A Spaniard in the works

‘Successful Virtual Universities: Some Key Issues’ was the title of the second keynote of the morning given by Albert Sangra who is at the Open University of Catalonia, in Spain. Albert talked about the experiences gained at his university, which is fully online and therefore ‘virtual’. Albert’s main concern was that teaching and learning is not about technology, but about whether we can develop new approaches to delivery, which involve technology. Better to start separately and then merge methods and technologies once the needs have been identified.

There are four main reasons whay universities try to use online education, said Albert:

· To increase access to education
· To improve university economic expectations
· To respond to the technological imperative
· To improve quality of education

The second reason he said, is sometimes a mistake, because online education is often more expensive than face to face education. E-learning is an evolution of the use of technology in education, from the humble correspondence course, through telephone, CD ROM and now of course, the Internet. Use of any new technology inevitably promotes changes in universities. It involves redefining roles, administration processes, teaching methods, restructuring educational design and ultimately, changing the university itself, he said. Technology, organisation and pedagogy are the three key areas of change, and should not be thought about separately. The OUC has adapted delivery through ICT to the needs and profiles of their students, who are predominantly mature and working people. Delivery is fully asynchronous at OUC, and there is a division of labour between course developers, advisors, (showing an emphasis on student support) and administrators. OUC is certainly very successful, so this is a tried and tested model of distance education.

Above is another picture taken last night in the old town area of Warsaw.