The present research was conducted during the implementation of interuniversity Master’s programme “Educational treatment of diversity” (Gento, 2007; Maslo, Kiegelman, Huber, 2008) at the University of Latvia in 2008-2010.

The organization of the master studies, on which the investigation was conducted, was combined with self-organized interactive e-learning in unknown changing situations. In this case e-learning is the use of “the Internet to access learning materials, to interact with the content, professors, tutors, and other learners and to obtain support during the learning process, in order to acquire one’s own knowledge, to construct personal meaning, and to grow from the learning experience” (Anderson&Elloumi, 2004:37).

E-learning as a new form of learning organisation in the 21st century (Seok, 2008) creates a transformative learning environment which provides individual approach and is suitable for every student’s needs (Twigg, 2001). This corresponds to the goals of the European Higher education to ensure “opportunities of globalisation and accelerated technological developments with new providers, new learners and new types of learning” (Leuven Communique, 2009:1).

The concept of generic competences developed in the Tuning project (Gonzalez, Wagenaar, 2003, 2007; Drudy, et.al., 2009) is applied. The following generic competences as the learning outcomes are analysed: an ability to use the accessible sources of concrete field of knowledge, an ability to ensure the management of studies in an effective and economic manner, an ability to use academic content in widely used foreign languages. Their manifestation is analysed considering the specific of the e-learning environment.

The purpose of the research: to analyze the effectiveness of widening of opportunities in the self-organized interactive e-learning for improvement of students’ generic competences

The conceptual framework of the present research is based on: the model of the teaching and learning transaction (Garrison et al., 2000, 2005) and systemic-constructivist learning (Reich, 2005).

The model of the teaching and learning transaction assumes that in e-community, learning occurs through the interaction of three core components: cognitive presence, teaching presence, and social presence. Social presence is defined as the ability of participants in the Community of Inquiry to project themselves socially and emotionally, as ''real'' people through the medium of communication being used. Three categories of social presence are considered: emotional expression, open communication and group cohesion (Garrison et al., 2000). 

Systemic-constructivist learning approach, analyses the individual’s perception of the reality, taking into consideration three categories: experience, self-feeling and social recognition (Reich, 2005). These categories manifest how different people may be, including their desires and expectations, motivation and physical status, illnesses and physical symptoms, which explain the variety of learners’ expectations from the study process.

The research question: which challenges for widening of opportunities were secured in e-learning in order to promote students’ generic competences as a learning outcome?

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