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AGBU Press Office
55 East 59th Street
New York, NY 10022-1112
Phone: 212.319.6383, x118
Fax: 212.319.6507
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.agbu.org
PRESS RELEASE
Friday, July 10, 2009
AGBU Armenian Virtual College Launches Inaugural Summer 2009 Term,
Extending AGBU's Mission in Armenian Education
With great enthusiasm, the AGBU Armenian Virtual College (AVC)
(www.avc-agbu.org) began enrollment for its inaugural summer term on
June 7, 2009 and, over the course of five days, 382 individuals
registered as students to investigate this emerging institution and take
a sneak peak at its sample lessons. Potential students from 35
countries, including the Faroe Islands, Luxembourg, Venezuela, and
Uzbekistan, logged onto the newly launched website.
During the first summer term, sixteen multimedia courses are being
offered by the online college. Most of them quickly filled beyond their
intended capacity. The participants may either be regular students
(eligible for 2 credits per course) or observers (non-credit learners),
and the courses cover Eastern Armenian language for beginners, Western
Armenian language for beginners and Ancient History of Armenia. Classes
are conducted in one of six languages: Western Armenian, Easter
Armenian, English, Russian, French or Spanish.
The first ever virtual classrooms of AVC opened on June 14 and will
conclude on August 7, 2009. Close to 150 enrolled students hailed from
22 countries around the globe. The new virtual classmates, spanning
multiple generations (17 to 82 years of age), accessed their virtual
classrooms from Shanghai to Istanbul, Cordoba to Seattle, Kiev to The
Hague, Amman to Reunion Island. While familiarizing themselves with
their online and offline communication tools during their orientation
week, they were also fully engaged in AVC's discussion forums, where
they conversed about different aspects of Armenian education and their
personal backgrounds.
Addressing the new learning community, AGBU Central Board Member Yervant
Zorian, the founder and chairman of AVC, stated, "It is great to observe
the tremendous enthusiasm among the AVC learners within their new
classrooms. Thanks to comprehensive support by AGBU, today, we are
witnessing a unique moment in Armenian education." He added, "I am very
pleased to see a dream come true as every single individual around the
globe, if he or she so desires, is now able to obtain Armenian
education, thus fulfilling the AVC motto: Armenian Education Anytime
Anywhere."
"This is a major patriotic project," said Stepan Petrosyan, Deputy
Minister of Diaspora of the Republic of Armenia. "Besides its
educational value, it will definitely help preserve the Armenian nation.
Our ministry will do its best to support this colossal and important
endeavor."
AVC is fortunate to have a team of professionally trained online
instructors in Armenia, who help guide their students' learning
experience and are committed to communicate with them around the clock.
These online instructors supplement the multimedia courses and engage
with their students in all six AVC languages. They support the academic
and social networking aspects of virtual learning.
In addition to weekly lessons, students started accessing multimedia
study tools, assignments, quizzes, course calendars, syllabi, and drop
boxes. Moreover, discussion forums, email and live chat options will
provide students with the opportunities to better connect with their
classmates and to forge friendships with fellow students from across the
globe.
"For the past few years I've been searching all over for an Armenian
language course, so you could imagine how excited I was to finally come
across this opportunity," stated Van, a student enrolled in the
Beginners Western Armenian course in English.
"This is a great opportunity for me to learn and revise my Armenian. My
two-year-old daughter is repeating with me all the words," said Karine,
from Montevideo, Uruguay, a student in the Beginners Western Armenian in
Spanish course.
Expressing his appreciation, Samuel stated: "Thank you again for your
existence and for allowing me to utilize and ride this marvelous tool,
which has been made available to the worldwide Armenian diaspora."
"I applaud this program because I will be making a lot of friends in the
cyber community," said Daniel from Cordoba, Argentina, a student in the
Armenian History class.
Registration for the fall 2009 term will begin on Aug. 31 (continuing
until Sept. 14) and will offer double the number of courses that are
currently being offered. In addition to the same course curricula as in
the summer term, the next level (part 2) of these courses will also be
available for the students who completed the first parts during the
summer term. Additionally, the fall term 2009 will offer a new course
set on Introduction to Armenian Architecture Part 1. The nine-week-long
fall courses will begin September 22, 2009.
Initiated in 2004 by AGBU's Silicon Valley Chapter, and spearheaded by
Yervant Zorian, the technology for AVC has largely been developed in
Armenia with the collaboration of scientists and engineers at Yerevan
State University's Information Technology Center for Education and
Research.
Zorian was recently honored by the Republic of Armenia's National
Academy of Sciences and received the distinction of "Foreign Member" as
a result of his achievements in computer engineering and
microelectronics. He is the vice-president and chief scientist of Virage
Logic, an IT company operating both in Armenia and the United States. He
was elected to the AGBU Central Board of Directors last year during the
organization's 85th General Assembly. He is also a trustee of the
American University of Armenia and the chairman of AGBU Silicon Valley.
Established in 1906, AGBU (www.agbu.org) is the world's largest
non-profit Armenian organization. Headquartered in New York City, AGBU
preserves and promotes the Armenian identity and heritage through
educational, cultural and humanitarian programs, annually touching the
lives of some 400,000 Armenians on six continents.
55 East 59th Street
New York, NY 10022-1112
Phone: 212.319.6383, x118
Fax: 212.319.6507
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.agbu.org
PRESS RELEASE
Friday, July 10, 2009
AGBU Armenian Virtual College Launches Inaugural Summer 2009 Term,
Extending AGBU's Mission in Armenian Education
With great enthusiasm, the AGBU Armenian Virtual College (AVC)
(www.avc-agbu.org) began enrollment for its inaugural summer term on
June 7, 2009 and, over the course of five days, 382 individuals
registered as students to investigate this emerging institution and take
a sneak peak at its sample lessons. Potential students from 35
countries, including the Faroe Islands, Luxembourg, Venezuela, and
Uzbekistan, logged onto the newly launched website.
During the first summer term, sixteen multimedia courses are being
offered by the online college. Most of them quickly filled beyond their
intended capacity. The participants may either be regular students
(eligible for 2 credits per course) or observers (non-credit learners),
and the courses cover Eastern Armenian language for beginners, Western
Armenian language for beginners and Ancient History of Armenia. Classes
are conducted in one of six languages: Western Armenian, Easter
Armenian, English, Russian, French or Spanish.
The first ever virtual classrooms of AVC opened on June 14 and will
conclude on August 7, 2009. Close to 150 enrolled students hailed from
22 countries around the globe. The new virtual classmates, spanning
multiple generations (17 to 82 years of age), accessed their virtual
classrooms from Shanghai to Istanbul, Cordoba to Seattle, Kiev to The
Hague, Amman to Reunion Island. While familiarizing themselves with
their online and offline communication tools during their orientation
week, they were also fully engaged in AVC's discussion forums, where
they conversed about different aspects of Armenian education and their
personal backgrounds.
Addressing the new learning community, AGBU Central Board Member Yervant
Zorian, the founder and chairman of AVC, stated, "It is great to observe
the tremendous enthusiasm among the AVC learners within their new
classrooms. Thanks to comprehensive support by AGBU, today, we are
witnessing a unique moment in Armenian education." He added, "I am very
pleased to see a dream come true as every single individual around the
globe, if he or she so desires, is now able to obtain Armenian
education, thus fulfilling the AVC motto: Armenian Education Anytime
Anywhere."
"This is a major patriotic project," said Stepan Petrosyan, Deputy
Minister of Diaspora of the Republic of Armenia. "Besides its
educational value, it will definitely help preserve the Armenian nation.
Our ministry will do its best to support this colossal and important
endeavor."
AVC is fortunate to have a team of professionally trained online
instructors in Armenia, who help guide their students' learning
experience and are committed to communicate with them around the clock.
These online instructors supplement the multimedia courses and engage
with their students in all six AVC languages. They support the academic
and social networking aspects of virtual learning.
In addition to weekly lessons, students started accessing multimedia
study tools, assignments, quizzes, course calendars, syllabi, and drop
boxes. Moreover, discussion forums, email and live chat options will
provide students with the opportunities to better connect with their
classmates and to forge friendships with fellow students from across the
globe.
"For the past few years I've been searching all over for an Armenian
language course, so you could imagine how excited I was to finally come
across this opportunity," stated Van, a student enrolled in the
Beginners Western Armenian course in English.
"This is a great opportunity for me to learn and revise my Armenian. My
two-year-old daughter is repeating with me all the words," said Karine,
from Montevideo, Uruguay, a student in the Beginners Western Armenian in
Spanish course.
Expressing his appreciation, Samuel stated: "Thank you again for your
existence and for allowing me to utilize and ride this marvelous tool,
which has been made available to the worldwide Armenian diaspora."
"I applaud this program because I will be making a lot of friends in the
cyber community," said Daniel from Cordoba, Argentina, a student in the
Armenian History class.
Registration for the fall 2009 term will begin on Aug. 31 (continuing
until Sept. 14) and will offer double the number of courses that are
currently being offered. In addition to the same course curricula as in
the summer term, the next level (part 2) of these courses will also be
available for the students who completed the first parts during the
summer term. Additionally, the fall term 2009 will offer a new course
set on Introduction to Armenian Architecture Part 1. The nine-week-long
fall courses will begin September 22, 2009.
Initiated in 2004 by AGBU's Silicon Valley Chapter, and spearheaded by
Yervant Zorian, the technology for AVC has largely been developed in
Armenia with the collaboration of scientists and engineers at Yerevan
State University's Information Technology Center for Education and
Research.
Zorian was recently honored by the Republic of Armenia's National
Academy of Sciences and received the distinction of "Foreign Member" as
a result of his achievements in computer engineering and
microelectronics. He is the vice-president and chief scientist of Virage
Logic, an IT company operating both in Armenia and the United States. He
was elected to the AGBU Central Board of Directors last year during the
organization's 85th General Assembly. He is also a trustee of the
American University of Armenia and the chairman of AGBU Silicon Valley.
Established in 1906, AGBU (www.agbu.org) is the world's largest
non-profit Armenian organization. Headquartered in New York City, AGBU
preserves and promotes the Armenian identity and heritage through
educational, cultural and humanitarian programs, annually touching the
lives of some 400,000 Armenians on six continents.