How to use the EQUIPE website
The Equipe website includes the basic documents about the project, the partners and the reports. More importantly it includes the results and outputs of the 3 year Equipe project network funded by Grundtvig4 (2003-5). These results together represent a toolkit for quality in university lifelong learning (ULLL) that is intended to facilitate the planning, implementation and evaluation of quality projects that pay special attention to the individualised learning pathways of adult learners in higher education. It is aimed at managers and practitioners in lifelong learning and is designed to be used by individuals working alone, or in a twinning arrangement with another individual or by local or transnational groups of staff working on a common issue of concern or of interest. It consists of a set of tools and a collection of resources. The tools can be used separately or linked together, on-line at a distance or in face-to-face workshop situations and are intended as mutual evaluation tools and activities. The resources can be used independently for information or in conjunction with the tools. Some of the tools and resources are linked and we plan to enhance and improve these links in the next 3 years though the Equipe plus network (2005-8).
RESOURCES - How to use the Equipe resources
There are 6 key sets of Equipe resources – case studies, articles, quality related websites, the EQUAL handbook, a list of experts and outputs from related projects.
- The case studies illustrate a wide range of approaches to quality enhancement. Some focus upon specific courses of study whilst others describe frameworks at institutional or departmental/centre level. Each case study is supported by a summary of its contents (short version).
- The articles provide expert insight into current thinking in the field and reflect on the experience of quality in university lifelong learning.
- Each of the web references is supplemented by a brief description which provides an overview of its contents, highlighting pages of specific relevance and interest.
- The EQUAL Quality Handbook is the output from the previous project which is formed the starting point for Equipe.
- The list of experts provides contact information and details of specific expertise for over 39 individuals representing 28 higher education institutions across Europe.
- Related projects is a connection to other realted quality projects.
A Key Theme has been allocated to some resources. These provide a useful tool in helping to identify materials and contacts relevant to individual areas of interest. The resources can be used by individuals to develop their knowledge and understanding of quality practices. They can also be used however to facilitate dialogue between institutions through, for example, one-to-one discussion or group conferencing.
TOOLS - How to use the Equipe tools
There are 3 main Equipe tools: the Quality Learning Tool, the Benchmarking Tool, and the Consultancy Tool. These tools offer an interactive learning environment that is designed to offer practitioners the opportunity to plan and carry out projects and activities to reflect on, improve, enhance and compare the quality of practice in university lifelong learning. The Quality Learning Tool is the most well developed of the tools and users can incorporate other tools and resources. All the tools can be used:
- by individual practitioners reflecting on their own practice or project
- in a twinning arrangement with another professional or another institution that facilitates peer-to-peer evaluation and development
- by a group of practitioners or institutions in a quality circle, this includes acting in a ‘virtual mutual evaluation visit’ in which members of the group ‘visit’ and are ‘visited by’ the others to focus on a particular aspect of quality.