Evaluation of the Swiss Virtual Campus - Schweizerische ...
Evaluation of the Swiss Virtual Campus - Schweizerische ...
Evaluation of the Swiss Virtual Campus - Schweizerische ...
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SVC Final <strong>Evaluation</strong>. Background Report Lepori and Probst<br />
8.1.9 E-Learning Center der Universität Zürich (ELC)<br />
General description and organisation<br />
There are three e-learning contact points for teachers at UZH: ELC and MELS and e-learning coordinators. They are<br />
organised in a ‘e-learning competence network’. There is collaboration, but also rivalry. Clarification <strong>of</strong> mandates and<br />
core competencies is planned.<br />
Website http://www.elc.unizh.ch<br />
Mission and strategy<br />
Mission: ELC promotes and coordinates <strong>the</strong> development and implementation <strong>of</strong> elearning in higher education at UZH.<br />
The university strategy contains a commitment to Bologna and elearning. The elearning strategy mentions university<br />
goals (Bologna, quality <strong>of</strong> teaching, more interactivity for big classes, international reputation), <strong>the</strong> new IT-strategy aligns<br />
with <strong>the</strong> goals <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> elearning strategy (strategic platform policy, use <strong>of</strong> open source). Excellent quality in teaching is<br />
aspired and supported.<br />
Activities<br />
SVC projects: 23 projects as leading house: 4 first call (DOIT, eCorporate Finance, Mesosworld, Basic course in<br />
Medicine and Pharmacology), 4 second call (ALPECOLe, GITTA, Basic and Clinical Pharmacology, AD Learn), 8 third<br />
call (PRO, eFeed, GPS, Foundations <strong>of</strong> Information Systems, Press, DIGIREP, Core IT Ma<strong>the</strong>matics, E-GONE), 7<br />
fourth call (GLOPP, DEVIL, CasIS, SVAP, BIOSYM, Democratic Processes and Political Behaviour, ESO). The degree<br />
<strong>of</strong> involvement <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> CCSP varies a lot.<br />
Mainly blended learning. Two projects finalists in Medidaprix 2006 contest, eCorporate Finance wins.<br />
Support and o<strong>the</strong>r activities besides SVC projects:<br />
o Support <strong>of</strong> creation and implementation <strong>of</strong> learning management system OLAT (implemented by IT services):<br />
18,000 registered students at UZH<br />
o E-learning projects financed by university: ELC controls alignment with strategy and quality <strong>of</strong> proposals and<br />
provides instruments for evaluation<br />
o Actually more than 80 e-learning projects are about to be developed at UZH (smaller scale projects than SVC)<br />
o ELC and MELS provide information, support, hands-on help, content production, faculty development programmes<br />
for teaching staff and project teams<br />
o MELS: periodical reviews with user groups, feedback <strong>of</strong> project coordinators<br />
o ELC: workshops, presentations and events on e-learning<br />
o Quality management<br />
o Consulting <strong>of</strong> chairs <strong>of</strong> SVC projects and projects in continuing education, <strong>of</strong> whole institutions (UZH-ETH<br />
Sprachenzentrum and Department for Continuing Education, Prorektorat Lehre), <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> university leaders by<br />
bringing in new concepts and proposals for development<br />
o Direct consulting with single chairs and institutes is done by <strong>the</strong> elearning coordinators <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> faculties and by<br />
MELS in matters <strong>of</strong> OLAT and multimedia production<br />
o MELS: podcasting and streaming <strong>of</strong> lectures (10 per week)<br />
o Production <strong>of</strong> multimedia products<br />
Competences: MELS: multimedia competencies - MELS <strong>of</strong>fers <strong>the</strong> use <strong>of</strong> OLAT to o<strong>the</strong>r <strong>Swiss</strong> universities, service<br />
agreement. ELC: models for organizational development, course programmes for teaching staff, information, events.<br />
Experiences in teleteaching and online teletransmission <strong>of</strong> didactical units.<br />
Resources<br />
Collaborators: ELC: 1 leader, 1 leader substitute, 2 management assistants, 4 scientific collaborators: media<br />
pedagogues, psychologists, social scientists, administrators. MELS: engineers, multimedia producers, developers,<br />
graphic artists, etc.<br />
FTEs: ELC: 5,9 + 0,45 financed by SVC; MELS: total 25; 2,5 financed by SVC.<br />
Future perspectives<br />
elearning resources are part <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Bologna curricula. SVC funds will not be substituted. University funding is expected<br />
to remain <strong>the</strong> same, services should continue as before, with a focus on better organisation <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> services.<br />
Collaboration in elearning projects <strong>of</strong> LERU (League <strong>of</strong> European Research Universities) is foreseen.<br />
Remarks and comments<br />
It seems that <strong>the</strong> combination <strong>of</strong> a service and a network between coordinators in <strong>the</strong> faculties is a good solution for<br />
such a big university with so many projects going on. The ELC website provides a lot <strong>of</strong> useful information on elearning<br />
(including examples <strong>of</strong> best practices) that can help for example teachers wanting to implement elearning in <strong>the</strong>ir<br />
classes. The performance report praises <strong>the</strong> CCSP and also its collaboration with <strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r tertiary education institutes<br />
in <strong>the</strong> canton <strong>of</strong> Zurich.<br />
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