© ASI - Klagenfurt University
WISL
Workshop for intercultural and social learning
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The workshop for intercultural and social learning WISL was founded in 1990 as an association of researchers from different fields such as pedagogics, sociology, psychology, linguistics and computer science. This interdisciplinary team has since then carr
ied out research projects on new media in education in cooperation with academic institutions such as the
IFF (Interuniversitäres Institut
für Forschung und Fortbildung)
and the University of Klagenfurt
The main field of study is the use of interactive media and telematics in higher education. In this field, we have
- developed a sociological approach to the evaluation of educational software
- studied and proposed organizational models for the promotion and support of the use of interactive media in higher education
- initiated university and government activities to raise awareness of new media in higher education
- studied the attitudes of Austrian unviersity teachers towards quality of and innovation in higher education
- created an electronic discussion forum about quality in teaching in the context of the use of new media.
These research and awareness activities were undertaken mainly in the framework of three consecutive and partly overlapping research projects,
"Didactics of Educational Software", "Software in University Teaching", and "Electronic Discussion Forum", all three funded by the Austrian Ministery of Science and Research, either directly or via contracts with the
University of Klagenfurt.
Through these activities and its international involvement, WISL has succeeded in establishing itself as one of the main contact points for Austrian university teachers, software companies, government authorities as well as for international researchers and organizations in the field of academic software. This work has led us t
o found, together with the University of Klagenfurt, the Austrian Academic Software Initiative ASI.
For the University of Klagenfurt, WISL organizes the European Academic Software Award 1996.
Initiation of an electronic discussion for authors and users of interactive media for teaching,
learning and research
Software Prototyping:
Beside its involvement in university and higher education policies and organization, WISL has also carried out projects of software prototyping with the aim of putting its theoretical research results into exemplary practice. Two such projects have been u
ndertaken so far:
- WinTast: educational software for typing and text processing, commissioned by a major Austian publishing company. The target group of this software are vocational secondary schools.
- MediaSign: multimedia learning environment for Austrian Sign Language. The target group of this software are hearing adults who need and/or want to communicate with the Deaf in sign language.
Other activities
- Further education and lecture series
- WISL team members are frequently invited to give talks and hold workshops on interactive media in education and training. Through its own lecture series "Educational Technology Forum" it has succeeded in bringing well-known experts in this field to d
ifferent Austrian universities and to raise awareness of the impact of new media in (higher) education.
- Newsletter
- The (mainly German) newsletter screenshot has been published for 2 years and has become, with its 600 subscribers, an important medium in the field.
- Publications
- Research work is published in a series of reports with currently 40 titles which can be ordered from WISL.
