eLearning Training Course Developed through Peer Cooperation
Belgrade. In the frame of the eLearning segment within the
Master Studies Development Program (MSDP) of WUS Austria and with
support of the CIDA Partnerships for Tomorrow Program,
eLearning experts from the University of British Columbia, Vancouver,
Canada and the University of Belgrade, Serbia had the opportunity to
meet and work on the development of a new eLearning Training Course
named: E-Learning Professional Development Seminar (eLPDS).
The expert team from the University of British Columbia consisting
of Jeff Miller, Course Designer in the Office of Learning Technology
and Distance Education, Natasha Boskic, Educational Technology Manager
in the External Programs and Learning Technologies (EPLT) and Novak
Rogic, Manager, Web Strategy and IT, offered a powerful knowledge tour
and innovative ideas to the Serbian expert team consisting of
collaborators of the eLearning Centers at the universities of Belgrade
and Novi Sad (Milos Bajcetic, Danijela Scepanovic, Zivana Komlenov and
Petar Pavlovic) and WUS Austria (Milica Cicovacki).
The experts spent four days at the premises of the Faculty of Law,
University of Belgrade where they discussed the development of three
eLearning training modules. Each module should become available as a
diverse training combining multi-media on-line training modules with
traditional, instructor-led classroom training. The first module will
be implemented through the MSDP eLearning segment (WUS Austria
Program “Serbia
2007-2010: Improving Quality, Knowledge and Skills for Economic
Development - Support to Reforms of Higher Education in Serbia”). Further modules will be developed later forming part of the activities of the eLearning Centre in Belgrade.
The training modules are created in order to meet the needs of Serbian university teaching staff for better integration of ICT into teaching and learning practice. Experts created a draft document on the prospective learning outcomes, structure, activities, and resources for the E-Learning Professional Development Seminar (eLPDS) with focus on effective online teaching strategies for the target audience. The total seminar is planned to last 40 hours organized in five week segments (Week 1: Introduction to E-Learning, Week 2: Teaching Strategies, Week 3: Interaction, Week 4: Assessment Strategies, Week 5: Workgroup Presentations and Next Steps).
Experts also exchanged experiences on eLearning implementation processes at their institutions and listed resources useful for further development of eLPDS modules. The peer cooperation was very successful and it was agreed to be continued online.