The Online, Open and Flexible Higher Education Conference Hosted by FernUniversität in Hagen, 29-30 October 2015

The number of blended and online degrees being offered by European higher education institutions has increased vastly since 1996, when Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC) was established as the first entirely online university in the world.

This increase in choice and flexibility of higher education offerings has enabled the promise of ‘anywhere, anytime’ education to be realised for many learners around the world. It has also created new opportunities and threats for institutions that want to thrive and flourish in the new environment. As part of a high-level strategic planning process, UOC is carrying out a study called FUTURA. The study began in early 2015 with a desk research investigation to identify the key trends in online and blended learning at both state- and institution-level in Europe and beyond. Trend reports, national and regional guidelines, and other readings from experts and institutions reflecting current issues and debates in the higher education sector, were analysed to ascertain the key themes and challenges for online and blended learning providers of higher education degrees. The following 11 themes emerged as trends: collaboration between higher education institutions, internationalisation, digital literacy, learning analytics, MOOCs, open educational resources, flipped classrooms, Bring Your Own
Device, teacher development, flexible and personalised learning, and an increase in
assessment-related activities. The benefits and challenges associated with each of these trends, from an institutional point of view, are discussed in this paper.

Keywords

future of higher education · MOOC · OER · online and blended degree education · trends