Short description of e-Learning acitivities within the institution
Since 2001 I have been developing and running e-learning courses at the English Seminar (University of Basel). The computer relevant part of these courses always has been integrated in traditional place-based teaching formats (Seminar, Vorlesung).
Please consult my homepage for further information:
http://pages.unibas.ch/anglist/schiltz/elearning.htm
Current situation
My present position at the Seminar is being project coordinator for "eHistLing" (Introduction to the History of the English language), a
SwissVirtualCampus? project, that we are currently running with Moodle. In addition I am supporting an e-learning course at the university of Zürich, that we have implemented in OLAT.
Know-how and vision
Apart from self-developed learning environments, I have been using
WebCT?, OLAT and Moodle so far. I can attest some basic knowledge of PHP, Flash and some webdesign stuff (XHTML, CSS).
Working in the humanities, I am convinced (and have experienced) that within our teaching aims the major prospects of e-learning are realized in supporting new (better?) ways of communication and co-operation.
Main interests in e-Learning with regard to the users
Consistent scenarios of CSCL support students to take more actively part in their learning process (learner centred methods) and furthermore students get trained in basic soft skills, that are promoted by the Bologna process (media competence in the service of learning). At the moment we are
observing a very clear shift in learning and teaching strategies. Teachers feel insecure of the benefits of computer supported teaching formats (workload, learning benefits), students still make a clear distinction between computer work (leisure, disapproval) and learning commitment.
Although we are living an exiting experience, I think that e-learning environments have to meet the demands of both, teachers and students. Ease in usability is essential for teachers to make use of electronic resources without taking up a great deal of time. Students should be able to adopt their media skills without any technical retraining. Up to now e-learning environments converge to implement both requests, but always with a certain compromise. I hope, that in this working group we will be able to pick out the best possible compromise ;-)
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