itslearning makes it easier for schools to integrate AOE resources into their own self-learning LMS learning environment

KPEDU comprises 5 campuses in Central Ostrobothnia

In August 2021, secondary education will become free in Finland. The free education was the result of a citizens' initiative to make education more accessible. This means that learning materials used by schools should be free. Finland's self-learning is therefore now offering a new service for schools and educational institutions, which will enable the integration of the Open Learning Materials Library's learning materials (aoe.fi) into self-learning's LMS library starting in the academic year 2021/2022.

According to a study carried out by Save the Children, materials for upper secondary education in Finland cost around €2,600, and for vocational students it can cost even more. Almost 60% of respondents said their education costs were challenging, leading the NGO to lead a successful citizens' initiative to change the Finnish law.

One of our first clients to adopt this service, KPEDU, explains why getting this service could be a game changer for their network of educational institutions.

The learning materials are available centrally in the self-learning library.

Centralised collection of learning materials

We thank the Finnish Parliament for this decision. It is the right way to get more people to stay in school and study interesting subjects, despite the cost.

So we decided that one way to support this "investment in education" was to provide teachers with resources that were approved for use in the Finnish education system, in one easy-to-access place, and for us that is the self-learning library.

In the past, our teachers had extra work to do to acquire and use teaching materials produced by different national projects on different platforms and websites.

All these open educational resources (guides, learning materials, projects) are now brought together on one national website and organised in an easy-to-find format. More importantly, teachers can compare their own teaching materials with the AOE resources. We hope that they will find ideas and inspiration that will raise the standard of teaching throughout the education cluster.

Isto Hakala, Pedagogical Development Supervisor, KPEDU

Deployment of AOE resources in KPEDU

We started using these AOE resources for the first time at KPEDU in autumn 2020. However, we wanted to make teachers' work easier - to search and find the most useful material for them.

What self-learning has brought us is that it has created a "bridge" from this wonderful collection of AOE materials from teachers to the learning platform. They have helped us integrate all the AOE resources into the self-learning library so that teachers have everything they need to teach in one place.

With the integration of the Itslearning Library, it is possible to search for all this open learning material and add it directly to the self-learning plan and their other teaching. They can also tailor the resources to their needs, as all the material is under a Creative Commons licence. In addition, the resources are updated once a week in the self-learning library, so they are always up-to-date.

KPEDU has been using the self-learning platform since 2018, and over the years we have found self-learning to be a true training partner. We have been using the integration since June now (we were the first to announce the rollout when we were contacted by itslearning with this service at the end of May 2021).

We are now assessing how students feel about the AOE learning materials. We hope that they will find them useful and continue to use the AOE service when they move on to further studies, thus supporting their lifelong learning. Students will also be able to download the materials for their own use at a later date.

Some of our teachers have also produced learning materials for the service through the ALADIN project. We are very happy to be able to distribute their learning materials to teachers all over Finland. Ultimately, we hope that the resources created by KPEDU trainers and shared through the self-learning library will also be useful to all teachers in the wider self-learning community. Combining our expertise and knowledge will benefit us all.

I think we are entering a new and exciting phase. It remains to be seen how the production of learning materials for the library service at KPEDU will progress.

Central Ostrobothnia Vocational College, KPEDU

Central Ostrobothnia Vocational University (KPEDU) is a multidisciplinary educational institution in Finland. KPEDU offers vocational training, apprenticeships and upper secondary education courses in 59 different orientations for students and adults. KPEDU also works closely with local municipalities, business and other education providers in the region.

Staff: 427
Students: 4,983
Locations: 5 campuses in Central Ostrobothnia
Introduction of self-learning: 2018