Virtual School of Dialogue, Democracy and Peaceful Conflict Resolution is educational on line program, using e learning for broader promotion and a new way of affirmation of Nansen values: interethnic dialogue, democracy, tolerance, conflict transformation, post conflict reconstruction, building sustainable peace and regional cooperation and Euro Atlantic integration.

Virtual School started in May 2004 as a pilot project of NDC Montenegro, NDC Sarajevo, NDC Mostar and NDC Osijek. At the present, all NDC offices are included.

Until now, during the seven generations, more than 850 people applied for the School.
About 250 participants received our certificate.

Considering the armed conflict and terrible destruction in the region in the recent past, its ethnic complexity, the deep ethnic divisions resulting from the process of transition, lack of cooperation in the region between socially active citizens, special caution and meaningful actions for peace protection/conflict prevention and reconciliation in the region are still strongly needed. E learning, as new method of education and communication by using of all advantages of internet (saving time, low costs, overcoming of geographical distances, growing tendency of application, etc.) is proving to be an efficient instrument for learning and improvement of interethnic relations.

Advantages of the Virtual School:

• Participants can participate from their homes, offices, etc.

• Low costs

•  People who cannot participate in seminars for different reasons (too busy, people with special needs, etc.)

•  People living in geographically remote regions can participate at the same time.

• Participants can take part at any time and according to a schedule that is comfortable for them.

Target group:

Target group include all interested and socially active citizens (politicians, NGO activists, journalists, representatives of local and regional governments and institutions) from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia including Kosovo (under UNSCR 1244), Montenegro, Macedonia and Croatia.

Group will be ethnically, geographically and gender-balanced.

Successful participants can take part in other programs/projects of NDN/NDCs.

Realization:

Lectures will be distributed to participants by e-mail (in Acrobat Reader). We will send Acrobat Reader to all participants with instructions how to install it.

Participants can read lectures on their computer or print them and learn from a printed version. Lectures will be 4 - 8 pages long and will probably contain additional materials or web links with more information about the topics they cover.

Participants will receive a lecture once a week (a total of six lectures), on the agreed day (on Wednesdays). Within the next three days, each participant must confirm to the project leader by email that the lecture has been received.

Five days after a participant receives a lecture, any related questions, comments and opinions about any lesson during the school should be discussed on the Web forum on the Virtual School Web site.

If a participant put comments/reflections on VS web forum there is no need to confirm the reception of lesson.

Web forum will be used for personal communication among participants, participants and lecturers and for sharing opinions/comments/reflections about topics.

Participants can send any questions, comments and opinions about technical issues during the school to the project coordinator by e-mail -
virtualschool@REMOVEcg.yu


At the end of the school participants are required to write an essay.

Duration of the school is eight weeks.
Participants will receive six lectures in six weeks (one lecture per week).
After the lectures end, the remaining two weeks will be dedicated to the evaluation and writing of final essays.

All essays will be placed on the forum of Virtual School Web site.

Our expectance from participants would be to participate on at least five lectures with reflections/comments and write the final essay in order to successfully complete the School and receive a certificate.

The school will be organized in English.

Successful participants will receive a certificate.

NO fee is charged for participation.

The school is designed/ optimized by experiences of project implementation in previous time and number of feed backs and suggestions of previous participants.

Evaluation

Participants and lecturers will fill out a questionnaire at the end of the school.

Useful suggestions of participants and lecturers will be taken into consideration during the course of the school.

Note to participants:

Organisers reserve the right to exclude a participant from any further participation in case of inappropriate conduct and disrespect for common rules of communication and work in the school.

Top