From Researching Virtual Initiatives in Education
What is a Thematic Digital University (TDU)?
Thematic Digital Universities (TDUs) form part of the ICT use development policy supported by the SDICTE in France. They are charged with fostering the promotion, production and dissemination of validated digital teaching resources, produced by higher educational establishments, as part of a national resource pooling process.
TDUs in 2007
A recent initiative (2004), there are now seven TDUs covering several key subject areas: health, engineering sciences and technology; business and management; the environment and sustainable development; human and social sciences; languages and cultures; legal and political sciences; and basic sciences.
In 2007, seven TDUs covered the following subject areas: health, engineering sciences and technology; business and management; the environment and sustainable development; human and social sciences; languages and cultures; legal and political sciences; and basic sciences.
The UMVF is currently the only TDU established as a public interest group, while the UNJF is in the process of becoming one. The other TDUs have chosen different, more flexible structures – associations, university services or scientific interest groups – to implement during the initial phase.
In addition, the TDUs have formed numerous partnerships around the world, in Shanghai, Quebec, Belgium, Switzerland, Africa and elsewhere.
TDUs also act as project managers for subjects explored on CanalU, the French university web-TV service.
Sixty-seven universities are currently partnering with one or more TDUs, which are committed to creating a network of partnerships (elite educational institutions and research organisations) in France and worldwide. Some 15 to 50 universities and research organisations are involved in each TDU.
The TDUs pursue a consistent, validated editorial policy for the digital production of educational resources in relation to key subject areas. Taking into account indexing requirements and new dissemination methods, they enable us to capitalise on existing resources and to organise the production of materials adapted to the development of educational practices. Based on resource pooling, TDUs contribute to intra- and inter-establishment cooperation and constitute a support mechanism for the deployment and implementation of the establishments' educational projects. They also contribute to strengthening the links between teaching, research and the professional world.
Beyond the development of high-quality production, TDUs represent part of an important phase designed to enhance the value of the resources produced, to deploy them in establishments, to develop their usage, and to implement activities designed to facilitate access to resources by students and teachers in their digital environment.
The main aim of TDUs is to enable better teaching, better learning, better success in examinations and competitions, and to allow students to adapt better to the digital world, which awaits them when they leave their initial training and throughout their lives.
The accessibility, flexibility, interactivity and adaptability of digital working resources provided by TDUs have led to new pedagogic practices for teachers and new working practices for students, all of which help improve student performance.
In this round table, the three oldest TDUs, the UMVF (Medicine), UNIT (engineering and technologies), UNJF (Law) and one of the most recent, UNISCIEL (Fundamental sciences) will attempt to answer the questions posed by success teaching and its development in the digital age.
- UMVF stands for Université Médicale Virtuelle Francophone (French-speaking Virtual Medical University)
- UNIT stands for Université Numérique Ingénierie et Technologie (Engineering and Technologies Digital University)
- UNJF stands for Université Numérique Juridique Francophone (Legal Digital French-Speaking University)
- UNISCIEL stands for UNIversité des SCIences En Ligne (Online Sciences University)
This text is a translation of Universités Numériques Thématiques (UNT).
Relevant web page: http://testplone.educnet.education.fr/en/higher-educatio/tdus, by the Ministry of National Education, the Ministry of Higher Education and Research.
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