The online courses are meant as additions to the courses, accredited by the Partner Universities. They are developed by author teams from the EU universities participating in the project after detailed discussions with the teaching and authoring teams from the four Asian partners. The courses focus on basic knowledge / skills and can be used to introduce the students from China and India to the relevant topic, providing some information before the actual course, or to motivate them to engage with the EU studies area. They can also be used by students from the EU universities. Each course is equivalent to 1,5 credits (15 academic hours) and consists of 5 units (3 academic hours each). The courses include built-in assessment tools – open-ended assignments and different types of tests. On successfully completing a course, students can download a certificate.
The online courses are integrated into the online system developed under D4.2. It provides a uniform educational medium across institutions with various academic traditions. It has built‐in functionalities for submitting different course assignments and collaboration on learning tasks for participants. It allows for deployment of an easy‐to‐use learning and assessment portfolio for the course participants.
The environment is available from the EURASIA project website; however, it is secure and access to it is granted after registration.
Based on the evaluation of the mass-use of the online courses with more than 1500 students from 42 countries in different parts of the world, the EURASIA consortium has come up with a consolidated module offer – the EURASIA Nanodegree in European Studies.