Virtual Collaborative Learning In International Settings - The Virtual Seminar "Net Economy"

The possibilities for internet-based collaboration are becoming an increasingly important aspect in theory and practice. They are therefore being more frequently addressed in higher education, especially in the context of e-learning. This paper analyses and presents an example of an international collaborative learning arrangement, the Net Economy learning scenario, its components, and its development over the past semesters. The international character and the targeted use of new information technologies -e.g. a social community as the central learning platform, instant messaging and web-conferences as communication tools, extended Wikis (Google Sites) as authorship tools grant significant added-value both to learners and instructors. Presenting the Net Economy example, a set of key challenges of the setting, as well as lessons learned, we aim at providing assistance for similar VCL-settings and at contributing to the discussion of virtual collaborative learning within the e-learning community.