Experiences with Virtual Environments in the EHEA

Abstract

Recent adaptations of educational curricula to the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) enabled many education professionals to adopt new teaching methodologies into their daily practice. Although the transmission of the main theoretic and practical concepts of the subject in question must remain the main focus, the improvement of students' general skills claims for special attention not only in the EHEA but also with a view to business requirements. Besides, the mobility of teachers and students among European universities has increased notably, which is a very positive experience for both communities. In this regard, new educational alternatives have to be found for this purpose, not only to provide the possibility of studying a subject abroad, but also to improve cross-curricular capabilities. It is also a reality to be taken into account that an increasing number of students are already working in the industry while following up their studies. E-learning environments are the perfect answer to these requirements, where a varied range of activities and methodologies can be used for allowing to follow the subject virtually as well as promote general cross-curricular skills such as addressing an audience, team work and preparing documentation. In this sense this paper describes the author's experiences with e-learning environments in the situations described above, which have been carried out with positive results: students have improved their general cross- curricular skills and were able to follow the subject from outside the university campus.