Avicenna Center for E-Learning

Mission

     The Avicenna project aims at creating a self-sustainable virtual campus, based on cooperation among institutions of higher education in Algeria, Cyprus, Egypt, France, Italy, Jordan, Lebanon, Malta, Morocco, Palestine, Spain, Syria, Tunisia and Turkey. Installation of adequate infrastructure and intensive training of trainers are the crucial requirements of implementation of the project. The nodes of the network, the AVICENNA Knowledge Centers (AKCs), will be installed in each partner institution to support a Euro-Mediterranean network for ODL services, including production and delivery. Pedagogical resources will be stored and managed into the “Avicenna virtual library”, which forms a network knowledge data-base of pedagogical resources, tools and knowledge.

   To operate the network, deliver ODL courses, and produce and adapt online material, faculty at the knowledge centers are due to receive training in multimedia production, while teachers and tutors should know how to interact with students and support ODL course delivery. Students are to be offered training courses in the utilization of ODL services and relevant technologies in a pedagogically effective way.

Objectives:

   The AVICENNA project aims at creating a Euro-Mediterranean network of universities for open online learning, and accelerating the adoption and use of ICT-assisted Open Distance Learning (ODL) in eleven Mediterranean non-EU Member States (MNMS).

   Demand for ODL in the target universities and societies is evident, as ODL may bring wider access to University-based initial and continuing education. The network organization benefits from the engagement of some of the EU's leading open universities, under the aegis of UNESCO. The AVICENNA project aims at building up a networked ODL production and communication platform adjusted to a multicultural and multilingual environment.