Constructing a Successful Cross-National Virtual Learning Environment in Primary and Secondary Education

Abstract

Educational virtual environments have great potential to foster collaboration among schools located in different countries. This article shows a virtual learning environment where four Italian and three Dutch primary and secondary school classrooms collaborate on multidisciplinary content. Theoretically the project is inspired by the concepts of learning as knowledge building, the community of learners, and computer-supported collaborative learning. The virtual world that was created, called Euroland, is composed of several different “cultural houses. ” The qualitative descrip-tion of the building process of the cultural houses proves virtual environments can be introduced in educational settings to foster cognitive and social skills. Several features of this virtual learning environment affected its success: the playful dimension of the software, the development of meaningful content, and cross-national collaboration. Main conditions for this are the well-designed tasks, and the strong scaffolding from teachers and, if possible, researchers (Ligorio, Talamo, & Simons, 2002). The article ends with a reflection on some structural conditions that are necessary at the school level for such projects to succeed. Ligorio, M. B., & Van Veen, K. (2006). Constructing a successful cross-national virtual learning environment in primary and secondary education.