Re.ViCA

On 30 September 2011, the September issue of the Virtual Schools and Colleges Newsletter has been published last Friday, a newsletter published by the VISCED project. Containing a variety of articles and reports related to the use of ICT in secondary and post-secondary education for 14-21 year olds in Europe and elsewhere, this issue includes an article extolling the value of online learning for gifted students in the US, a new report on Learning and Innovation through ICT at school in Europe and a Virtual School Symposium (VSS) taking place in the US. Among other interesting articles, you can also read the latest blog post by Paul Bacsich, VISCED's project coordinator, entitled "Hidden virtual schooling" as well as an article about the first meeting of VISCED International Advisory Committee that took in Portugal. You can read the issue at the VISCED project website.

The April/May edition of the Virtual Campus newsletter has been published by ATiT and is available from the Virtual Campus website.

Highlights this month include a summary of recent US activity relevant to e-learning and virtual campuses, a report on a workshop on e-learning in South America, an insight into the activities of the Association of Academic E-learning in Poland and a topical collection of announcements, reports and publications in the field of e-learning and the virtual campus.

For more information you can visit the Re.ViCa web site at http://revica.europace.org or the project's wiki and inventory: http://www.virtualcampuses.eu.

The latest edition of the Re.ViCa newsletter is now available and includes analysis and information about a host of different developments related to virtual campuses worldwide. It includes a short retrospective on the Learning and Technology World Forum 2010, a report on the recently announced partnership between the Ohio and Minnesota higher education systems and an analysis of the role and impact of the HEFCE Online Learning Task Force.

The newsletter also contains an announcement about the work that will continue to be done by the Re.ViCa team in 2010-2011 as well as a series of announcements about reports, publications and other recent developments related to the virtual campus phenomenon.

Held in London from 11-13 January right before the BETT show, the 2010 Forum attracted over 1000 leaders from 100 countries including 75 ministers of education. Opened by Prime Minister Gordon Browne, the very high level of political support this event received indicates the importance the United Kingdom places on exporting its know-how and expertise in the technology enhanced learning field.

The Forum provided an interesting mix of highly interactive and engaging sessions along with several thought-provoking key-note presentations including the excellent closing plenary presentation given by Charles Leadbeater. Another highlight was the highly engaging “Be Very Afraid” event organised by Stephen Heppell which provided an excellent showcase of what is possible in schools and universities with students showing and talking about the extraordinary things they are doing with new technologies in their learning.

ATiT staff took part in this prestigious event and were part of the team leading an innovation exchange session entitled "Critical Success Scheme for Step-Change in E-Learning". Materials from this session are available on the popular Re.ViCa Virtual Campus wiki.

Despite the bad weather conditions in northern Europe, ATiT staff are planning to take part in the Learning and Technology World Forum 2010 being held in London 11-13 January.

This will include leading an innovation exchange session entitled "Critical Success Scheme for Step-Change in E-Learning" on Tuesday 12th. This session will be highly interactive and will provide an opportunity to further test the validity of the Critical and Key Success factors for e-learning that were developed during the Re.ViCa project. Participants will also receive a copy of the recently published handbook, "Reviewing the Virtual Campus Phenomenon: The Rise of Large-scale e-Learning Initiatives Worldwide" which provides a wealth of background on the Virtual Campus phenomenon as well as a snapshot of the current status of Virtual Campuses worldwide.

The Handbook: "Reviewing the Virtual Campus Phenomenon: The Rise of Large-scale e-Learning Initiatives Worldwide" has been published and is available for free download.

This handbook, one of the main outputs of the Re.ViCa project, provides a wealth of background on the Virtual Campus phenomenon as well as a snapshot of the current status of Virtual Campuses worldwide where you can find a description of current initiatives, market leaders and large-scale providers. It also includes a set of Critical Success Factors, aimed at those interested in setting-up sustainable Virtual Campus initiatives.

It was written by Paul Bacsich, Sally Reynolds, Theo Bastiaens, Sara Frank Bristow, Ilse Op de Beeck and Bieke Schreurs, the editor was Bieke Schreurs. Further information about Virtual Campuses is available from the project wiki.

The November edition of the Re.ViCa newsletter is now available.

Highlights this month include:

• a presentation of the Re.ViCa Handbook which is about to be published and a sneak preview of its contents
• an overview of the collaborative work carried out by the Re.ViCa International Advisory Committee and the growing network of experts contributing to the virtual campus wiki
• a summary of the current status of the Open University of Japan by International Expert Dr. Kumiko Aoki
• introductions to several experts in the field; David Porter (BCcampus, Canada), Em. Prof. Terry Mayes (Glasgow Caledonian University, UK) and Em. Prof. Gajaraj Dhanarajan (Wawasan Open University, Malaysia)
• a round-up of announcements, reports and publications in the field of e-learning and the virtual campus

For more information visit the Re.ViCa web site or the virtual campus wiki and inventory set up and managed by the project team. 

The October edition of the Re.ViCa Newsletter was published this week and is being distributed to almost 500 subscribers all over the world who are interested in the virtual campus phenomenon.

In this edition you will find an article on postsecondary educational accreditation in the United States, an article about multilingualism in the Virtual Campus wiki and introductions to new people in the Re.ViCa network from New Zealand, UK and Palestine.

The newsletter also gives information on several recent reports including a Commonwealth of Learning report on ICTs for Higher Education and a Study into Global Activity published by JISC in the UK as well as a progress report on the Virtual Campus wiki.

The ICL conference held in Villach 23-25 September provided a good opportunity to promote the Virtual Campuses wiki created by the Re.ViCa consortium. Re.ViCa team member Sally Reynolds gave a presentation about the extensive Virtual Campus inventory available in the wiki and invited conference participants to visit, use and update the wiki. She also described some of the analytical work carried out by the team supported by international experts which identified factors influencing the success or otherwise of virtual campus initiatives worldwide.
 

This month's edition of the Re.ViCa Newsletter is now available and has been sent to an extended mailing list of researchers, stakeholders and others interested in the Virtual Campus phenomenon.

The lead article deals with the question as to whether European Virtual Campuses are intrinsically different to Virtual Campuses in other parts of the world and describes some of the conditions that appear to have had an influence on the set-up and operation of Virtual Campuses in Europe. In the rest of the newsletter you will find information about relevant forthcoming events, summaries of articles on related topics and information about project activities and events.

For more information about Re.ViCa, visit the Virtual Campus wiki.