EGRACONS WORKSHOP AT ERACON CONFERENCE IN THESSALONIKI, GREECE 2016
The EGRACONS project (European Grade Conversion System) is now operational online with more than 50 member institutions. The purpose of this workshop is to show the added value of the tool in real-life situations. The various aspects of the methodology used and the functionality of the tool will be demonstrated. The workshop is interactive, with participants taking part in estimating grade conversions and then comparing their estimates to real cases. The tool will be used throughout the workshop to show how the issues encountered during the project were solved. Participants are encouraged to bring their laptops so that they can have some individual hands-on experience. The tool distinguishes between the user roles of Local Administrator (in charge of the data and users of a specific HEI), Uploader (uploading of grading tables) and Converter (who does the actual converting). The roles can be combined. Both single grades can be converted or whole Transcript of Records. Attention will also be given to the use and application of the new ISCED F2013 discipline codes, which are used to make the compared student reference groups consistent. In this way different grading cultures in different disciplines can be taken into account. The new ECTS users’ guide endorses the Egracons methodology and is expected to boost the willingness of individual universities to send in grading tables for the tool. A major campaign to reach as many universities as possible has been launched together with the approval of this new official Guide. The target is 2,000 HEIs. If you want to take part as an HEI come to the Workshop and ‘convert’!
