THE EUROLINK - VIRTUAL INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL: REFLECTIONS, IMPACT AND LESSONS LEARNED FROM A PAN EUROPEAN EDUCATIONAL COLLABORATION (original) (raw)

Internationally distributed and problem-oriented teaching and learning in a net environment

2000

A recent sample of the uses of ICT in Danish higher education illustrates great diversity both in technological solutions and in pedagogical techniques (Heilesen 2000). Although Internet technology is the common denominator for the majority of the courses reported on, uses range from Computer Based Instruction (CBI) to Computer Supported Collaborative Work (CSCW). At such a time of "letting a hundred flowers blossom and a hundred schools of thought contend" it is not an easy task find a common ground for a Virtual University, nor is it easy to identify one particular approach as being the most promising one.

PRONETAIRES: (RE)EDUCATING STUDENTS TO RETHINK SOCIETY IN A VIRTUAL LEARNING PLATFORM EUROPEAN UNION POLICIES: TRAINING INTEGRATION, VIRTUAL LEARNING AND ACTIVE CITIZENSHIP

Information and Communication Technologies foster communication between teachers and students. In this context, each educator shall be asked to contribute to the creation of multimedia content and the development of learning communities. In this paper, we intend to present a virtual learning platform, called 2ndschool.eu, in which teachers and students built a learning path based on the global society. By interacting with netizens from different parts of Europe, students were able to develop their own critical cultural awareness, co-create knowledge and rebuild their own values and believes. This platform includes different Web 2.0 tools, namely chat, discussion forums, e-mail messaging, podcasting, videocasting and slidesharing. The main product of this project is the creation of critical analyses of present-day topics of national or international news by the different international teams. With this eTwinning project, which was awarded the European Quality Label, teachers were able to develop a teaching-learning process based on the introduction of the 5 Cs: Communication, Cultures, Connections, Comparisons and Communities (cf. Philips & Draper, 1999). In this way, having a critical pedagogy into account, the learning process could be seen as a liberatory activity, in which students became aware of their own ability to contribute to an effective change in the society they make part of. Moreover, by developing a dialogical interaction, the different students were able to create a mental awareness of one point of view and its opposite, which resulted in the accomplishment of the Freire " s cycle of action-reflection-new action. This implies that these pronétaires were capable of developing a techno-democracy (Levy, 1999), in which each one of them had the opportunity to make himself/ herself heard. Since the beginning of the European Union which is constituted by diverse countries with their own culture, politics, society and language, that language learning policies have been a priority in the agendas of diverse summits or congresses. This was the case of the Lisbon meeting in March 2000, in which clear objectives were presented: increasing the quality and effectiveness of education in the EU; facilitating the access of all to education; opening up education to the wider world. As we know, our world can be " characterized by rapid change, increasing globalization and growing complexity in terms of economic and socio-cultural relations. The speed of these changes is reflected in the context within which any reflection on the future objectives of the education and training systems must be placed. (…) " [10]. In fact, computers are becoming more widely available at work and at home, which contributes to the fact that education must be rebuilt. Moreover, the development use of Information and Communication Technologies is important to ensure a change in the way schools and other learning centers work, including the increasing importance in open learning environments and virtual teaching to overcome cultural and social barriers. Equipping schools and training centers with multimedia resources and high quality educational software and high speed connections offering interactive possibilities on Internet become a priority. At the same time teachers should be trained in the use of Internet and its multimedia

Reflections on creating an international virtual benchmarking model for authentic e-learning: Crossing boundaries and breaking down barriers

2009

International virtual teamwork offers new opportunities for the professional development of teachers. In this paper, we examine the initial experiences in an ongoing international virtual benchmarking project coordinated by the Finnish Online University of Applied Sciences. What challenges does an international context present for project construction and collaboration? Data from five countries, in the form of participant reflections and researchers’ observations, were analysed according to four types of barriers: language, time, technical and mental barriers. Initial data indicates that trust is an essential starting point, as there is neither time nor possibilities to build mutual trust by traditional means. Organisational confidentiality issues, however, can complicate the situation. The project introduces ‘collision’ as a method of professional development, in which not only physical and organisational borders are crossed, but also mental barriers, as skills and competencies nee...

VIRTUAL LEARNING ALL OVER THE WORLD GOOD PRACTICE FROM PORTUGAL

The world has changed with the development of electronic systems and educational systems also use the products of the virtual world. E-learning enables teachers to efficiently cooperate with students in different scientific issues; it connects people all over the world and helps the fast, flexible and efficient implementation of the new scientific and educational materials. The National University of Public Service (NUPS) established its E-Learning Centre in 2013, which became a modern education centre for innovative public service. To further develop and inter-nationalize the system, it is beneficial to find good practices from other higher education institutions. In this paper we shortly introduce the e-learning system of the NUPS and the e-learning system of University Fernando Pessoa (UFP) (Oporto, Portugal) called Virtual University. We exchange views and experiences by sharing our practices in the hope of implementing common development projects in the future.

Joint Programmes for Cross-Border Educational Collaboration: Organizational and Educational Issues

The development of the New Economy exercises great influence on businesses and has great impact on the skills and competence requirements of the workforce. Business schools should take action to prepare scientists and professionals for this new environment. This paper presents the initiative of the Institute of Education and Technology of Serres in Greece and the University of Plovdiv Paisii Hilendarski in Bulgaria, both located in neighboring borderline regions, to develop a joint educational programme that is specialized in the needs of the New Economy and is offered with the use of methods of electronic distant education. This paper presents the project and analyses the ongoing results, the challenges that arise during its implementation and the future prospects. Emphasis is put on educational and organizational issues for the development and the delivery of the programme.

Virtual Learning Spaces: Example of International Collaboration

Summary Paper presents results of international university collaboration in developing virtual learning environment at the Faculty of Philosophy University of Sarajevo. Based on the success of the Omega system implemented at Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences University of Zagreb collaboration in creating a similar virtual learning environment on Faculty of Philosophy University of Sarajevo has started. Results of the implementation of BISER e-learning system are shown.

Teacher guidelines for cross-national virtual communities in primary education

Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 2007

The purpose of this study is to provide guidelines for teachers to carry out cross-national educational projects in schools through the introduction of virtual environments as a means of reshaping classroom-based activities. The theoretical foundations of the study are rooted in computer supported collaborative learning and the community of learners model. The case of Euroland is discussed as a successful example of mixing a face-to-face community with a larger community, which populates a virtual space. The virtual space used in this project features two pieces of software-a discussion forum and a three-dimensional virtual world-each of which are considered to be complementary. Students (ranging from 9 to 14 years old) from seven schools located in two European countries (Italy and The Netherlands) participated in the project. The development of Euroland took place across three temporal phases. These are described through four indicators, considered as relevant practices that are easily observed. The first indicator relates to the use of tools embedded within the virtual environments, very exploratory in the first phase, becoming more and more integrated in the phases that follow. The second indicator relates to the quality of interaction with partners at a distance, initially based on a simple representation and awareness of them, ultimately becoming more precise and detailed. The third indicator relates to the development of a sense of belonging to a community, initially limited to the in-the-classroom community and then progressively extended to the virtual community as indicated by the increased amount of time devoted to navigation and online activities and an increased use in quoting instances of activities in online life. The final indicator refers more specifically to the range of educational strategies' teachers should use in such contexts.As results of the analysis of how the indicators are set during each phase, teachers' guidelines are established. Teacher guidelines are given by differentiating between in-classroom and online contexts with the aim of obtaining the best possible results in accomplishing a project-like Euroland.

International and Inter-Institutional Collaboration in Distance Education

1998

Ladies and gentlemen: I am honoured that you have invited me to deliver this address. You are very kind, as I know there are many here who know more than I do about contemporary distance and open education. In one way or another, you, in Australia, have gained insight, knowledge and experience in developing partnerships with on and off shore colleagues. And, over the last ten years, Australians have also gained tremendous skill in being entrepreneurial with the delivery of knowledge products all over the world. Therefore, I will refrain from tiring you with details that you already know. Instead, I will share with you, a few specific challenges that confront educational planners, policy makers and practitioners as they aspire to move away from high cost, elite, institution-centred provision to where the focus is very much student-centred, affordable and mass in nature, in a global context. In doing so, one invariably must consider the practice of distance education as an important option in any attempt at coupling mass education and low cost (this may or may not be so, but it is the perception) in most parts of the developing world. 2. Driven by global issues such as trade, investment, population growth, environment, good governance, human rights, cultural preservation, economics and technology, educational systems are in transition today; their emerging opportunities are enormous as are the threats to them. The opportunities are driven by technology, demand, globalisation and universal interdependency while the threats appear in the form of competition, narrow linguistic and political nationalism. In the time allocated to me by the convenors of this forum, I will attempt to describe from a development point of view, especially in the context of the

Intercambios virtuales en educación superior: desarrollo de las habilidades interculturales a través de la colaboración en línea

Revista Interuniversitaria de Investigación en Tecnología Educativa, 2019

Virtual exchange has been defined as a form of virtual mobility which aims to expand the reach and scope of traditional intercultural learning programs. This paper presents an example of a virtual exchange called InterCult - Intercultural Competences - which aimed to give an opportunity for students from Germany, France, and Brazil to explore intercultural aspects through online collaboration, i. e. to learn differences between own culture and other cultures by communicating and working on tasks together by using digital media. The research path was divided into three phases: project design, virtual exchange, and evaluation. The data collected during the virtual exchange involved the analysis of online conversations in international groups, face-to-face discussions during the classes at the end of each activity in national groups, the videos produced and shared in the online community, online meetings between the teachers, and the results of the online survey. Data were analyzed bas...