K. Bijnens
H. Bijnens
A. Boonen
I. Op de Beeck
K. Rajagopal
W. Van Petegem
EUROPACE

VIRTUAL MOBILITY: AN INNOVATIVE ALTERNATIVE FOR PHYSICAL MOBILITY?

1.  INTRODUCTION: THE CONCEPT OF VIRTUAL MOBILITY

1.1 VIRTUAL MOBILITY AS A COMPLEMENT TO PHYSICAL MOBILITY.

The importance of student mobility and inter-university exchange programmes is vastly increasing and the issue takes up a significant place in the agendas of educational policy makers and higher education institutions.

In the academic year 2004-2005, 144.037 European students participated in the Erasmus exchange programme. The European Commission has set the goal in its ‘Integrated Action Programme in Lifelong Learning' to increase the number of students taking part in the Erasmus Programme up to 3 million by 2011, which equals about 20% of all European students.¹

But where does that leave the other 80% of European students who don't have the possibility to participate in Erasmus for social, financial or other reasons?

The Erasmus programme addresses this issue by aiming to develop a ‘European dimension' within the entire range of a university's academic programme.

The new spirit of Erasmus should be ‘bringing students to Europe, bringing Europe to all students': “while student mobility retains a position of central importance within the programme, stronger incentives are now available to encourage universities to add a European perspective to the courses followed by students who do not participate directly in mobility.”²

This is where the ‘Virtual Mobility concept' steps in, by trying to offer a complement to traditional ‘real' mobility programmes. In this respect, there already has been a large interest in the idea of Virtual Erasmus or Virtual Mobility schemes, interpreted to mean educational opportunities that are no longer location dependent and allow for collaboration amongst students and teachers in different regions and countries, thus creating a ‘European dimension'. This is why Virtual Mobility is becoming increasingly popular as a complement for real mobility programmes.

The concept also fits in the background of the Bologna process, which aims at creating a European Higher Education Area (EHEA) that has, amongst others, the objective of facilitating interuniversity mobility and co-operation between universities.³

 

1.2 DEFINITION OF VIRTUAL MOBILITY.

The elearningeuropa.info portal, defines Virtual Mobility as “the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) to obtain the same benefits as one would have with physical mobility but without the need to travel.'⁴

This definition clearly shows the two different elements of Virtual Mobility. Virtual Mobility is enabled through the use of Information and Communication Technology supported environments that include for example videoconferencing, live streaming, collaborative workspaces, and computer mediated conferencing. Secondly Virtual Mobility contributes to the internationalisation of education by boosting cross-border cooperation between different educational institutions.

Another more extensive definition is given in the framework of the Being Mobile project:

“Virtual Mobility is a form of learning which consists of virtual components through a fully ICT supported learning environment that includes cross-border collaboration with people from different backgrounds and cultures working and studying together, having, as its main purpose, the enhancement of intercultural understanding and the exchange of knowledge.”⁵

Virtual Mobility is more than a copy of the traditional Erasmus programme and can take on many forms, for it enables amongst others:

• Intercultural experiences for students and university staff through the organization of transborder discussion groups, international seminars or the set-up of an international learning community whereby staff and students acquire interpersonal and intercultural skills and get the chance to broaden their cultural, social and political boundaries.
• Student exchanges whereby students from one university can choose a course from another university (like traditional Erasmus).
• Preparatory and follow-up activities via ICT by the host university for students involved in physical Erasmus programmes.
• Joint course development and/or delivery by two or more institutions. This will broaden the areas of expertise offered to the students.
• Virtual internships whereby student placements are organised between an institution and a company in a different country.

 

2. EXPLORING VIRTUAL MOBILITY THROUGH EUROPEAN PROJECTS

Although the term ‘Virtual Mobility' is relatively new and not yet as widely-spread, the European Commission, as well as national agencies and individual institutions have actively promoted Virtual Mobility for some time, mainly through the financial support of projects within the SOCRATES/Minerva Programme and the eLearning Programme. EuroPACE ivzw⁶, a non-profit network organisation of higher education institutions, is for instance one of the organisations exploring Virtual Mobility through several EC-supported projects and other initiatives.

Below a few sample projects are presented that treat the subject:

 

2.1 CEVU: A COLLABORATIVE EUROPEAN VIRTUAL UNIVERSITY.

The collaborative European Virtual University project has been running from November 2001 until November 2003 and was initiated by a proposed collaboration of five existing international university networks, which were already actively pursuing academic and organizational cohesion in the areas of distance and online learning: EuroPACE, EUNITE, ECIU, Coimbra Group and EUA.

The project's main focus was to study why a collaborative European Virtual Education would be beneficial to universities, what would be the added value, how it should be structured and operate, and what should be put in place to create it. It used existing information, from former studies, projects and concrete experiences within the participating networks and partner universities.

More concretely, the following activities were undertaken:

• Study of the elements of joint working practices, models and policies for such distance and online education.
• Development of the technical infrastructure for a cEVU, together with the necessary teaching and learning services.
• Validation of collaboration models by the participating institutions through a set of high quality online pilot courses.

The results of this project are published in an online "Manual for a collaborative European Virtual University"⁷ with recommendations and guidelines for decision makers, teachers, trainers, managers and technicians.

 

2.2 REVE: REAL VIRTUAL ERASMUS

The REVE project⁸ started in January 2005 and continued until December 2006. The project built further on the recommendations and guidelines proposed in the cEVU project and more particularly aimed at enhancing the impact and efficiency of traditional Erasmus programmes through the set-up and support of mainstream Virtual Erasmus actions in the European Higher Education Area.

For this purpose, two main actions have been undertaken by the collaborating partners:

• Virtual mobility course actions, in which ‘Real Virtual Erasmus' is implemented both in new as well as in existing courses and programmes, with the right blend of virtual and real collaboration between students, teachers and other knowledge workers across institutional and national borders.
• Horizontal support actions that enable and provide the necessary services to the above course actions: development and implementation of the necessary technological, organizational and pedagogical tools, techniques and services, models and procedures, training.

The project's main output is the online ‘Virtual Mobility Manual'⁹ that, by using concrete examples of Virtual Erasmus courses, gives an overview of the possibilities on how to effectively integrate Virtual Erasmus and Virtual Mobility into courses and degree programs.

 

2.3 VM-BASE: VIRTUAL MOBILITY BEFORE AND AFTER STUDENT EXCHANGES.

Similar to the REVE project mentioned above, VM-BASE aims at enhancing the impact and efficiency of the Erasmus programme through the set-up of and support for a full-fletched Erasmus action. The focus in this project lies more specifically on ‘blended actions' where Virtual Mobility is used for both preparatory and return initiatives. VM-BASE will thus support students and teachers in coaching at a distance for both preparatory and return initiatives in blended format. The VM-BASE project is currently running and will produce:

• Orientation guidelines for students to select a host institution for their physical Erasmus exchange programme.
• Codes of good practice in designing pre-selection tests for students to assess themselves in how far they are prepared for the studies at the host institute of their choice.
• A blue print for preliminary courses (e.g. on language, culture, digital literacy) for students preparing for a physical Erasmus exchange.
• Guidelines on assessment and evaluation tools to facilitate examination at the end or even after physical Erasmus exchanges.
• A study on Virtual Alumni Association for Erasmus students.
• A manual with validated procedures and recommendations for blended mobility activities at institutional, network (local/transnational) and European level.

 

2.4 MASSIVE: MODELLING ADVICE AND SUPPORT SERVICES TO INTEGRATE THE VIRTUAL COMPONENT IN HIGHER EDUCATION.

This project¹⁰ has designed a model of mutual support services for European traditional universities to successfully implement the virtual component of teaching. Six areas have been identified as particularly critical and needed in EU higher education institutions: university strategies towards the integration of ICT in the teaching/learning practice, evolution of university libraries, management of IPR issues, support to teaching staff, support to students and virtualisation of content. Through a peer review evaluation approach MASSIVE has promoted a mutual support model for service provision among specialized teams of university staff. The MASSIVE project started in January 2005 and runs until March 2007 and in order to assure further use of the results, new service models will be tested, a.o. in the framework of the UNIQUe project.¹¹

 

2.5 VENUS: Virtual and E-Mobility for Networking Universities in Society.

A form of Virtual Mobility different from Virtual Erasmus is investigated in the VENUS project.¹² VENUS aims to internationalise prestigious courses, with international scope and importance, in each member university through Virtual Mobility. The individual courses are open to both students and citizens and they focus on promoting European citizenship, collaboration and personal development. More concretely, two different models of international virtual seminars are implemented (a seminar series during the academic year and a one-week summer school) and evaluated on their sustainability.

The overall goal of the project is to become a world-class example of cross-border collaboration between higher education organizations, businesses and citizens and thus create a best-practice example of the ‘Faculty of Extension', extended both in the sense of methods and target public. VENUS started its activities in March 2006 and will continue until February 2008.

 

2.5.1 VENUS seminar series

The idea behind the VENUS seminar series¹³ is to offer students as well as interested citizens the opportunity to participate actively in seminars given by worldwide renowned speakers within the theme “Global Issues for the European Citizen” and thus create a unique lifelong learning experience.

The organisational approach in VENUS is that each partner institution selects a topic that has a “European focus” and that contributes more in general to the education of all students, employees and citizens. Each partner invites internal or external top experts to deliver the seminar together with a content expert from within the own institution (the “local moderator”).

In order to reach a wide and diverse target audience, each partner forms an international and regional cluster by linking up with their own partners and networks (both on a regional and international level). The participating sites are: Belgium (Leuven), Finland (Helsinki), Germany (Cologne), Hungary (Szekesfeherar), Italy (Rome), Poland (Szczecin) and Slowakia (Kosice).

Two different types of technologies are used for broadcasting the seminars, namely ‘videoconferencing' and ‘streaming'. Videoconferencing is a telecommunication technology which allows several locations to be in live audio and visual contact with each other. For those who cannot come to any of the videoconferencing locations, the lectures are offered through streaming on the Internet. Streaming means that the lectures are broadcast live on the website. Through a special chat function, the participants who use streaming are also able to ask the speaker questions.

On each site that participates in the videoconference, local technicians are present to offer the necessary support.

On the seminars-website, participants can read the biography of the speakers and also a short abstract of their presentation. That way, they can prepare themselves before each seminar. Participants of the seminars can register online. Before being able to register, they first have to create an account. The technology behind this website is DRUPAL. The seminars are followed-up by interactive activities that run virtually following different instructional design models and are supported by different technologies (WIKI, forum, chat, etc.) After the seminars, the lectures and the discussions, that were recorded in the live stream, are made available to all through the website, together with the slides used during the presentation are made available.

 

2.6 BEING MOBILE: DISSEMINATING VIRTUAL MOBILITY FOR STUDENTS AND TEACHERS.

Some projects do not explore the implementation of Virtual Mobility as such, but bring together and link previous research done in the field. A good example of such an initiative is the Being Mobile project¹⁴, which took place from November 2005 until December 2007.

Being Mobile aimed to raise awareness amongst representatives from all teaching and training sectors about how European cooperation can be increased through Virtual Mobility. The project therefore managed targeted dissemination activities, in the form of a workshop, a conference ‘The Virtual Mobility Forum' and a publication ‘European cooperation in education through virtual mobility: A best-practice manual' and has specifically promoted the take-up of Virtual Mobility through making available the results of previous Socrates projects and similar initiatives in this field, fostering European cooperation in education and motivating others to follow their example.

 

3. VIRTUAL MOBILITY CHALLENGES

Virtual Mobility of teachers and students enables them to benefit linguistically, culturally and educationally from the experience of other European countries and of their (academic) fields of study. Furthermore, Virtual Mobility enables European cooperation opportunities for those not able to benefit from the existing face-to-face programmes. The experience of teachers and educational support staff however has learnt so far that the necessary technical, pedagogical and organisational support services to ensure that these activities can be easily embedded as an integrated part in the mainstream educational offer, are still missing.

At the same time there is a lack of concrete scenarios, models and implementation procedures, best practice examples for implementing virtual mobility. Therefore, Virtual Mobility programmes remain a challenge for all actors involved.

Topics that are considered key issues to be solved before being able to really implement virtual mobility into mainstream education include accreditation and credit transfer, localisation, and agreements.¹⁵ Models and procedures stimulating the exchange of credits (ECTS for virtual mobility) and accreditation (including quality assurance and joint degree issues) still need refinement. The exchange of localisation models and procedures (including multilingual approaches, intercultural communication, introduction of language management, cultural issues) has to be addressed. And finally the necessary agreements and guidelines (e.g. on IPR/copyrights) that enable e-learning to really happen between higher education institutions need to be refined and implemented.

3.1 ACCREDITATION AND CREDIT TRANSFER

The development of virtual learning technologies has the potential to facilitate more flexible curricula and new modes of study, which in turn may require new approaches to validating and accrediting learning.

The European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) is the most commonly used tool to facilitate the accreditation of student study in physical Erasmus exchanges. ECTS is a voluntary system which facilitates agreements between institutions and allows students to receive credit for courses that they successfully complete while on exchanges. The number of credits attributed to a course is based on student workload, including all elements – lectures, tutorials, practical work in laboratories and ‘in the field', self-study and revision, assessments, etc. For example, the workload associated with an average student in a full year of undergraduate study is allocated 60 ECTS credits, even though the actual amount of work required of the student may vary from institution to institution. Courses or classes that are less than a full year in duration receive a proportionate number of ECTS credits.

Established in 1989 within the framework of the Erasmus programme it is now used in over one thousand European higher education institutions. It has proven to be an excellent tool for the creation of transparency of the study programmes, for ‘building bridges' between institutions and widening the choices available to students. The system makes it easier for institutions to recognize the learning achievements of students through the use of commonly understood measurements, credits and grades.¹⁶

The institutions involved in the exchange programme sign an agreement, based on the information about the study programmes and course structures that the students will be involved in. An agreement on the number of ‘credits' which will be awarded by the awarding institution (on successful completion of the course) and which should be recognised by the student's home institution will be included.

It will be in everyone's interest that the procedures and agreements for Virtual Mobility are as close as possible to the ones for physical mobility. However, some problems arise here. The ECTS system for instance does not recognize and accredit the additional skills and competences that a student will have gained by taking part in a virtual exchange programme.

 

3.2 LOCALISATION

Course development in an international context involves different educational institutions, each one with its own cultural background, language, pedagogy etc. Also, students from different parts of Europe are going to study together in these courses, and because of this, the task of dealing with the issue of how to adapt the courses to the cultural backgrounds involved is a complex one. This issue is referred to as the ‘localisation'. The aim of localisation is to allow students from different locations to participate on equal term in the same course. The challenge lies in the fact to create a learning environment which allows for differences and at the same time makes a coherent learning experience possible.

In theory there are 4 different ways of dealing with these aspects:

• No adaptation to anybody, all the partner institutions use the same course created by a provider university, with no ‘international' adaptation.
• One for all: all get the same course, adapted to a common denominator to give it a more ‘international scope'
• One for each: learning process and the course is adapted to every need of every user. This means that local elements are integrated.
• In between: something adapted to the user, something adapted to a common denominator, something not adapted. ¹⁷

Localisation can be expressed in several areas and is defined in terms of language, culture, teaching methods and learning environment. In the REVE project, different localization scenarios have been elaborated in relation to these four areas.

 

3.3 AGREEMENTS

In the present situation, legislations or internal university rules often still make it rather hard to set up Virtual Mobility or more specifically Virtual Erasmus activities. Real Erasmus exchange has been made possible thanks to the establishment of several agreements between European universities. These agreements seem to be of different kinds according to different needs: general agreements involving the whole institution or bilateral ones made between two centers or departments.

Because of the fact that Virtual Erasmus implies another kind of setting, a simple transfer of the Physical Erasmus procedures might be an option but will not in all cases be the right one. Consequently, there exist up to now only ‘arrangements' of Virtual Mobility activities between two or more teachers that decide to share a course. These arrangements are often established in the framework of networks and alliances of higher education institutions or as private arrangements between the teachers.

There should however be more specific requirements and recommendations to make these agreements work in a reliable way. A problem that may arise when designing Virtual Erasmus agreements is the national regulations. Some countries in Europe still have legislation in place which prevents the official recognition of qualifications gained by distance learning, and in many countries they are regarded as inferior qualifications. The REVE project has designed a model for bilateral agreements for Virtual Erasmus to be established as a real programme to take place in the near future with the same validity as physical Erasmus.

 

4.  GOOD PRACTICES IN VIRTUAL MOBILITY

The most effective and efficient way to test and evaluate the benefits and challenges of Virtual Mobility, is to implement these elements into different existing or new course models and scenarios.

Below, one example of good practice will be presented, ‘The International Student Business Challenge'.

 

4.1  INTERNATIONAL STUDENT BUSINESS CHALLENGE

The International Student Business Challenge is organised by the Belgium based polytechnic Katholieke Hogeschool Kempen Campus Geel as the provider university.

The course is shaped as a business simulation in which student groups create fictitious companies and compete with each other in an economic market. The simulation has already been set up several times within the provider institution and jointly with other institutions of the K.U.Leuven Association, which exists of the K.U.Leuven and a number of polytechnics based in Flanders.

For the academic year 2005-2006, this experiment in the K.U.Leuven Association has been broadened to include three other European polytechnics in the partnership, namely Finland, Portugal and Poland. This initiative was taken in the framework of the REVE project.¹⁸

At the local institutions, participants were divided into groups of 4-8 students to make up a virtual company (name, logo, etc.). There are up to 9 companies in a market and the simulation can be done in several markets at a time.

The course is an example of a blended activity, because of the mix of local, face-to-face and international, virtual collaboration.

The game has a national and an international part. In the first part, teams compete locally in fictional markets in their own institutions. The winning teams of the national games move on to the second international part. The final event of the international competition is a videoconference session where all international teams present their company and are evaluated by an international jury consisting of instructors and local business representatives.

The whole competition is monitored by means of a purpose built website specifically designed for the project. This website is accessible for all partners and their registered students. It is used for processing the simulation data and making it available to the students. Toledo, the implementation of Blackboard at K.U.Leuven and its Association (which includes KHK) is opened for all the lecturers in the course and is used to distribute the course material. Communication between the lecturers is mostly done by e-mail and via monthly or more frequent videoconferences.

During these videoconferences the local trainers get in touch with the instructors of the provider institution and the other international participants. This is the occasion for the providers to elaborate on the near future and for all participants to exchange their experiences. The instructors also answer all questions related to the project and coach the local trainers through the different steps. The coaches learn from each other's experiences and get in touch with cultural differences and various approaches to learning situations.

As indicated above, videoconferencing is used in this course in several ways. It is used during the game to present a lecture from the coordinating institution. The instructors use videoconference for regular discussions and updates during the semester. Finally, videoconferencing is also used intensively during the final event, when all international teams present their work to an international jury.

As almost all communication takes place through videoconferencing, it is synchronous and location dependent.

All partners embed the simulation in a subject or study program of a normal curriculum. In most partner institutions, this simulation is organized as part of a compulsory course. Each institution decides for itself if it is an elective or a compulsory course. The number of ECTS credits awarded also depend on the partner. For example, in Belgium the simulation made up 50 % of a 3-points credit course. In Finland the project was embedded in a study program but is a separate course, which can receive no less than 3 credits in itself.

The International Student Business Challenge is mainly a course for students with a background in economics. It is offered in these subjects and/or study programs. The main requirements are strategic thinking, common sense and a basic proficiency in English. The introduction on the first day aimed at bringing them all approximately to the same basic level of expertise for the course. There is no formal student selection procedure. Each individual partner institution is responsible for this.

The students are registered at the local institutions. The institutions have to send the details of the students to the coordinating institution (KHKempen) who creates access for the students to the course website.

The course is accredited at all participating institutions, even though no formal agreement of collaboration has been signed. Several practical cultural and linguistic differences came up during the organisation of the course in the academic year 2005-2006. This course, however, received positive comments from all the institutes' staff and students.

 

5. CONCLUSION

As mobility and internationalisation are becoming increasingly important in today's society, Virtual Mobility is a significant evolution for those not able to enjoy any physical exchange. It has therefore some definite advantages for all actors involved by offering the possibility to enrich the more traditional learning activities. It is useful for everybody who is not able to travel, but keen on learning and acquiring the same skills as those who can enjoy physical mobility. Even if we have recently seen some examples of good practice, the implementation of Virtual Mobility brings along several practical and cultural challenges, that still need to be resolved.

The European Commission has supported several projects, investigating these matters and trying to come up with solutions. Further investments in research and development are indispensable in order to fully deploy Virtual Mobility as an add-on to physical mobility.

 

6. REFERENCES

6.1 PUBLICATIONS

• Bijnens K., Michielsens C., Op de Beeck I., Rajagopal K., Van Petegem W. (2006) Real Virtual Erasmus (REVE): How to broaden the student experience by offering Virtual Mobility. Paper accepted for Online Educa Berlin. Berlin, November 29-December 1, 2006
• Bijnens, H. & Op de Beeck, I. The integration of virtual mobility in Europe. Published on the eLearningeuropa portal site. 7 February 2006.
• Bijnens, H., Op de Beeck, I. & Reynolds, S. (2006) Being Mobile-Disseminating Virtual Mobility for Students and Teachers. Proceedings of the EDEN 2006 Annual Conference. Vienna, June 14-17, 2006. p. 279-283.
• Bijnens, H., Boussemaere, M., Rajagopal, K., Op de Beeck, I. & Van Petegem, W., (2006). European Cooperation in Education through Virtual Mobility: A Best-Practice Manual, p. 26
• Op de Beeck, I., Coen, M., Perez, I. & Semey, I. (2006) How to implement virtual mobility into mainstream education? Real Virtual Erasmus (REVE) Workshop. Description of REVE workshop on EDEN 2006 Annual Conference.
• Op de Beeck, I., REVE – Real Virtual Erasmus. 14 February 2005.
• Haake, J., Lukosch, S., Rajagopal, K. & Van Petegem, W. (2006) Models for Implementing Virtual Studies Abroad. Proceedings of the EDEN 2006 Annual Conference. Vienna, June 14-17, 2006. p. 273-278.
• Schreurs, B., Van Petegem W. & Verjans, S., (2006). Towards Sustainable Virtual Mobility in Higher Education Institutions in Proceedings of the EADTU Conference: Widening Participation and Opportunities by e-Learning in Higher Education. Tallinn, 23-24 November, 2006.
• Van Beylen, M., Smeuninx, J. & Rajagopal, K. (2006) International Student Business Challenge. Proceedings of the 17th SPACE Annual General Meeting (SPACE and Being Mobile Conference sessions and workshops). Vilnius, March 29 - April 1, 2006. p.52-57

 

6.2 WEBSITES

http://ec.europa.eu/education/programmes/socrates/erasmus/statisti/table...

http://ec.europa.eu/education/programmes/socrates/erasmus/what_en.html

http://ec.europa.eu/education/policies/educ/bologna/bologna_en.html

http://www.elearningeuropa.info/

http://reve.europace.org

http://reve.europace.org/drupal

http://cevug.ugr.es/massive/

http://www.venus-project.net

http://www.venus-seminars.net

http://www.being-mobile.net

http://www.europace.org

http://www.europace.org/articles%20and%20reports/cEVU_manual.pdf

 

 

¹ http://ec.europa.eu/education/programmes/socrates/erasmus/statisti/table1.pdf

² http://ec.europa.eu/education/programmes/socrates/erasmus/what_en.html

³ The Bologna Declaration: an explanation, from http://ec.europa.eu/education/policies/educ/bologna/bologna_en.html

⁴ http://www.elearningeuropa.info/index.php?page=glossary&menuzone=1&abc=V

⁵ Bijnens, H., Boussemaere, M., Rajagopal, K., Op de Beeck, I. & Van Petegem, W., (2006). European Cooperation in Education through Virtual Mobility: A Best-Practice Manual , p. 26

⁶ http://www.europace.org

⁷ http://www.europace.org/articles%20and%20reports/cEVU_manual.pdf

⁸ http://reve.europace.org

⁹ http://reve.europace.org/drupal

¹⁰ http://cevug.ugr.es/massive/

¹¹ http://www.europace.org/rdunique.php

¹² http://www.venus-project.net/

¹³ http://www.venus-seminars.net/

¹⁴ http://www.being-mobile.net/

¹⁵ http://reve.europace.org/drupal

¹⁶ Schreurs, B., Van Petegem W. & Verjans, S., (2006). Towards Sustainable Virtual Mobility in Higher Education Institutions in Proceedings of the EADTU Conference: Widening Participation and Opportunities by e-Learning in Higher Education. Tallinn, 23-24 November, 2006.

¹⁷ OP DE BEECK I., COEN M., PEREZ I. & SEMEY I. (2006) How to implement virtual mobility into mainstream education ? Real Virtual Erasmus (REVE) Workshop. Description of REVE workshop on EDEN 2006 Annual Conference.

¹⁸ http://reve.europace.org/drupal/