How to Better Qualify ICT Graduates to Support Digital Education: A contribution from CALOHEE Tuning project qualifications framework

Abstract

The Information and Communications Technology subject area is a broad multidisciplinary field of academic research and professional practice covering many topics ranging from electronics to system and network administration, to software development, cyber security, VR, AR, IoT and AI. Due to its nature, it cooperates closely with diverse areas, most notably eLearning and digital education. As contemporary educational institutions undergo a digital transformation, by which its processes are reengineered to take most of the possibilities offered by the emerging technologies, the contribution of the ICT field has become transversal and consequently of critical importance. The term ICT which refers to this wide multidisciplinary field differentiates from IT, which applies specifically to the management and use of computer systems to store, retrieve, transmit, and manipulate data. The continuous expansion of the field to new territories of practice such as education is requiring additional knowledge, skills and wider competences acquisition. In addition, high volatility of the job market creates the need for very adaptable professional profiles. As a result, there is a pressure from the job market for shorter and more job-oriented programmes, but also for competence frameworks which may serve as references for quality higher education and training. In this paper we present the Tuning Quality Reference Framework (QRF) for ICT which was developed as part of the CALOHEE Erasmus+ funded project. A multidisciplinary team with experts from 12 different countries (Portugal, Lithuania, Germany, Italy, Spain, Austria, Belgium, Greece, Turkey, Finland, Ireland and Romania) took part in the task. The QRF is built in a way to flexibly address all the mentioned complexity and continuously emerging new requirements including educational institutions and non-formal education organisations. The approach used also supports innovation in learning, teaching and assessment practices in ICT degrees, fostering open and digital education.

Keywords

• ict
• elearning
• digital education
• open education
• technology-enhanced learning
• qualifications framework