Going online: Swiss Virtual Campus E-Learning Course "Dealing with Natural Hazards and Risks"

Some 90 learning units on the topics of natural hazards and risks are available. You are encouraged to use these learning units within your lectures or as an advanced training. Their access and use is for free, once you have kindly registered online at: www.nahris.ch.

Simply log in and use these virtual lessons!

5th Annual WebCT European User Conference - Call for Participation

Edinburgh, Scotland 27 February - 1 March, 2006

The heart and soul of WebCT conferences are the users. Educators, course designers, system administrators and WebCT users are invited to share their knowledge and expertise in the use of WebCT and online teaching and learning through submission of a presentation proposal. Conference program sessions will be either 45 or 60 minutes in length and will consist of four different types: showcases, discussions, hands-on demonstrations, and posters.

Further information at: www.webct.com/europe2006

Info from Steering Committee about National Platform Service

Information concernant un "service national de plateforme"

A la demande du président du Comité de pilotage du Campus Virtuel Suisse (CVS), nous vous transmettons quelques informations sur la situation et l'état actuel de la négotiation concernant la réalisation d'un "service national de plateforme":

1. Le Comité de pilotage du CVS a soumis à la Conférence Générale (Conférence des Recteurs des Universités Suisses CRUS, Conférence Suisse des Hautes Écoles Spécialisées CSHES, Conférence Suisse des Recteurs des Hautes Écoles Pédagogiques CSHEP) la proposition qu'un service national de plateforme soit offert par SWITCH à partir de janvier 2008. Il est prévu que la plateforme WebCT Vista et une plateforme en logiciel libre soient hébergées. Une répartition du financement entre des contributions fédérales fixes et des frais d' exploitation variables en fonction du nombre d'utilisateurs doit permettre une utilisation peu onéreuse de l'offre.
2. La CRUS, la CSHES et la CSHEP plaident pour la mise en place d'un service national de plateforme à partir de 2007 et recommandent à SWITCH de négocier avec le Comité de Pilotage du CVS pour réaliser l'hébergement et l'opérationnalisation des plateformes correspondantes.
3. Le Comité de pilotage du CVS dispose de licences auprès de WebCT Vista jusqu'à la fin 2007 et négocie pour le moment avec SWITCH pour l'acquisition de licences à vie.
4. Les négociations doivent être conclues entre WebCT, SWITCH et le Secrétariat d’Etat à l'éducation et à la recherche SER. La Conférence universitaire suisse CUS doit approuver formellement la décision. Nous espérons qu'une décision sera encore possible cette année.
5. La fusion de WebCT et de Blackboard a peu d'influence sur le service de plateforme à court et à moyen terme. A long terme, une modification concernant les produits software est possible.

Concernant les processus, nous vous tiendrons informés prochainement.

Avec nos cordiales salutations
Christian Hohnbaum, Coordinateur SVC

Information zur Realisierung eines «Nationalen Plattform Dienstes»

Im Auftrag des Präsidenten des Lenkungsausschuss des Swiss Virtual Campus (SVC), informieren wir Sie über den aktuellen Stand der Verhandlungen und die momentane Situation betreffend der Realisierung eines «Nationalen Plattform Dienstes»:

1. Der Lenkungsausschuss SVC hat der Gesamtkonferenz (Rektorenkonferenz der Schweizer Universitäten CRUS, Konferenz der Fachhochschulen der Schweiz KFH, Schweizerische Konferenz der Rektorinnen und Rektoren der Pädagogischen Hochschulen SKPH) den Vorschlag unterbreitet, dass durch SWITCH ab Januar 2008 ein nationaler Plattform Dienst angeboten werden soll. Vorgesehen ist, dass die Lernplattform WebCT Vista und eine Open Source Plattform gehostet werden. Eine Aufteilung der Finanzierung in feste Bundesbeiträge und nutzerabhängige Hostinggebühren soll eine sehr kostengünstige Nutzung des Angebots ermöglichen.
2. CRUS, KFH und SKPH befürworten die Einrichtung eines gesamtschweizerischen Serviceangebots ab 2007 und empfehlen SWITCH, mit dem Lenkungsausschuss des SVC zu verhandeln, um die Unterbringung und den Betrieb der entsprechenden Plattformen zu realisieren.
3. Der Lenkungsausschuss SVC verfügt über WebCT Vista Lizenzen bis Ende 2007 und verhandelt zurzeit zusammen mit SWITCH den Erwerb von «lebenslangen Lizenzen».
4. Die Verhandlungen müssen zwischen WebCT, SWITCH und dem Staatssekretariat für Bildung und Forschung SBF abgeschlossen werden. Die Schweizerische Universitätskonferenz SUK muss den Entscheid formell bestätigen. Wir hoffen auf eine Entscheidung noch in diesem Jahr.
5. Der Merger von WebCT und Blackboard hat kurz- und mittelfristig voraussichtlich wenig Einfluss auf den Plattform Dienst. Langfristig ist eine Veränderung bezüglich Softwareprodukten möglich.

Über den weiteren Prozess werden wir Sie auf dem Laufenden halten.

Mit freundlichen Grüssen
Christian Hohnbaum, SVC-Koordinator

Now published: final evaluation report Swiss Virtual Campus impulse program including an interim report.

Swiss University Conference (www.cus.ch) has published the final evaluation report Swiss Virtual Campus impulse program including an interim report.
The report is available only in a french or german version - both including an english written summary.

Campus virtuel suisse (SVC), Programme fédéral d'impulsion 2000-2003.
Rapport final de l'évaluation, juin 2004, et Rapport intermédiaire, novembre 2004 (PDF, 1.2 MB)

Bundesprogramm Swiss Virtual Campus (SVC). Impulsprogramm 2000-2003.
Schlussbericht Programmevaluation, Juni 2004, und Interimsbericht, November 2004 (PDF, 1.2 MB)

Continuing Education - Moodle Workshop, November 16, November 30 and December 9th 2005

We organize a big "Moodle Workshop" in three parts. It will take place at the Zurich University of Applied Sciences ZHW in Winterthur. If you want to participate in this workshop series (held in German) or you want a similar workshop (in English or German) at your institution, do not hesitate to contact us (Andreas König, Visvanath Ratnaweera and Martin Vögeli):
http://elearning.zhwin.ch/moodlekurs/.

Open Source LMS Evaluation by Edutech

Edutech has completed an evaluation of six open source Learning Management Systems (ATutor, Claroline, dotLRN, Ilias, Moodle and OLAT). Intended primarily as a decision-making aid, the evaluation results do not make a selection or recommendation of any single product.

NET-ELC Annual Conference ETH Zürich, 4 November 2005

The 10th NET-ELC Annual Conference will take place at the ETH Zürich, 4 November 2005.

Programme and online-Registration: www.net.ethz.ch/services/net_elc_tagungen

The Network for Educational Technology (NET) and the E-Learning Center (ELC) are the E-Learning competence centers of the ETH Zurich, resp. University of Zurich.

DOIT – Dermatology Online with Interactive Technology - among 10 finalist of MedidaPrix 2005

The DOIT-team is pleased to announce that the SVC project DOIT (www.swisdom.org) is among the 10 finalist of the Medidaprix 2005 (www.medidaprix.org/mdd_2005/finalframe.htm).
All interested persons are invited to the presentation of the finalists at the GMW Tagung 2005, September 13-16, 2005, at University of Rostock in Germany (www.gmw05.de)
Please visit the GMW Tagung 2005.

SVC Days 2006

The next Swiss Virtual Campus Days will take place on March 13-14, 2006 at University of Basel.

Please mark your agenda for the SVC Days 2006.

New Postal Address for the SVC

The SVC will have soon (August 15, 2005) a new postal address:

Rektorenkonferenz der Schweizer Universitäten or Conférence des Recteurs des Universités Suisses
Swiss Virtual Campus
Postfach 607
3000 Bern 9

We would like to ask you to use this address in future.

New Scientific Collaborator at the Swiss Virtual Campus

The coordination team of the SVC has a new collaborator: On July 1, Dietrich Lindemann has started as a scientific collaborator. He studied industrial engineering and management. After finishing his studies he worked as an assistant for the management in an industrial company. He is an expert for reporting, controlling and database management.

To contact Dietrich Lindemann dial +41 31 306 60 59 or write to dietrich.lindemann@crus.ch

Workshop on eLesson Markup Language, July 5th in Fribourg

To Swiss Virtual Campus Project members and Elearning Support Centers:

Edutech and Centre NTE are organizing a one day seminar on eLML, e-Lesson Markup Language, on Tuesday July 5th in Fribourg. Susanne Bleisch and Joël Fisler are the workshop teachers.

Intended for people familiar with XML, it will include a review of XML followed by practical exercises. Participants are strongly encouraged to bring their own elearning lessons to use with the workshop.

The workshop will be given in English, questions/discussions in German and French are possible.

Limited spaces, please reserve beforehand: Pauline McNamara

More on eLML: www.elml.ch

New Scientific Collaborator at the Swiss Virtual Campus

The coordination team of the SVC has a new collaborator: On June 1, Aude pacton has started as a scientific collaborator. She studied political science at the university of Lyon. After finishing her studies she worked as a scientific collaborator at the French Embassy in Switzerland for the cultural exchange and the exchange of relations between the Higher Education Systems of both countries.

To contact Aude Pacton dial +41 31 306 60 48 or write to aude.pacton@crus.ch

Call for Papers : First Intl' Conference on Mobile Communications & Learning

The Call for Papers for MCL-2006 (First International Conference on Mobile Communications and Learning) is now open.

The First International Conference on Mobile Communications and Learning will serve as a major joint professional meeting of experts, researchers, engineers, representatives from industry in the areas of Mobile Communications, Networking and Technology, and educators, practitioners and scholars in the areas of Mobile Learning, Teaching, and Training.

Continuing Education - Moodle Workshop, May 30 2005

Because the first "Moodle Workshop" was such a huge success we plan a second big workshop. It will take place on May 30th, 2005 at 17:45 h at the Zurich University of Applied Sciences ZHW in Winterthur. If you want to participate in this workshop (held in German) or you want a similar workshop (in English or German) at your institution do not hesitate to contact Martin Vögeli or Visvanath Ratnaweera at: http://elearning.zhwin.ch/forum/...

2nd International SCIL Congress, 11-12 October 2005

The Swiss Centre for Innovations in Learning (SCIL) organises at the University of St. Gallen the 2nd International Conference.

Some key questions will be discussed with international learning professionals from different fields, like: What is the future role of educational management professionals, of service centres, business partners, learning architects? How to support the transformation by involving the necessary stakeholders? How to build a learning and an eLearning culture for generating not just short-term successful e-learning, but sustainable e-learning? How to design the learning organization where eLearning represents an innovation as a strategic challenge for long-lasting competitive advantages?

Read more about the planned workshops and the invited keynote speakers at: www.scil.ch

Online questionnaire for students of the SVC Impulse Programme

Also during the Summer Semester 2005, the students of the SVC courses are invited to fill in the online questionnaire of the mandate SVC Monitoring. The project leaders can get anonymized feedback on their project.

4th and Last Call for SVC Projects Opened !

The 4th and last call for projects is opened now. Please read inside for further information about conditions, selection procedure, schedule etc. :
4th Call for SVC Projects

Final Report of eQuality SVC Mandate

The SVC Mandate "eQuality : Pedagogical Evaluation and Consulting" has written its final report (pdf, 920 kB), with some interesting observations on the SVC programm.

Job Vacancy at SVC Coordination Team

The coordination team of the SVC is looking for a new scientific collaborator. Description of job profile.

Advance Notice - New Swiss Virtual Campus Projects, 4th and Last Call

Preliminary Information on the 4th and last call for projects of the Swiss Virtual Campus to be launched on March 29th, 2005, is now available in this document.

Pharmasquare among 20 finalists of Multimedia Transfer 2005 !

The pharmasquare team is pleased to announce that the SVC project pharmasquare is among the 20 finalists of the Multimedia Transfer competition 2005. All interested persons are invited to a presentation of the project at the LearnTec fair for educational and information technology which takes place in Karlsruhe, Germany, on February 14-18.

Multimedia Transfer is one of the largest competitions in the field of software delelopment for universities in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The goal is to transfer know-how from young computer scientists to the economy.

Pharmasquare will be located at booth 190, in the Stadthalle of the Kongresszentrum Karlsruhe.

Invitation to MEDIDA-PRIX 2005, price money EURO 100'000.-

The German "Gesellschaft für Medien in der Wissenschaft e.V. (GMW)" launches the sixth trinational MEDIDA-PRIX for e-learning projects. The price money of EURO 100'000.- will be attributed by a jury to outstanding developments in the field of e-learning, under the two categories "Digital Media in Higher Education" and "Development of Higher Education with digital media".

Students and employees of all institutions of higher education in Switzerland, Austria and Germany can participate. The deadline for project submissions is March 31, 2005.

For more information : http://www.medidaprix.org (in German)

Online questionnaire for all SVC students of the Impulse Programme

Until February 14, 2005, the students of all SVC courses should fill in an online questionnaire in order to tell their experiences. The team of the mandate SVC Monitoring has informed the project leaders that they can get anonymized feedback on their project.

SCIL Fellowship Programme 2005 - Call for Applications

The Swiss Centre for Innovations in Learning (SCIL) offers two Fellowships in 2005. The SCIL Fellowship Programme aims at the promotion of interdisciplinary science communication on eLearning. The Programme enables experienced researchers to conduct a research project supporting the sustainable implementation of eLearning in educational organisations. Due date for applications is February 28, 2005.
For further information please refer to http://www.scil.ch/programmes/fellowship-en.html