EATIS 2007 Conference Panel section on Virtual Universities

EATIS 2007 Conference Panel section on Virtual Universities
16 May, 2007 - Algarve
Moderator: Luis Borges Gouveia, University Fernando Pessoa
Speakers:
Luis Borges Gouveia, UFP;
Feliz Ribeiro Gouveia, UFP;
Maria do Rosário Almeida (UAberta)

The Virtual University concept is again in the university agenda worldwide. As a result of a growing demand for new curricula and the need to train much more people both in quantity and quality, new strategies must be on place. The use of information and communication technologies, the hidden costs of e-learning, and approaches as blended learning place the open source collaborative learning environments at the centre stage. Among the open source offer, two initiatives are the most promising ones: Sakai and Moodle.

The panel will address a brief introduction to the virtual university issues (Luis Borges Gouveia) and presents the experience gathered from the use of Sakai at UFP (Feliz Ribeiro Gouveia) and Moodle at UAberta (Maria do Rosário Almeida).

Our presentation will focus on the adoption and implementation issues of an elearning platform which is an integral part of the University's strategy, and the basis of the Virtual University project (UFPUV) and the new platform proposal for distance learning (UAberta). In both UFP and UAberta cases, mainly oriented towards blended and distance learning. A time slot is schedule for discussion among all the panel participants.