Pathfinder

In e-learning circles, a pathfinder is a project in an institution (or consortium) which aims to show a new path through to some more advanced state of e-learning which other similar institutions can follow. See for example the UK HE Pathfinder Programme.

It has to be said that few pathfinder projects have succeeded in this goal. Which does not mean that it is an unworthy one.

One of the major snags is that most pathfinder projects do not know enough about what projects have gone before and why they succeeded or failed - and if the latter, how they might have been adjusted to succeed.

This is one of the main aims of Re.ViCa, to find and distill such knowledge with particular reference to large-scale e-learning initiatives in universities (where of course the cost of failure is large).

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