Swiss Virtual Campus - case study

The Swiss Virtual Campus (SVC) promotes learning over the Internet at the Swiss Institutions of Higher Education (Universities, Universities of Applied Sciences, and Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology). Students are no longer tied to a programme of lectures with set times and locations; they can acquire knowledge whenever and wherever they choose.

Subject specialists as well as experts on education and didactic methods ensure high course quality outside the framework of conventional lectures. Multilingual modules and cooperation between institutions of higher education take account of the special conditions in Switzerland. Competence Centres are set up to support project development.

At the moment there are 82 courses online, covering a wide spectrum of disciplines. Another 30 from the 4th and last series are in preparation.

The web site is http://www.virtualcampus.ch

The Impulse Programme - initial goals

The Swiss Virtual Campus programme is part of a process aimed at promoting the information society in Switzerland as well as enabling education - in particular higher education - to take advantage of the opportunities now available through new information and communication technology.

In this respect the programme hopes to provide students with virtual mobility that will enable them to play an active role in learning processes and follow high-quality courses on their computer monitors.

The principal concrete aim of the programme is to develop teaching modules that will be used through the Internet in several regular study programs of the Swiss universities.

Consolidation Programme

The Swiss Virtual Campus project is now in the phase of the 2004-2007 Consolidation Programme. This isfinanced by project-linked contributions in accordance with the Universities Promotion Law. The Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology and the universities of applied science are participating in the programme using their own funds.

At its meeting of 16 October 2003, the Swiss University Conference (SUC) approved the "2004-2007 Implementation Plan", which lays down the organizational and financial framework of the Consolidation Programme for the new financial period. Basically, the Consolidation Programme reaffirms the aims of the Impulse Program. A certain number of adjustments have been made to take account of the experience gained so far, and to position the Program better within the context of ongoing trends in higher education. They concern project finance and development, as well as program organization. The Consolidation Program involves four main financial aspects:

1. Competence, service and production centres in each university
2. Use and maintenance of projects developed
3. New course development
4. Services for universities and coordination.

Since 2004, operational programme management and the coordination office have been overseen by the Rectors' Conference of the Swiss Universities (CRUS). Competence, service and production centres at each university receive financial support. The SVC Commission was wound up at the end of 2003.

Project Maintenance Support

The Swiss Virtual Campus Consolidation Programme (2004-2007) gives funding for the use and maintenance of courses of recognised quality (see document below “Execution Plan”). The Competence-, Service- and Production Centres (CCSP) will be responsible for the maintenance funds, in close collaboration with the project leader and partners. Maintenance measures must be coordinated and agreed on between the project leader and the CCSP.

Evaluation

Evaluation of SVC is being carried out by Professor Robin Mason of the UK Open University. This phase starts with a meeting in April 2008 and continues with interviews of key officials and stakeholders in June 2008. An evaluation report will be produced by Autumn 2008.

Editors! When using this just as a template ignore all the information about 1-5 scales and comments.

Just cover each topic (bulleted list item) by a sentence or short paragraph. Note that several items are unlikely to be susceptible to desk research.

This structure will have to be considerably adjusted for a National initiative.

Institution

The present

• Provide a general description of the institution in its current state, putting the e-learning into context.
• What is the institution's annual budget?
• How many students does the institution have (a) in total? (b) as full-time equivalents?
• How many staff does the institution have (a) in total? (b) as full-time equivalents?
• What is the institution's "business model"? (a) public (b) private (c) consortium (d) national programme. If (c) or (d) above, list the other partners (or the members) and for each briefly describe its role.
• What percentage of the institution's students are based outside the home country?
• Describe the institution's approach to virtual mobility.
• Describe how the institution manages its "brand" (a) in general and (b) in respect of any e-learning aspects.

The past

• Give a narrative description of the institution's history since its foundation, concentrating on key dates, recent years and any e-learning issues.

External environment

• What is the institution's funding from government as a percentage of annual income?
• Describe the way that funding is provided for institutions in the institution's country, or state that it is the same as for other institutions in the country.
• Describe the legal status of the institution.
• List the language(s) that the institution uses for instruction with the percentage of students studying in each. (Bilingual study can also be included.)
• Describe any specific cultural issues that affect the institution's students or state that that it is the same as for other institutions in the country. Mention any features relevant to e-learning.
• Describe the external quality assurance and/or accreditation regime affecting the institution, or state that it is the same as for other institutions in the country. Mention any features relevant to e-learning.
• Describe the approach to credit transfer with other similar institutions.
• List the main associations that the institution is a member of, with a note as to the relevance of each to e-learning (if any).
• List the main international partners of the institution, in the order of strategic importance, with priority given to collaborations involving e-learning.

Strategy

(Do not include annual plans.)

• Describe or provide a document describing the current institutional strategy.
• Describe or provide a document describing the current learning and teaching strategy.
• Describe or provide a document describing the current e-learning strategy.

Do not include or refer to annual plans except as necessary to provide budgetary information.

• What is the percentage of students (a) taking courses wholly or largely delivered by e-learning (b) taking courses where the amount of institutionally supplied/guided e-learning is "significant" (i.e. has an impact on staff or students) and (c) taking courses where the where the amount of institutionally supplied/guided e-learning is insignificant? In each case comment on the answer.
• Give the percentage of the institutional budget that e-learning represents. Comment on how it is measured including the assumptions made, whether it is appropriate and any trends.
• Categorise the role (if any) of external funding in fostering the development of e-learning as (a) not relevant, (b) useful, or (c) essential. Comment on the choice.

Structure

• Describe the institutional structure, preferably supplying an organogram.
• Classify the e-learning support model as (a) hub (b) distributed (c) hub and spokes (d) complicated (e) non-existent. Comment on the choice.
• Describe in more detail the structure for the e-learning operation and how it maps into the institutional structure.
• Describe the committees that oversee e-learning (including the rank and role of the Chair in each relevant committee) and their relationship to the organisational structure.

Learning and Teaching processes

This has a focus on learning and teaching with other aspects viewed from this perspective.

Learning and teaching design and delivery

• Describe how choice of pedagogies and technologies is made for a typical programme that is envisaged to include significant e-learning.
• Describe what scope staff have at delivery stage to refine or in some cases override design decisions made earlier.

Learning and teaching development

This includes materials and IPR.

• How much e-learning content is sourced from outside the institution? Use a scale of 1-5 with a comment (an exact percentage is useful).
• Of all e-learning content sourced from outside the institution, what fraction is OER? Use a scale of 1-5 with a comment.
• When staff in the institution develop content, is the content (a) owned by them and licensed to the institution, (b) owned by the institution but with some licensing back to staff, (c) owned by the institution but with no licensing back to staff, (d) unclear or disputed IPR position? Whatever option is chosen, provide a narrative describing the situation in more detail.
• When content is sourced for a programme within the institution, how much is sourced from other departments within the institution? Use a scale of 1-5 with a comment (an exact percentage is useful).
• What is the role of student-generated content in the institution's programmes? Use a scale of 1-5 with a comment.

Learning and teaching evaluation and quality

• Describe the quality procedures (a) in general terms and (b) with respect to e-learning.
• Describe the approach to evaluation of programmes (a) in general terms and (b) where such programmes have significant e-learning components.

Meta Learning and Teaching processes

Communications

• Describe how the institution communicates good practice in e-learning within itself, focussing on communications across internal boundaries.
• Describe how the institution communicates its good practice in e-learning to organisations outside.
• Describe how the institution communicates good practice in e-learning from outside organisations into its own organisation.
• Describe recent occasions on which institutional leaders or managers have made presentations with significant reference to e-learning.

Value for money

• Describe the annual planning procedure (a) in general and (b) how it handles e-learning aspects.
• Describe the decision-making process for a typical academic programme, with particular reference to how e-learning aspects are handled.
• Describe the decision-making process for a typical large IT project such as selection and installation of a new VLE.
• Describe the approach to budget management with particular reference to the staff versus non-staff issues in budgeting for e-learning.
• Describe the procedures in the institution for assigning or negotiating teaching workload to/with staff, taking account of non-traditional styles of teaching as well as classroom teaching and taking specific account of e-learning.

Staff

Teachers, lecturers, trainers and equivalent support roles

• Describe the approach to development of e-learning technical and pedagogic skills among staff, taking account of the different needs of different categories of staff. Set this within the context of staff development generally.
• Describe (a) the current level of staff competence in e-learning and (b) the expected level of staff competence in five years time. In each case use a 1-5 scale with a comment.
• Describe the extent to which staff attitudes to e-learning are favourable or not. Use a 1-5 scale with a comment.
• Describe the way that the institution rewards and recognises staff with competence in e-learning, in (a) monetary and (b) non-monetary terms.

Management and leadership

This subsection concerns leaders (Rectors, Vice-Chancellors, etc) and academic and support service managers (Deans, Directors, etc). These do not need to have specific knowledge of e-learning details but must have the necessary strategic, management, costing and foresight capability to preside over decisions on key e-learning issues such as procurement of a new VLE, development of a new distance learning programme, rebalancing the library and its staff more towards web 2.0 and less to books, etc. This will require appropriate manager and leader training.

• Describe the approach to development of e-learning-related skills among (a) managers and (b) leaders.
• Describe the current level of (a) management and (b) leadership competence in e-learning related skills appropriate to their levels. In each case use a 1-5 scale with a comment.
• Describe the extent to which (a) management and (b) leadership attitudes to e-learning are favourable or not. Use a 1-5 scale with a comment.
• Give details of the job description of the most senior manager/leader in the organisation who spends a significant portion of his/her time on e-learning matters (e.g. the Director of E-Learning).

Students

• Describe the approach to development of e-learning skills among students, taking account of the different needs of different categories of students. Set this within the context of students' more general information literacy and communication skills.
• Describe (a) the current level of student competence in e-learning on entry to the institution and (b) the expected level of student competence on graduation from the institution. In each case use a 1-5 scale with a comment.
• Describe the extent to which student attitudes to e-learning are favourable or not. Use a 1-5 scale with a comment.
• Describe the extent to which students understand the demands on them placed by e-learning systems (e.g. for assignment handling).
• Describe the current approach to handling student plagiarism, both prevention strategies and detection strategies.
• Describe the current (i.e. at last survey) level of student satisfaction with the e-learning aspects of their courses. Use a 1-5 scale with a comment.

Technology

For each of the following technologies relevant to e-learning describe how much it is used on a scale of 1-5 and add a comment if appropriate.

• VLE and/or content repository
• email or bulletin boards
• automated assessment
• Web 2.0 tools especially blogs, wikis and social networks oriented to the institution
• e-portfolios
• laptops - and comment on student ownership issues
• audio or video podcasting or streaming - and comment on student ownership issues
• mobile devices (not laptops) - and comment on student ownership issues

And finally:

• Provide a description of any other technologies with significant use in the institution.

Futures

• Describe the expected changes as they relate to e-learning within the institution's current strategic horizon (from the institution's strategy documents).
• Describe any changes further downstream that the institution is now considering or concerned about.
• Describe how the institution handles the foresight aspects of its operation with regard to e-learning.
• Describe how the institution handles advanced development oriented to e-learning (e.g. by a "sandbox" lab, innovation centre, etc).
• Describe how the institution analyses and takes into account present and future markets for its offerings.
• Describe how the institution analyses and takes into account present and future competitor suppliers for its offerings.
• Describe how the institution analyses and takes into account the views of other stakeholders, including but not restricted to employers, local authorities and the social partners (unions).

References and reports

Add what you can.

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