1. 1
Successful use of web 2.0 in
professional development
Paul Bacsich
Matic Media Ltd, Sero Consulting Ltd and Middlesex University
Working on:
Re.ViCa (funded under EU LLL Programme)
CAPITAL project (funded by Becta in the UK)
Benchmarking e-learning (funded by Higher Education Academy
in the UK)

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Web 2.0 – is it new?
Some history
(mainly from UK, EADTU
and Frameworks 3 and 4)

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The 1990s UK paradigm for
“e-CPD” from universities
“Conservative constructivism” (JANUS, Café
Mondial, UKOU, EPSRC IGDS, SHU, Middlesex)
Content delivered by web/VLE
Interaction with tutor AND communication
between students carried out in a social space
And later, group working also
Computer conferencing = CMC
Systems like FirstClass – later the group tools
within WebCT and Blackboard

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FirstClass features
• Personal pages
• Synchronous (Real-time chat , but also quasi-
synchronous (“Who’s online”)
• Non-academic interactions – e.g. café
(students only)
• Remind you of any modern systems?

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Web 2.0 systems for
“business”
• Blogs
• Wikis
• E-Portfolios = CVs (administration)
• Social networking?
– Yes, in the sense of CMC – so not new
• Podcasting???
– Evidence against, including from students

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Blogs for business
• A one-many publishing format, with limited
ability to comment
• Useful for project management in an “open”
tradition
• See for example the UK Higher Education
Academy blog systems to manage the
Pathfinder Programme -
http://elearning.heacademy.ac.uk/weblogs/pa
thfinder/

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Wikis for business
• Gets one back to how the web used to be –
anyone remember Microsoft’s IIS?
• Very useful for multiple authors collaborating
when each has a defined focus and overlap is
limited
• Examples – Re.ViCa (and there are others) -
http://www.virtualcampuses.eu/index.php/M
ain_Page

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Axiom (after Ehrmann)
CPD should use worldware – tools for learning
which are also tools for business
Supplementary: and ideally tools whose
underlying intellectual processes are not new

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But what is “successful”?
A canter through Re.ViCa

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• Re.ViCa = “Reviewing (Traces of) European
Virtual Campuses”
• Project supported by the European Union:
Lifelong Learning Programme
Erasmus/Virtual Campus
• 1 October 2007 – 30 September 2009
Project Description

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Partnership
• EuroPACE ivzw (BE)
• Katholieke Universiteit Leuven –
AVNet (BE)
• ATiT (BE)
• FernUniversität in Hagen (DE)
• Helsinki University of Technology -
TKK Dipoli (FI)
• Université Louis Pasteur (FR)
• University of West Hungary - College
of Geoinformatics (HU)
• International Telematic University
UNINETTUNO (IT)
• Matic Media Ltd (UK)

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What is a Virtual Campus
Nowadays?

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Mobility
VIRTUAL
Campus
University
Seminar
Course
Class

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Target group
Institutional Budget
Goals
Technology
Our Definition
• Virtual Campus = Large-Scale
(managed) e-Learning Initiative

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Re.ViCa makes a review of Virtual
Campuses all over Europe. By
comparing European and non-
European initiatives, we create lessons
learned and critical success factors to
enable institutions to set up a Virtual
Campus to maximise their performance
“
“
Reviewing Virtual Campuses

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Main Outputs
• wiki – the heart of the project – including 29 in-
depth country reports and 30 mini-reports
– 9 detailed case studies including Universidad
Politécnica de Madrid
– Inventory of “interesting” Programmes
– Taxonomy
– Resources
• Three key meetings with International Advisory
Committee
• Virtual Campus Manual with guidelines, best-
practice, recommendations – and Critical Success
Factors

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Step 1
• Create Country reports, based on Country template : sources OECD, other
European Projects, wikipedia, literature, desktop research
Step 2
• Indicate Virtual Campus Initiatives
Step 3
• Internal Evaluation by project partners
• External Evaluation by experts
Results
• 21 European Country report and 8 non- European Country reports
• 30 mini Country reports
• Lessons Learnt: What are the trends we ‘noticed’ in the 29 Country reports
• Comparison EU – non EU
Country Reports

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Lessons Learned
• Review of 29 country reports, 21
European and 8 Non-European:
• Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil,
Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark,
Estonia, Finland, France, Germany,
Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Kenya,
Luxembourg, Mexico, the
Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway,
Poland, Portugal, Russia, South Africa,
Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and
United Kingdom

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Key Lessons Learned
Language is a key issue in development of
Virtual Campus initiatives
HE institutions operating on multi‐campus
basis often more likely to adopt VC strategies
No common understanding about the term
“Virtual Campus” or even “Virtual University”
Line between “Virtual Campus” and more
traditional campus activities is blurred

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Key Lessons Learned
Long‐term impact and sustainability of
national programmes and initiatives now
questionable
In Europe, HE sector focus more on inclusion,
lifelong learning and adult learning
contributes to increase virtual learning
opportunities
What lessons can be learned for CPD
providers?

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Key Lessons Learned
 Not enough to be advanced and experienced – need
to check beyond borders for strategic adaptation
 Europe HEIs focus on content and service more then
on technological facilities and platforms
 International competition a driving force for change
and innovation
 Quality Assurance focus on traditional learning - lack
of a QA system focused on virtual initiatives
 For-Profit Virtual Campus initiatives opt for areas
where there is a ready market for online courses

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Step 1
• Search for interesting eLearning initiatives. Sources Gazetteer, UNESCO,
European projects, Country reports, expert evaluations, IAC Meetings
Step 2
• wiki categorisation approach
Results
• 158 European Programmes of Interest all categorised
• 269 Non-European Programmes of Interest all categorised
• Comparison EU-NonEU
Programmes of Interest

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Re.ViCa Success Factors for Virtual Campuses
A critical success factor is a factor whose presence is
necessary for an organisation to fulfill its mission - in other
words, if it is not present then its absence will cause
organisational and/or mission failure.
“ “

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Outputs: CSFs
• Iterative – involvement of IAC
and other feedback
• 4 schemes analysed or
re‐analysed.
MEGATRENDS
Study on
Large‐scale Virtual
Campuses
PBP‐VC
Study on
Consortia‐based
Virtual Campuses
UNIQUe
eLearning Quality/
Accreditation
Scheme
E‐xcellence
Benchmarking/
Quality Scheme for
eLearning

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Results
17 Critical Success Factors
• relevant to success of eLearning in all types of
Virtual Campus
14 Key Success Factors
• relevant to success of eLearning in one or more
subsets (categories) of Virtual Campus ‐ such as
private for‐profit providers, consortia, etc.

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Some Critical and Key
Success Factors for CPD
• Critical – applies to all types of providers
• Leadership: Leaders can make effective decisions with
e-learning implications
• Management: Style is appropriate to the mix of
business and educational activities
• Relationships: Effective methods of achieving credibility
with government and public agencies
• Key – applies particularly to CPD providers?
• Pricing: Prices are competitive yet sustainable
• Context: Each proposed offering is analysed in context
of existing providers and stakeholders
• Learning: Provider can rapidly learn lessons from
offerings, learners, the market, stakeholders etc

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Immediate future: Wiki...
Re.ViCa wiki: http://www.virtualcampuses.eu
• Launched @ ICDE conference:
opening up wiki to public
• Include feedback from IAC in
our research
• Expand wiki, with the input of
IAC members and e-Learning
community in general
• Promotion of wiki through
newsletter, publications and
events

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and the Handbook.
• Re.ViCa Handbook with best-practices, guidelines
and recommendations
• Definition of Virtual Campus
• Historical Overview
• Categorisation
• World Tour
• Thematic view
• Critical success factors
• Further reading

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Future: beyond September
Continuation of wiki.......
• Agreement between partners
to maintain, update and edit
the wiki for at least one year
• Look for additional funding &
projects
• Further partnerships (networks
& individual contributors)
• Expand scope: commercial
providers, colleges, schools...?

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Thank you for listening
That was
“Successful use of web 2.0 in professional development”
By Paul Bacsich – paul@matic-media.co.uk
Web - http://revica.europace.org
Wiki - http://www.virtualcampuses.eu
Please check http://www.virtualcampuses.eu/index.php/Spain
No Re.ViCa blog – yet?
In memory of Professor Robin Mason, UK OU
Among her many contributions to e-learning was her work at UK OU
on virtual campuses and e-CPD
Died 15 June 2009
http://iet-public-wiki.open.ac.uk/index.php/Robin