Armenian Virtual College is a Year Old

Four academic terms and more than 500 students from 35 countries

On July 2, AGBU's Armenian Virtual College (AVC) celebrated the first anniversary of its activities. The online forum organized by the AVC was attended by AGBU Central Board member and AVC Chairman Yervant Zorian, AGBU Central Board member and member of the Phoenix University Board of Directors Carol Aslanian, RA Diaspora Minister Hranoush Hakobian, and education specialists.

Having been launched in June 2009, the AVC has become the first Armenian online school, with a distinct goal to make Armenian education available to everyone and everywhere through modern technologies. During its inaugural year of activities, AVC has had four academic terms and more than 500 students from 35 countries, including France, Russia, and the United States, as well as more uncommonly Armenian locales, such as Venezuela, South Africa, and Reunion Island. AVC lessons are conducted in six languages: Eastern Armenian, Western Armenian, English, Russian, French and Spanish.

In his opening speech, Zorian presented the activities and achievements of the AVC during the first year. Carol Aslanian, who is a member of the board of the University of Phoenix, which is the biggest university of online education in the world, talked about the recent developments and innovations of online education and presented certain statistical analyses of the field. Online education specialists, Professor Molly Freeman of the University of California, Berkeley, and Professor Nelson Baloyan of Chile, also spoke about the peculiarities of the field.

As part of the event, live video connections were established with students in Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, US, France, and Russia, who shared their experience of AVC and answered the questions of those in attendance.

In addition to online courses, AVC has also introduced the concept of "mixed education," which involves a combination of online instruction and traditional classroom lessons for students who enjoy the augmented educational experience. The chairman of the Ohanessian School Board of the United Arab Emirates, Hrach Bronsuzian, whose school has already implemented this "mixed education" method, joined the AVC online forum and shared his experience with those present. AGBU Lazar Najarian-Calouste Gulbenkian School of Aleppo will start a similar cooperation with the AVC soon.

In her congratulatory speech, the Republic of Armenia's Diaspora Minister Hranoush Hakobian thanked AGBU and the faculty of the Yerevan State University for establishing such a high-quality online university. She also suggested inviting all AVC students to Armenia for a graduation ceremony.

Today, AVC has three departments -- Armenian language, history and culture -- and each offers courses at different levels. The online school is planning to launch a new course that covers the history of Armenian music.

AVC Development Team manager Artur Avagian presented the school's course management system, while the online instructors talked about the teamwork, forums, and assignments implemented during the classes. Talar Kazanjian from Georgia and Davit Abrahamian from South Africa shared their opinions about the influence of the Armenian Virtual College on the Armenian communities spread all over the world.

At the end of the forum, the guests visited the AVC office to get acquainted with the activities of the online university.