OIKODOMOS - Consolidation and expansion of a Virtual Campus

OIKODOMOS is a pedagogic research project financed by the Lifelong Learning programme carried out by higher education institutions and research centers from Belgium, France, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. The goal of OIKODOMOS -a Greek word for "the builder of a house"-, is to create a virtual campus to support and promote housing studies at a European scale.The first phase of the project was carried out from 2007 to 2009. During this period we set up a virtual campus that has allowed architecture and urban planning schools carry out seminars, design studios and workshops on housing issues which European societies face nowadays: ageing population, energy efficiency, mobility, work at home, citizen participation, mass customization, The pedagogic model which supports these activities is based on the collaborative design and implementation of sequences of learning activities. The blended learning approach adopted in OIKODOMOS combines learning activities carried out in virtual environments specifically developed for the project with seminars and design studios taking place at the participating universities.The second phase of the project started on November 1st , 2010 and will last one year. The main objectives for this second period are:- to consolidate the virtual campus methodology and technological platform.- to expand the application of the pedagogic methodology to other institutions. - to disseminate the results among the academic and research communities, as well as among local communities.