The UD Faculty of Philosophy and Arts, a pioneer in the use of the Internet as a learning support tool

This 2006-2007 academic year, the University of Deusto, through its Faculty of Philosophy and Arts celebrates the fourth year of operation of LitteraDeusto server. This server is used for the digital training of students of Modern Languages and New Communication Technologies, one of Deusto's own degrees, with 180 ECTS. This degree is furthered by a course of more than 60 ECTS, leading to an official BA degree in Spanish, Basque or English Philology.

21 December 2006

Others

The implementation of this qualification, whose first group of graduates will complete their degree this academic year, and that of the server, mean a valuable start for these new degrees. The University of Deusto will implement them in 2008/09, once they are already integrated into the Bologna model, and in the case of the Faculty of Philosophy and Arts, they are oriented towards 'Applied Languages and Communication'.

The LitteraDeusto experience has been a pioneer from many different standpoints but, above all, from two in particular. One is the provision of blog and wiki accounts for all enrolled students. Blogs and wikis are two of the main work tools in six degree subjects, and also, two main pillars of Web2.0 model, which has been applied to Littera since 2003/04. Therefore, Deusto has been a pioneer in all the new Web orientation for the last four years.

This year, LitteraDeusto has undergone important changes. One of the most outstanding is the introduction of blog planets (aggregators) rather than hosting, which is now external. Another significant change is wiki relocation and broadening. This has led LitteraDeusto to be well on the way to becoming a content aggregator, rather than an experimental publication platform, which was its initial purpose. At present, six planets are already installed, and three more will be installed shortly.

Some student planets include: http://littera.deusto.es/planet [eu], [es], [en], http://littera.deusto.es/planet/c0607 [eu], [es], [en], http://littera.deusto.es/planet/c0506 [eu], [es], [en], http://littera.deusto.es/planet/c0405 [eu], [es], [en], http://littera.deusto.es/planet/c0304 [eu], [es], [en], http://littera.deusto.es: the home page will soon be a planet.In addition, there are three thematic planets: LinguaPlanet (http://littera.deusto.es/linguaplanet), a multilingual language planet, BellaLittera (http://littera.deusto.es/bellalittera), a literary planet, blogAUT (http://littera.deusto.es/blogAUT), a professional community.

Thus, the Faculty of Philosophy and Arts at the University of Deusto is once again a pioneer in the use of the Internet as a learning support tool. It was so four years ago with the provision of one blog per student, and it is this year again with planet implementation.