The "Third Training Workshop on Online Course Development and Quality control" of the Avicenna Virtual Campus Project was organized on 7-9 December 2010 at the Avicenna Centre of Middle East Technical University in Ankara, Turkey. The main aims of the workshop were to consolidate the development of the Avicenna Virtual Campus in Iraq (AVCI) regional network and to diversify and expand activities of the national network.
Within the framework of UNESCO "Training of Trainers in Teacher Education for Sustained Quality Education" project and its activities to enhance teacher education in Iraq, UNESCO is supporting the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research (MoHESR) of Iraq in developing the AVCI. The aim of the project is to enhance the quality of teaching and learning processes in the country by promoting partnerships between Iraqi and International Universities. To this end, three e-learning Avicenna Centers have been established at the universities of Basra, Baghdad and Salahaddin.
Prof. Alexander Khoroshilov, National Programme Officer/Capacity Development Team Leader of UNESCO Institute for Information Technologies in Education (IITE), participated in the Workshop as a member of the Workshop Organizational Committee. Prof. Khoroshilov delivered a welcome address at the opening ceremony and made a presentation of "Avicenna Virtual Campus 2 – Virtual Labs" project during a special session. Key issues of the AVC-2 Project implementation (as for example, extension of the AVC Network to the North Caucasian region of the Russian Federation and neighboring countries) were discussed during the Workshop.