News 
The Digivisio 2030 project supports the development of uniform practices at higher education institutions. The newly published instructions help to harmonise recurring guidance elements on learning platforms. This improves the learning experience and supports teaching.
The Opin.fi service developed in Digivisio brings together all open study offerings of Finnish higher education institutions. Since each higher education institution implements the educational content found through the service in its own learning environments, students may encounter very different platforms. In order to ensure that the learner’s experience is as smooth as possible on the platforms of different higher education institutions, the Digivisio 2030 project also supports the development of uniform practices at higher education institutions.
Part of this work is a Digivisio project in which the South-Eastern Finland University of Applied Sciences and the University of Helsinki identified recurring guidance elements in online courses at higher education institutions. These were used as the basis for compiling instructions to help higher education institutions harmonise the structure of courses and thus improve the learner’s user experience.
Research shows that uniform structures support learning
According to studies, high-quality and uniform online environments support learning. Uniform learning environments allow the learner to focus on the actual educational content rather than on learning how to use the platform. Students appreciate education that follows a consistent and uniform structure. Clear course overviews and a logical learning path also reduce the likelihood of dropping out.
In addition to students, for example, teachers and education planners benefit from learning environments that have a uniform, transparent and consistent structure. Uniform structures improve accessibility and increase learner equality.
Ten elements that guide learners recur in online courses
A preliminary study on the opportunities for cooperation between higher education institutions on learning platforms performed earlier in the Digivisio project. It found that learning paths and objectives vary and that a completely uniform model cannot be created for all higher education institutions.
However, the implementations of higher education institutions often contain elements that are the same or similar. The follow-up work carried out in 2024 focused on more detailed identification of elements in which harmonisation could improve the learner’s experience.
The project identified ten key elements that guide learning:
- course introduction
- introduction of teachers
- information and communication
- schedule and performance instructions
- technical instructions and support services
- general study instructions
- progress monitoring
- dimensioning of materials
- ending the course
- open licensing of the learning content
Instructions help higher education institutions to harmonise guidance
Based on the identified elements, a set of instructions was compiled to provide practical examples and recommendations for harmonising those elements in different higher education institutions. The elements identified in the work are independent of the learning platform, which means that they can be utilised in different learning environments and in the manner chosen by the higher education institution.
The harmonisation of elements does not limit the pedagogical solutions available to the teacher. At best, uniform practices can free up time for planning the education and, for example, decrease the number of questions learners have about completing the course.
The instructions supplement Digivisio’s e-learning quality criteria and they are freely available to all higher education institutions.
You can find a summary of the guidelines in English below. The full guidelines are available in Finnish and Swedish on the e-learning quality criteria page:
Thank you to Digivisio co-implementers Jere Majava (University of Helsinki) and Matti Strengell (South-Eastern Finland University of Applied Sciences) for their valuable work on the project!