Italiano (Italia)
During 1999 the Faculty of Science of the Palermo University and the Institute for Educational Technologies (ITD) of the Italian National Research Council planned distance learning program. The purpose of this program was to offer more opportunities to the outlying areas of Sicily, such as the smaller islands and rural districts, in the spirit of the eEurope initiative. After a phase devoted to studying the most suitable topic and the technologies to support distance learning in these areas, the University and the ITD decided to organize a BSc degree in "Science and Technology for the Environment and Tourism".
The partners agreed to set up a fully Internet-based degree adopting innovative communication technologies to support and to deliver this course. This e-learning degree program was one of the first in Italy and it is now in its seventh year. About fifty students have followed this three year course and forty teachers have been involved in producing learning contents and in tutoring students during their learning experience.
One of the aims of this project was to study the whole process needed to manage an online degree course, and to define quality standards for higher educational programs based on ICT.
The University of Palermo is in charge of managing the learning contents and exams while the ITD defines the methodological and technological framework, and controls the Learning Management System.
Forthcoming research areas
The whole Stat project is now entering a new phase which takes into consideration the outcome of the first seven years. Consequently a new learning environment will be set up, which can support more collaborative learning activities and a richer interaction between students and teachers. The design of the environment must respond to the quality control and more importance will be given to the digital rights management of the educational contents and resources.