inventory

Re.ViCA aims

• to make an inventory and to carry out a systematic review of cross-institutional Virtual Campus initiatives of the past decade within higher education at European, national and regional levels.
• to look not only at currently operational Virtual Campuses, but also at the legacy and impact within higher education generally of those Virtual Campus initiatives that have ceased activities.
• to identify relevant parameters and success factors for evaluating and comparing Virtual Campuses.
• to organise in-depth discussions to incorporate the input of different interest groups: including Virtual Campus management bodies, relevant networks, students, policy makers and a range of experts at a global as well as European level.
• to compare European cases to selected non-European initiatives
• to formulate a set of action points that can be applied to ensure the realisation of successful European Virtual Campus initiatives.

Results of Re.ViCa include

1. a global benchmark overview,
2. knowledge sharing through the organisation of discussion sessions at carefully chosen events and meetings with experts and policy makers
3. a manual with guidelines, best practices, recommendations

Extracted from: EuroPACE

Project Updates:

Launch Re.ViCa wiki: the largest repository on Virtual Campuses and notable elearning initiatives!

http://www.virtualcampuses.eu

Visit our wiki and You will find a list of more than 300 interesting Programmes, all of which have been categorised. Country reports, describing the educational context and ways in which decision-makers in these countries have taken steps to address changes brought about due to the emergence of the Information Society. We have collected and described relevant research projects, outputs, and publications, and provide a list of experts in the field of Virtual Campuses. Please visit and contribute, and become a member of our international group of experts.

New handbook: “Reviewing the Virtual Campus Phenomenon: The Rise of Large-scale e-Learning Initiatives Worldwide” which provides a comprehensive and useful appraisal of Virtual Campuses worldwide.

This practical handbook provides a summary of key initiatives, market leaders and large-scale providers in the different regions of the world presented on a broad region by region basis and refers to more than 300 different institutions, organisations or networks from about 80 countries and reviews many of the factors and issues that can influence Virtual Campuses particularly those in Europe.

The handbook also deals with benchmarking and Critical Success Factors and provides a detailed description of the work undertaken by the research team in arriving at the final set of 17 Critical Success Factors relevant to success of e‐learning in all types of Virtual Campuses along with a list of 14 Key Success Factors ‐ these are Critical Success Factors relevant to success of e‐learning in one or more subsets (categories) of Virtual Campuses, such as private for‐profit providers, consortia, etc.

Paul Bacsich, Director of Research, says “The Handbook documents the immense spread, and to many, unexpectedly wide spread, of tertiary level e-learning across the countries of the world, both developed and not so developed. It will be very useful to many different kinds of readers including policy-makers in ministries, and the analysts who advise them, who will find it vital as they wrestle with the issue of whether to specifically foster and support e-learning or whether e-learning can now be left to some or all of their institutions - the answers are and will be different in different countries. It will also be of significant interest to institutional leaders and their senior management teams, quality agencies who are already actively considering the issue of whether e-learning demands a specific quality regime, communities of researchers in open universities and in distance education as well as practitioners, so often isolated, who will learn that they are not alone - that many others across the world face similar dilemmas and challenges in how best to use e-learning to improve the quality and availability of their courses.

While the Handbook offers no one "magic bullet" for the challenge of making better use of teaching resources (but see the Critical Success Factors for some suggestions), it clearly demonstrates that it is not necessarily the most developed countries or the best-funded and most prestigious institutions that have made the most effective use of e-learning - which should make many people think deeply about their customary practices and beliefs about IT and its role in teaching”.The main editors are Bieke Schreurs, Ilse Op de Beeck, Paul Bacsich, Sally Reynolds, Sara Frank Bristow and Theo Bastiaens.

This handbook is available as a free download, the print version can be ordered from: ilse.opdebeeck@avnet.kuleuven.be (a payment for postage costs may be requested).