Executive Summary: This paper reports on the work of a European Commission DG Education and Culture cofinanced project PBP-VC, Promoting Best Practice in Virtual Campuses, which is aimed at providing a deeper understanding of the key issues and critical success factors underlying the implementation of virtual campuses. The paper outlines a tentative model of issues underpinning best practice in virtual campuses derived from an initial literature-based investigation of existing virtual campus initiatives within the European Union. It is proposed that the tentative model will build upon key principles that have been identified for the development of an online constructivist learning environment based on problem-based learning and on a suitable model for knowledge construction and evolution. The tentative model comprises five main areas that can be viewed as being interrelated:
1. Organizational issues
2. Technological issues
3. Pedagogical Issues
4. Financial Issues 5. Consolidation Issues
Keywords: Virtual Campuses, eLearning, Best Practice, Constructivist Learning Environments, Problem-Based Learning
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