VCSE Guidebook/Conclusions/Recommendations for other virtual campuses

7.2. Recommendations for other virtual campuses

The VCSE organisational model

The open, flexible and bottom-up VCSE-model is highly recommended as a sustainable model for any virtual campus. Its viability is assured not by official top-down agreements among highly-positioned administrators, but, instead, by loose bottom-up agreements between scientific experts and university departments regarding the exchange of students, courses, expertise and know-how on e-learning for sustainable development. It is an “alternative” virtual campus model based on the subsidiarity principle, most suitable for the creation of local/regional e-learning networks for sustainable development involving all relevant actors (academic institutes, local/regional authorities, decision-makers and other stakeholders).

The VCSE web portal

The open source VCSE web portal (Typo3) and e-learning platform (Moodle) present an excellent example of low-cost, easily adaptable and reproducible internal communication and e-learning platform for virtual campuses’ scientific experts, academic staff and students.

The VCSE enlargement strategy and the promotion of the VCSE model

The Central Demonstration Workshops addressed to potential new members, offering a “hands-on demonstration” of the actual operation of the Virtual Campus proved to be a valuable promotional tool. Their effectiveness and efficiency can be further enhanced by tailor-made “on-site” demonstration workshops addressing the specific needs of relevant target–groups (academic staff or decision-makers) and by free-trials and supportive promotional audiovisual material (e.g. “virtual tours” of e-courses).