Effective Utilisation of VLE with Joint Multinational Postgraduate Programme

E-Learning can be a sustainable and efficient approach to delivering a multinational postgraduate degree programme. This paper provides an overview of how a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) has been used jointly by an Irish university and a Saudi university to deliver the same Data Science masters postgraduate degree programme in both countries. Both universities recognise the importance of the application of theory via practical assignments and and continuous assessments are a key feature of the programme. Using the VLE, lecturers from both locations can share lesson materials, as well as a submission mechanism and rubrics for course assignments. This decreases the overheads involved in starting up a new programme, as well as providing a more sustainable mechanism for ensuring that the same content and standard is maintained across both institutions. Providing rubrics for students provides important clarity for them as to what is required for each assignment. Also, the use of rubrics in the VLE means that the lecturers can grade the assignments efficiently and effectively and facilitates the provision of timely feedback which is a key feature of good feedback. The VLE is also used to provide quizzes for formative assessments by students. These quizzes, which do not contribute to the students’ final mark, enable the students to test their understanding of a particular topic. The students can re-take the quizzes as often as they like and they are a good mechanism for raising students’ self-awareness of their own learning. This paper demonstrates the value for a Saudi university of using a VLE in an educationally valid and efficient manner.