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Managing the Process of International Collaboration in Online Course Development: A Case-Example Involving Higher Education Institutions in Ireland, Switzerland, Austria, and the United Kingdom

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Abstract

There has been significant growth recently in online learning and joint programmes of education involving collaborative partnerships between and among higher education institutions in different jurisdictions. Utilising an interdisciplinary team model (Care and Scanlan 2001), we describe in this article the process of collaboration among four European institutions in Austria, Ireland, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom in order to develop and deliver an accredited online course on the management of work-related stress for health and social care workers. This course was also one of the first to pilot a system of equivalency between two European vocational and higher education credit schemes to promote learner mobility and recognition of a new international qualification. Although this process of collaboration occurred within a pan-European context, important lessons may be drawn from this explanation that are of potential interest to the wider international audience.

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Acknowledgements

This article derives from the DELAROSE project, which is funded by the European Commission as a Leonardo de Vinci Transfer of Innovation Project under the Lifelong Learning Programme. This publication reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

Trudie Chalder acknowledges financial support from the Department of Health via the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Specialist Biomedical Research Centre for Mental Health award to South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust (SLaM) and the Institute of Psychiatry at King’s College London.

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Correspondence to Cathal Ryan.

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Ryan, C., Bergin, M., Titze, S. et al. Managing the Process of International Collaboration in Online Course Development: A Case-Example Involving Higher Education Institutions in Ireland, Switzerland, Austria, and the United Kingdom. Innov High Educ 42, 451–462 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10755-017-9399-6

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