Project Coordinator Mateja Geder wrote in September that virtual mobility is not yet well know in the higher education arena and those potentially interested might not know the skills and competencies required to participate in it. The MoreVM project has initiated a real effort to disseminate the information about virtual mobility and the roles of VM coordinators.

The MoreVM project successfully arranged the Preparatory Course for VM Coordinators for the first time in September 2008. The course was very popular and finally 14 participants completed the course. The course was arranged totally via the internet using the Moodle (CMS) learning environment. The participants’ work in Moodle was supported by tutoring. During those three course weeks the participants got a lot of information about virtual mobility and online learning.

“I like enough space for my opinions and thoughts, very useful technical tools for online learning (moodle tools) and structure of the course.”

The main objective of the course was that the participants gain the required skills to perform their role in coordinating VM courses successfully. Besides this the course gave personal experience with working in a virtual environment. As a result of the course the coordinators had gathered good support material for their work as VM coordinators.

Throughout the course their activities contributed to the final assessment. The course was based on different assignments in week 1 and week 2. These activities include e.g. Forum postings and Wiki contributions. Especially the developing and utilizing of the Survival Kits for European Union Member States aroused a lot of active dialogue.

Almost everyone (93 %) indicated that the course provided with some of the necessary information in order to be able to function as a VM coordinator successfully. The course also developed very well the participants’ interest in virtual mobility (4.5/5).

“The course has given to me a good starting point to engage in VM projects.”

A very important aspect was that the participants had the opportunity to collaborate with colleagues from different European countries. This pilot course had participants from 9 countries: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Slovenia and Spain.

“I liked not only to have access to lots of information about VM but also having opportunity to be in the interaction with other international VM course participants.”

The MoreVM project has now successfully started the training of the VM coordinators. We hope that each participant of the pilot course continues the dissemination work by promoting VM-activities in their own university or college.