ITSI Project Results

The ITSI project phase 2 has explored how virtual and physical learning and teaching environments may or should evolve on the future campus. In several workshops held at the university of Basel throughout the year 2012, experts and stakeholders discussed requirements of all involved parties as well as the expected influence of technology and learning habits.

In the final event a few days ago, the results were presented and discussed. The main findings are:

The campus only supports one half of learning
Learning at the university has two main goals: 1) acquire knowledge and 2) aquire an academic culture. The former, especially individual learning is well supported at the current campus. But there are deficits with helping students to develop a participatory culture within their domain and between the disciplines.

The university is not equipped for learning nomads
Organizing studies, work and leisure time is becoming more and more complex. The provided IT-infrastructure is heterogeneous and not well-suited for mobile usage.

Diversity requires flexibility
Physical and virtual environments are often rigid and serve one specific purpose. Sponaneous and individual customizations should be allowed.

Problem = Solution
There is usually no straightforward way to solve a problem that has been identified. The planning and change process should involve users, and allow them to provide continuous feedback.

Innovation and creativity require free spaces
Overly designed environments can hinder creativity.

It's all there - but where?
The campus has a wealth of services, tools, spaces and offerings that do address the above mentioned demands, but people would not know about them. Formal and informal knowledge management should be enhanced to improve the information flow.

More interesting details about the results can be found on the official site of the ITSI2 project (in german).

Rolf Brugger