World Virtual School Project
For more information on MAIS IT Projects, please email Jeremy Schwartz info@mais-web.org
The World Virtual School Project (WVS) is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State Office of Overseas Schools; to assist participating schools and regions in terms of curriculum quality and continuity, opportunities for collaboration, progressive professional development, and resiliency in the face of natural or man-made emergencies. This unique project is premised on the assumptions that:
schools value the integration of relevant and effective online resources for their varied learning communities;
schools value working regionally to collaborate and to share perspectives and methodologies, and to consider and nurture best practices;
schools value their integrity in the face of adversity and seek cost-effective and reliable means of assuring continuity of operations.
The World Virtual School Network now provides coordination of a network of learning management systems (in our case the platform is Moodle), Google is also supported. The function is for participating international schools to use affordable and reliable online academic resources for day-to-day instruction, for continuity of operations during times of emergency, and for fostering and supporting collaboration directly among participating schools, among regional associations, and at the multi-regional (global) level.
The 2022-2023 academic year marks the 13th year of the MAIS Virtual School Project. With 8 schools participating this year, summer updates were completed in July upgrading each school's Moodle to the latest tested version and to a new server as well. Recognizing the importance of ongoing professional development, and realizing that both teachers and system administrators play a key role in Moodle integration, this year the MVS sessions at the MAIS Annual Conference and the Optimal Match/Technology Conference were opened to both teachers and system administrators. The MVS Project continues to work with schools on an individual basis to assist with expanding the role that Moodle can play with technology innovation and integration, course management, community communications, emergency preparedness, and other areas aimed at improving efficiency and achievement.