VIRCLASS: the Virtual Classroom for Social Work in Europe- a toolkit for innovation?

English Through a student-centred virtual learning environment students and teachers in Europe cooperate, exchange information of social work in their own country, and increase their digital literacy. In VIRCLASS students from 15 countries collaborated in their learning process by sharing knowledge with peer-students. Teachers from eight European countries were involved in the course. With a common curriculum, a studyprogram rewarded with 15 ECTS credits and using A-F marks many of the elements from the Bolognaprocess are met. Norsk Ved hjelp av et studentsentrert virtuelt klasserom samarbeider studenter og lærerer over hele Europa, utveksler kunnskap om sosialt arbeid i eget land og utvikler sin digitale kompetanse. I VIRCLASS hjalp studenter fra 15 land hverandre i læreprosessen ved å dele informasjon med medstudenter. Lærere fra åtte land var involvert i kurset denne første gangen. Med en felles fagplan, et studieprogram som gav 15 studiepoeng (ECTS) og karakterer i skalaen fra A-F, imøtekommer VIRCLASS mange av elementene fr

Promoting the Good e-Teacher: Didactical Choices when developing e-pedagogical Competences

The article gives an overview of how the development of a blended e-pedagogy course for Higher Education teachers have used the experiences from many years of international online courses for European BA students. Influenced by the situated-learning perspective, this course employs student-centred teaching and learning methods. Moreover, inspired by the Community of Inquiry, this programme emphasizes the importance of Cognitive, Teaching and Social presence in the Virtual Learning Environment. The students plan their own courses in accordance with the stages of becoming an e-learner. One uses the ecological “Model of Relations between Didactical Categories” as a framework, and the e-pedagogy course is customized to be “hands-on” learning experiences, which promotes the desired e-teacher competences. During the course the students are engaged in discussions and co-operation by using different ICT-collaborations tools. At this time, the course has been held twice, and is available for everyone as an online learning resource under the Creative Commons license (http://www.virclass.net/eped). Evaluations by students have demonstrated that this hands-on training course can help students attain the necessary competences needed to be skilled e-teachers

Developing a Virtual Book - Material for Virtual Learning Environments

This article describes the process of, and considerations taken when Virtual Learning Materials were developed for an international study in Comparative Social Work arranged by the VIRCLASS project. The steps taken and the elements included in the Virtual Book – A Guide to Social Work in Europe are presented in details to inform others who are planning to make virtual learning materials. Students from 11 countries in Europe participated, and their reception of this material and learning outcomes from using it are analysed and presented. Furthermore; the article discuss how the learning material contributes to students’ learning, how a common understanding of practice enhances knowledge-building and in what way audio-visual learning material can contribute to good learning in e-learning courses. The results are discussed in relation to theories about composite texts and community of inquiry, and outlines some challenges for e-teachers’ competences