Second Study and HyväYritys projects on good tracks!

The two projects Second Study and HyväYritys are indeed on good tracks.
Second Study workgroup started working on April 24.4. The group comprises of 5 members and is lead by Ritva Kivijärvi.
Ritva suggested that a survey could be organized in order to assess the expertise on Web 2.0 tools among teachers and principals of all institutions involved in this project. That feedback could be a good base for our first report to be sent to the National Board of Education by May 30th. The suggestion was received favorably. Ritva will build it using Webropol platform.
As the main goal of the project is to create a virtual and social platform where Web 2.0 tools would be used for Education purposes and given also the plethora of such tools, another task for the workgroup members will be to focus on a shortlist of blogs, wikis, photo galleries, video websites, podcasts etc. we could set up on that platform. Each member of the workgroup will have to analyze the pros and cons of one category of tools, blogs being one category, wikis being another one etc. The result of this enquiry will determine which tools will be used on this Second Study platform.

HyväYritys workgroup started working on April 11.4. The workgroup comprises of 4 members, all Salpaus Staff and is lead by Georges Segura. Olavi Virtanen, member of this workgroup and Entrepreneurship teacher suggested a pilot group in the sector of Tourism. One of the goal of the project is to bring into Second Life different pilot groups from different sectors of activities. We felt Olavi's proposal was excellent and the workgroup validated it. Second Life environment is still new for many teachers as well as for students, we also decided to organize an information meeting for teachers and students at the end of May 2008. Second Life brings new challenges for Entrepreneurship Education and one of the task of the workgroup will be to analyze those: for instance how to build a business plan in Second Life or how to organize a good and efficient Service to Customer in this environment. One of the biggest challenge will be to put in place and carry out new learning processes suitable for that new environment without forgetting that these new learning processes will serve and help students carry out their business ideas in the real life too.

At the same time, Salpaus Further Education Areena Board (a Branch of Salpaus Further Education) has decided to start building the "Virtual Salpaus Areena" in Second Life. Salpaus Areena comprises of 20 different geographical addresses and the purpose would be to give all potential visitors or students an opportunity to get acquainted to all Areena's services and courses/trainings in one place but moreover introduce the whole Institution Salpaus Further Education.
In order to achieve that objective, we decided to purchase an Education Island in Second Life. The choice of an island was determined by the fact that Salpaus Further Education would get full control on that place rather than renting a place somewhere else in Second Life.

Salpaus Further Education Island in Second Life was delivered one week ago but its access is still strictly restricted as it is under construction. Salpaus Further Education decided to hire two students for three months. Their work will be to build all facilities needed for the above stated purpose under the supervision of Salpaus Further Education Areena Board.

We have set up a building workgroup and intend to co-operate with Lahti University of Applied Sciences. They have decided to build their own place and be tenants on Salpaus Further Education Island.
The building group first task is to "urbanize" the island and parcelling it up in between all actors i.e. Salpaus Further Education, Lahti University of Applied Sciences, private companies working with Salpaus Further Education and representatives of the Upper Secondary Education of the Region of Päijät-Häme.
A place will be naturally dedicated to Second Study and HyväYritys projects.

More news in June!
Georges

An in-depth information about these two projects can also be found on the Salpaus Moodle platform (username: vieras, password: demo)