VCSE Guidebook/How to promote the VCSE-model/On-site workshops: Difference between revisions

'''Lessons learned'''

''Target groups''

There are broadly three target groups for on-site VCSE workshops at European universities: educational staff working in the field of sustainable development, educational staff working in other interdisciplinary, internationally-oriented fields and senior-level decision-makers at there universities. As the local contact persons involved in the organization of the on-site workshop were usually educational staff members working in the field of sustainable development, the first target group used to be well-represented. It turned out to be more difficult however, to get the other two target groups in substantial numbers on-board. Senior-level decision-makers – even when supportive - often feel they lack the time to attend such a workshop, and educational staff from other domains have to be well-motivated to cross so many bridges at the same time: to another domain (often another school or faculty as well), to international student mobility, and to e-learning. It is probably better to follow a very targeted approach, with on-site workshops tailored to specific target groups and more narrowly defined objectives (see also Conclusions and discussion).  

''Workshop materials''

* The original idea was to visit the on-going VCSE courses ‘live’ during on-site workshops to give participants a better impression of how courses are implemented in the virtual learning environment. We quickly learned that a ‘live visit’ is not a very efficient way of demonstrating the courses and instead we included a series of screen dumps in the PowerPoint presentation prepared for on-site visits, showing various aspects of the courses in VCSE’s virtual learning environment. Subsequently, ‘virtual tours’ of each VCSE course were developed which are even a better alternative to the ‘live visits’ during on-site workshops. By also including the ‘virtual tours’ in the public part of the VCSE website any interested visitor can now be informed about ‘how the courses work’.  Currently, the five ‘virtual course tours’ have been implemented in quite different ways, which makes it difficult for the audience to note the commonalities and specifics of each course. Thus, a future challenge is to devise and implement a common, attractive format for the ‘virtual tours’.  

* The international dimension should be more stressed within all dissemination activities as this is an attractive feature.

* When the target audience is from the own university or from other universities within the country, adaptation of the workshop materials is advisable as the information should best be provided in the national language, and placed in the context of the national educational system and its challenges.  

* It may be worthwhile to invest in attracting the attention of the local media for the workshop and the VCSE initiative, as many senior-level decision makers pay more attention to positive reports in the media than to pleas from their educational staff.

''Outcomes and follow-up''

Outcomes of on-site workshops with regards to the stated objectives have not been formally evaluated, but it is plausible that the workshops themselves and the publicity generated before and/or after the workshops have contributed to a raised awareness of the benefits of a virtual campus model and an enlarged basis of support for virtual campus initiatives, such as the VCSE, at European universities. With regard to the third objective of dissemination, motivating the target groups to become involved in the VCSE or to start a similar virtual campus in another domain, the results are mixed. The workshops did (thus far) not result in the start-up of virtual campus initiatives in other fields following the VCSE-model and/or making use of the open-source VCSE virtual campus software. The workshops were more effective in raising interest in the involvement in the VCSE, and resulted for example in attendance of a Central Demonstration Workshop (CDW) or an explicit expression of interest to join the VCSE in the near future. None of the workshop participants interested in the VCSE made use of the offer of a ‘free trial period’ (i.e., access to the on-going courses as an ‘observer’). It seems that active follow-up is needed, either in the form of CDW or regular contacts, and that on-site workshops alone will not result in new members joining the VCSE. This supports our active approach to enlargement as described in Chapter 4.