	12.09.98	12.09.98	F
A9	Designing a Course Guideline.	P1,P5,P6	01.12.98	23.12.98	F
A10	Translating and publication	P1,P2,P3,P4	06.11.98	30.01.99	NF
A11	Running pilot course module in Kaunas and Tallinn Universities.	P1,P3,P4	12.12.98	10.04.99	NF
A12	Running pilot course module in Kaunas Business college.	P2	12.02.99	03.04.99	NS
A13	Collect and process DE module evaluation data.	P2	01.04.99	15.04.99	NS
A14	The final meeting	P1,P2,P3,P4,P5,P6	24.04.99	25.04.99	NS

1.3 Tasks completed and to-date achievements/outputs

Ref. No.	Tasks completed and to-date outputs/achievements	Date(s) of completion	Ref. No. of Activities
	The description of students’ and teachers’ needs. Requirements for course materials	30.01.98	A1
	EUROLAW Consortia Agreement. Project management structure, works contracts, plans, tasks specification	20.02.98	A2
	The final version of learning material (in English).	30.10.98	A3
	The final report on evaluation and quality control of EUROLAW legal contributions	04.11.98	A3
	Web-based course prototype (English version)	10.12.98	A4
	Prototype documentation	10.12.98	A4
	Technical infrastructure for distance course delivering	30.08.98	A5
	Ten course supporters (teachers) were trained in seminar in Lyngby	11.09.98	A6
	Plans for further activities. Mid-term meeting issues.	12.09.98	A8
	Pilot delivery schedule	01.12.98	A11, A12
	Tested and improved course in English.	23.12.98	A7
	Learner’s guide, Tutor’s guide in English.	23.12.98	A9
	Administrator’s guide in English	23.12.98	A9
	Face-to-face tutorials scenario in Lithuanian	10.12.98	A11

1.4 Changes in the project plans

a) Meeting modification

Mid-term meeting was planed in Tallinn in September. But training seminar for course tutors (teachers) in Lyngby was planned in September too. Members of Steering Committee were tutors or Lyngby seminar lectures. Therefore Steering Committee decided to save money and time and arranged EUROLAW project mid-term meeting in Lyngby in 12 September 1998. Money for final meeting arrangement in Kaunas was not planned in project ( mistake in project budget).

In this reason mid-term meeting in Tallinn in September 1998 was changed to final meeting in April 1999 in Tallinn. We saved money planed for travel to Kaunas.

b) Travel modification

Travel London -Kaunas (to final meeting in Kaunas) was changed to travel to management seminar Budapest- Kaunas

Travel Lyngby -Kaunas (to final meeting in Kaunas ) was changed to travel to management seminar Budapest- Kaunas

Travel Tallinn- Kaunas ( TTU and TPU budget ) will be changed to travel Kaunas- Tallinn for additional persons.

1.5 Changes in partnership and/or partner roles and responsibilities

Collaboration in the first stage of the project was not satisfactory.

The members of Steering Committee and staff involved in the project delayed with answers to the messages. There were a lot of misunderstandings in the field of inter-communication. Co-ordination problem solution: The partners have decided that everyone of staff must send a carbon copy (Cc:) of each correspondence to the project co-ordinator of the one’s country.The documents related to the project and required to share out were presented in project home page for downloading.

Staff delayed with the reports and outputs. Problem solution: The payment of honorarium is not automatic. Payments are due for works and when the works have been satisfactory performed. The payments are paid only after approval planed results by authors manager and law expert or prototype developers manager and distance education expert .The payment schedule were prepared.

1.6 Tasks to be completed in the remaining duration of the project

Ref. No.	Tasks to be completed and outputs /achievements planned	Date(s) of completion	Ref. No. of Activities
	Pilot delivery ( in English) in Kaunas University of Technology	31.03.98	A11
	Learning materials, Learner’s guide, Tutor’s Guide in Lithuanian. Lithuanian web-based course.	30.01.99	A10
	Learning materials, Learner’s guide, Tutor’s guide in Estonian language. Estonian web-based course module.	30.01.99	A10
	Pilot delivery (in Estonian) in Tallinn Technical University	10.04.99	A11
	Pilot delivery (in Estonian) in Tallinn University of Educational Sciences	10.04.99	A11
	Pilot delivery (in Lithuanian) in Kaunas Business College	03.04.99	A12
	Modules evaluation forms and gathered data. Conclusions	22.04.99	A13
	The final meeting issues. A final report. The plan of further collaboration of partners and future course dissemination . The final financial report.	25.04.99	A14

1.7 Problems encountered

The idea about co-operation of three partner institutions in prototype development was not realy good. It was very difficult to co-ordinate the programming work in separate teams: there were the differencies in the infrastructure of the institutions, the guidance and activity was not effective.

2. Course curriculum

2.1 Detailed breakdown of course content and curriculum

Ref. No.	Course module /section title	Equivalent No. of study hours	Prototype completed	Pilot Delivery started	Pilot delivery completed	Final version completed
M1	European law in the fields of trade and services, legislation of the single market, consumer law.	64	15.02.99	12.12.98	10.04.99	22.04.99

2.2 Detailed breakdown of course materials and other teaching and learning tools

Ref. No.

Material title/name

Medium

Quantity
/duration and
other details

Language

Ref. No. of Module(s)

Dateof Completion

Learner’s guide
PR-LG

6 pages

UK,

LT,

EE

M1

11.12.98

30.01.99

15.02.99

Tutor’s guide
PR-TG

12 pages

UK,

LT,

EE

M1

11.12.98

30.01.99

15.02.99

Administrator’s guide
PR-TG

15 pages

UK,

LT,

EE

M1

11.12.98

30.01.99

15.02.99

Face-to-face tutorials scenario
O

2 pages

UK,

LT,EE

M1

11.12.98

Web site/European Law
WP

elinara.ktu.lt
/~eldev

UK

M1

11.12.99

3. Course Pilot Delivery Status or Plan

3.1 Pilot delivery detailed breakdown

The following organisations / institutions will be directly and actively involved in the Pilot Delivery (please give English name of each organisation and the country)

Faculty of Administration Kaunas University of Technology, Lithuania

Kaunas Business College, Lithuania

Tallinn University of Educational Sciences, Estonia

Pilot Delivery will directly and actively involve these regional Phare Distance Education Centres (ODL Centres) (please give English name of each organisation and the country)

Kaunas University of Technology Distance Education Study Centre, Lithuania

Tallinn University of Educational Sciences Distance Education Study Centre, Estonia

Tallinn Technical University Distance Education Study Centre, Estonia

Media to be used in the Pilot Delivery

Web pages

Printed learner and tutor guide

Face-to face tutorials

Number of students to participate in the Pilot Delivery (where relevant please specify the number for each country)

40 Lithuania

44 Estonia

Number of teachers/tutors to participate in the Pilot Delivery (where relevant please specify the number for each country)

6 Lithuania

2 Estonia

3.2 Study hours at a distance and face-to-face

% of total number of study hours to be taken at a distance 80

% of total number of study hours to be taken in face-to-face mode 20

3.3 Learner Assessment

Will there be a formal assessment of each learner’s performance? Please indicate ‘Yes’ or ‘No’. If yes, please fill in the following table Yes

Yes/No

How many during the course?

Must the students submit written assignments?
No

Can they submit written assignments electronically (e-mail)?
Yes

Do the students have access to (on-line) self-assessment tests as part of a Web learning environment?
Yes

Are there local written examinations?
Yes
1 (at KTU)

Will there be local oral examinations?
No

Please describe shortly other types of assessment procedures not covered by the above. Students have pass four tests [and final test-examination (at KBC)].

3.4 Accreditation/certification arrangements

a)

Type of course Yes/No No. of study hours

Non-formal short continuing education course (less than 30 study hours) No

Non-formal medium-length continuing education course (between 30 and 60 study hours) Yes- KBC 60

Non-formal long continuing education course (more than 60 study hours) No

Formal (accredited) further vocational or continuing education course outside the higher education sector No

Formal (accredited) higher education course (part of a degree programme) Yes KTU,KBC 64

Other – please describe shortly

b)

Type of accreditation
/certification

Yes/No

Accreditation providing
/Certificate Issuing Authorities/Organisations
/Institutions

Course developed by the project is not formally accredited No

Course developed by the project is formally accredited as a continuing/higher education course (or part of such course) Yes 1. Study Programmes Committee of Kaunas University of Technology/ Kaunas University of Technology;
2. Experts of Higher Education Department at the Ministry of Education and Science Republic of Lithuania/Kaunas Business College

Institution providing the course and certifying participants of the course is formally accredited Yes Ministry of Education and Science Republic of Lithuania

Non-formal certificate solely confirming participation in the course is issued. No

Non-formal certificate confirming active and successful completion of the course is issued Yes 1. Certificate of Kaunas Distance Education Study Centre
2.Certificate of Kaunas Business College /Kaunas Business College (course for officials of the municipal government and staff of enterprises)

Formal certificate confirming the learner’s successful assessment and recorded credits is issued. No

3.5 Quality assurance

List of formal documents defining the quality assurance and the process of the course delivery will be applied:

Study Programme Committees of Kaunas University of Technology Statute, Lithuania.

Course modules accreditation regulations of Kaunas University of Technology, Lithuania .

List of documents defining the quality assurance and the process of the course delivery will be developed:

A distance education course (web site) quality evaluation manual.

The final report on evaluation and quality control of EUROLAW legal contributions, prepared by law expert P.Veltze.

EUROLAW course development quality assurance instructions: authors’ manager and law expert evaluates the quality of learning material, prototype developers’ manager and distance education expert evaluates the quality of prototype.

4. Explanation of comments and observations on the 6-month progress report

The Agreement of Mutual Understanding describes the co-operation between EUROLI and EUROLAW projects. Distance Education Centre of Kaunas University of Technology , partner of both EUROLAW and EUROLI project, co-ordinates the exchange of information and collaboration.

Co-operation with the project EUROLI is implemented through the staff involved. The EUROLAW distance education expert takes part in EUROLI project as staff. She makes the acquaintance of EUROLAW learning material and EUROLI material. The translators of English material to Lithuanian language will work together in finding identical definitions of key words.

Overlapping of EUROLI and EUROLAW materials is avoided:

The project EUROLI learning materials are concentrated on European Community history, institutions and general principles of the law;

the project EUROLAW learning materials include the studies of European Community legislation of Internal market, consumer protection policy, international law in the field of commerce.

The media and technologies used for the courses delivery in the EUROLI and EUROLAW projects are different.

Information on activities in possible involvement of Phare distance education centres as potential centres of the course dissemination.

There are possible two kinds of the involvement of Phare distance education centres in dissemination of the European Law distance education course:

Phare distance education centre is service ( computer mediated communication) provider for student which study European law distance education course delivered by the course owners (EUROLAW Consortia members). In this case course web site (virtual web building) is allocated on server elinara.ktu.lt ( Distance Education Centre of Kaunas University of Technology) or server in Tallinn. Tutor is staff of distance education centre of Kaunas or Tallinn.

Commercial version of the course virtual web building software is installed in one of Phare distance education centre. This centre arranges the course accreditation according this country regulations and delivers course .

EUROLAW team is prepared for both cases of the distance education course European law delivery.

Information about distance education course “European Law in the Fields of Trade and Services, Legislation of the Single Market, Consumer Law” in the Course catalog of the PHARE Multy-Country Programme for Distance Education: Follow- Up Phase ( 1997-1999) was prepared.

The distance education study centres of Kaunas and Tallinn universities will advertise the distance education course European Law over the Internet and letters.
5. Any other information relevant for the assessment of project progress and future plans

Project European law expert Peter Veltze approved the quality level of the learning material prepared. He wrote in his “The final report on evaluation and quality control of EUROLAW legal contributions” that the materials are in full conformity with the Terms of Reference and any other requirements for the contributions.