Virtual science faculties: Considerations for effective implementation

Virtual faculties are becoming a more common form of delivering education to dispersed students. These faculties can be inter-university as in distributed campus institutions or intra-university. They are generally built as Web based or videoconferenced environments. This paper discusses the outcomes of several projects at Central Queensland University (CQU) involving the development of virtual science faculties using videoconferencing. These projects have involved both inter and intra-university activities. An essential part of developing such faculties is obtaining staff and student feedback about their learning experiences in videoconferenced classes. This includes addressing the issues raised by all participants and incorporating suggestions into subsequent classes. The projects are briefly described, followed by a discussion of students perceptions and expectations of teaching and learning within virtual faculties using videoconferencing. The discussion will consider such issues as effective teaching and learning pedagogies for videoconference classes, technological issues, differences in students backgrounds and experiences, creation of a cohesive learning environment and the perceived need for staff and student preparation for these environments. The paper concludes with some recommendations for creating effective virtual faculties using videoconferencing.