Session 5B: Approaches to Virtual and Distance Learning
Chair: Erica Shouten

One Approach of Introducing Virtual Learning Concept into Serbian Higher Education
Dragoslav Peric
College of Electrical Engineering, Belgrade, Serbia and Montenegro

Virtual learning (also known as distance learning, e-learning, Web-based learning) is a learning method where the teacher and the student are physically separated, in space or in time, or both. The learning content is delivered via electronic media, the Internet, broadcast, audiovisual tapes, or CD-ROM. Students are often required to attend meetings at regional offices on specific weekends, for example to take exams or condensed lectures. Advantages of virtual learning are: the student does not have to attend classes, nor to live in the place of studying, which decreases the overall education expenses, and the disadvantages are: the quality of communication between the teacher and the student is affected due to the lack of immediate contact between them, and there is a need for adequate information-communication technology (ICT), primarily Internet and appropriate software support.
This paper discusses the possibilities of applying virtual learning in higher education in Serbia, as a country in transition. Characteristics of higher education in Serbia after a long period of social crisis are analyzed. Accommodation expenses in the place of studying are the main expense for the students. On the other hand, “the brain drain” led to the shortage of teachers, so the existing teachers work for several higher education institutions and have little time to devote to the contacts with students. This led to the situation where, on one hand, students attend classes irregularly, while on the other hand, many external education centres have been established for conducting condensed classes. The result is significantly reduced communication between teachers and students. Additional problems arise from underdeveloped Internet and lack of teachers and students trained for applying ICT.
The authors propose a procedure for gradual introduction of the virtual learning concept, as a substitute and addition to the external centres. The procedure is based on the existing experiences in the operation of external centres and the existing infrastructure, as well as additional training for the teachers and students, both for using ICT and for written communication. The proposed procedure would, first of all, upgrade student support at external centres; the service they receive would correspond to the money they pay, thus increasing the efficiency of their studies. Here developed virtual learning methods could later be extended to other segments of Serbian Higher Education, with introductions of new teaching methods, and, generally speaking, it could enable integration into European Higher Education Area.

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Distance Learning: Integrating Four Different Approaches
Soulla Louca and Charalambos Christou
Intercollege, Nicosia, Cyprus

The quality of life long learning education and training systems constitute one of the most important assets of a society based on information and knowledge. The significance of life-long learning and training is a very important and fundamental element not only for the competitiveness and the faculty of professional re-establishment, but also for social integration, the activation of citizens, and for personal growth and development. The activities of life long learning and training take place in various environments, which presuppose a bigger investment in human potential and knowledge, the acquisition of basic skills, including those of information technology. The objective is that all people, irrelevant of age, have free access in various high quality educational methods, in an integrated scale of educational experiences, official and informal, in the whole of Europe.
In its effort to upgrade the quality of these systems, the European Union promotes programs such as the Leonardo da Vinci for the development of new and innovative systems and methods regarding life long learning. In this paper, the outcomes of the project WEBBITT (Web Based Information Technology Training – a Leonardo da Vinci project) are presented. WEBBITT integrates four different approaches in the learning process. The aim was to broaden the access to vocational training by developing new innovative educational methodologies which incorporate the use of Information Technology and distance learning into more traditional means of delivery. It contributed towards the development of information technology skills for addressing the problem of the identified technology skills gap that exists in the European Union. The target competences were based on the Pan-European standards ECDL.

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Distance Learning as a Link to Liberal Arts in H.E.
Katherine Hall
Roger Williams University, FCAS/Humanities, Bristol, USA

Distance learning is frequently criticized by theorists as a diminishment of the liberal arts education necessary for an “educated” student in undergraduate education. I will argue that although some may see distance learning as a component of the corporatization of American Universities, distance learning can in fact enhance and elaborate those qualities that are unique to a liberal arts education. Thinking, learning, writing, creation and dialogue can occur freely in an online or distance environment. Students can be encouraged to analyze texts, both written and pictorial, and speak openly about their impressions and argue their meanings. Often those students who would be disenfranchised in the higher education model are encouraged to participate in a distance learning space.
Using experiences from my own undergraduate teaching, students’ voices and observations as a member of the academic community, my presentation and paper will actualize those elements of distance learning that I deem valuable to enabling the continuance of the liberal arts curriculum. Models of distance learning that have worked for me as both a professor and a student will also provide evidence that blended learning can fortify those components that are unique to liberal arts at the University level. As a writing professor specifically, the Internet alone has changed the way that I am able to offer a breadth of information in the teaching of my courses. Branscomb and Gotthoffer point out that “As a medium that is somewhere between speech and formal writing, the Internet is changing the way we think and go about writing” (43). Writing, thinking and analysis compose a large component of a well-rounded, liberal arts educated student. As a professor in the humanities, the current state of the University does not allow us as professors to ignore the importance of distance learning and blended learning and its role in a liberal arts education.