Shared curriculum at KTH and UPC universities: Blended learning experience at the MSc SELECT programme

摘要

The aim of this paper is to present the experience and lessons learned of experimental implementing of blended learning methodology in the Master programme "Environomical Pathways for Sustainable Energy Systems" (SELECT) at the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH in Stockholm) and the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya BarcelonaTech (UPC in Barcelona), in common and remotely taught courses (shared curriculum) under a transnational framework. Shared curriculum has been designed and strongly connected to the intended learning outcomes (ILO's) of the programme. Blended learning was implemented to improve the efficiency of the learning process through updated technological means of instruction and to have the same curriculum with equally shared teaching load to ensure that students by the end of year 1 have the same competence and background. It can be noted that, at least from the perspective of academic performance, the implementation of blended learning in the shared SELECT curriculum does not have a significant impact, although local students show slightly higher grade point average (GPA). Finally, and from our general experience with students, it is possible to identify the interaction of communication as one of the key challenges and factors in blended education.