History

 

1st january 2004

The eLab –eLearning Lab was born as a result of a request by the Swiss Virtual Campus (SVC), which in the second phase ("consolidation" phase) of the program envisages the creation of competence centers (CCSP) in the field of eLearning for each university or university of applied sciences (UAS).
The eLab was born thank to an agreement between the NewMine Lab of the USI and the Didactics Service New Media (now Department of Innovative Technologies) of the SUPSI.

Among all the Swiss CCSP, eLab is the only one where an university and an UAS are collaborating.

May 2004

After an analysis of Open Source Learning Management Systems (LMS) available in the market, eLab has chosen Moodle as the online platform for USI and SUPSI, has customized it and offered to USI and SUPSI teachers and students: eCourses was born.

July 2004

8 new projects begin, funded by the SVC: out of the 32 projects financed by the SVC in the third call, 8 are led by USI and SUPSI. This is the first great success at a national level of the Ticino universities!

October 2004

In the Winter Semester 2004-05 eCourses is used for the first time at USI and SUPSI. At the end of the semester, a survey conducted among the teachers who have used it, shows a general satisfaction about eCourses.

January 2006

10 other projects funded by the SVC start. This time the success is even more evident: out of a total of 27 projects funded by the SVC in the fourth call, 10 have been assigned to USI and SUPSI. Ticino universities have proved again to be leaders, at the national level, in the field of eLearning.

May 2007

The new Usivirtual website is online: eLab has redesigned and developed it.

January 2008

After the conclusion of the SVC program, eLab fits more and more in the teaching and learning practices of USI and SUPSI, becoming one of the official common services to both universities.

January 2008

A collaboration with the Banca Popolare di Sondrio (Suisse) starts: eLab is in charge of designing and introducing some eLearning activities in the continuing education of the bank personnel.