Evaluation of the Swiss Virtual Campus - Schweizerische ...

SVC Final Evaluation. Background Report Lepori and Probst
8.1.16 Kompetenzzentrum E-Learning der Fachhochschule Ostschweiz
General description and organisation
The CCSP is a network with its leader at the HTW in Chur and two representatives per department (Buchs, Chur,
Rapperswil, St.Gallen) in the steering group (total 8 people).
Website http://elearningfho.fh-htwchur.ch/
Mission and strategy
Mission: development of teachers’ competences in the areas of elearning and e-teaching in a sustainable way;
pedagogical, technical and financial support for elearning projects at the departments, coordination of elearning projects
in the FHO, conception and organisation of training opportunities, representation of the FHO regarding elearning in the
‘Fachkommission elearning’ of KFH.
Since the four departments are partially autonomous, there is no overall strategy in the FHO. An elearning strategy
exists so far only in two of the four departments.
Activities
SVC projects: 1 project third call (Advancement of reading and writing skills of engineering students at UAS): all
contents produced at the CCSP
Support and other activities besides SVC projects:
• Support: Besides the SVC project, there are eight projects supported by the CCSP – every project has two
coaches (members of the CCSP, not from the department where the project is done at), usually there are between
2 and 4 meetings during the whole project period, plus e-mail and telephone exchange
• Training offer for teachers (no new offer in 2007)
• Information through website (limited)
• Publications and presentations
Competences: The CCSP offers its courses (writing learn texts for the web, quizzes online, e-learning in practice) to
other departments, as well as the coaching of project groups planning to implement a learning platform for several
curricula. Competences in the area of webcasts and eXeLearning (open source authoring tool, compatible with
SCORM).
Resources
8 coaches (2 per department), all with some experience in the area of elearning. The CCSP focuses on projects and
thus only a small part of the money is used for the steering group.
Future perspectives
In the future, all four departments will pay 14,000.- CHF each per year for the CCSP. The steering group will be
integrated into the Koordinationsstelle für Hochschuldidaktik and continue to exchange experiences and to organise one
workshop per year. The future of elearning depends on the commitment of the single departments. It is expected,
however, that within the next 2-4 years also the FHO will have to change its structure to a more centrally organised one,
and then probably a common elearning strategy might become possible.
Remarks and comments
This CCSP has chosen a particular approach: instead of constructing a strong centre or network, it decided to use
money mostly for direct support to elearning projects at the schools, with the idea to train teachers for the use of
elearning, expecting them also to act as multipliers in their departments. Members of the steering group are not primarily
employed for the CCSP, and work overload seems to be a common problem. Thus, with the end of SVC funding, no
CCSP exists any more. The integration of the steering group in the Koordinationsstelle für Hochschuldidaktik, however,
seems to be a good idea: this coordination unit is well acknowledged in the FHO and might also have the necessary
authority to promote elearning in the future.
Since there is no common elearning strategy, and collaboration between the departments is rather scarce, the future of
elearning depends very much on the commitment of the single departments. There are also other elearning projects at
the departments that have not been coordinated by the CCSP.
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