A small study project from the UNESCO Institute for Information Technologies in Education (IITE) requires the specification of around five alternative models of education delivery for the formal education sectors. These models should be compelling IT-enabled archetypes of education delivery, generalisable, scaleable and sustainable, for deployment in a variety of socio-economic situations in the more developed countries or regions of countries. All models must be deliverable within current operational technology. It is likely that there will be one archetype from the primary sector and two each from the secondary and tertiary sectors.

The session will begin with a helicopter summary of the state of the art in virtual schools and virtual/hybrid campuses, continue with some theoretical issues (quality, cost and time) and conclude with an open audience-led discussion on relevant models, looking at them in terms of their generalisability, scalability, advantages, disadvantages, and implications for current policies. If the audience does not have ideas, the presenter will put up some of his own, for example Multeversity (http://www.virtualcampuses.eu/index.php/Multeversity) and draw on insights from the POERUP, VISCED and Re.ViCa projects.

This session replaces a cancellation in session 1 on the 6th of September and will be presented by Paul Bacsich.

Some interesting background papers for the audience:

• “Time and e-learning” (http://www.scribd.com/doc/96397285/Time-Bacsich-Final-Final-PDF)
• Presentations and videos at “The VISCED Colloquium for Virtual Schools” (http://www.virtualschoolsandcolleges.info/visced-colloquium-for-virtual-schools)
• “Growing the OER u” (http://toucansproject.wordpress.com/2012/04/16/growing-the-oeru-a-pre-conference-workshop-at-cambridge-2012/ /)