Sedu is part of the Opinlakeus network, which is a regional network of schools. The network hosts various events, does cooperation in projects - Opinlakeus also brings in the local school representatives to discuss international cooperation. The network offers different training possibilities for organisation’s staff members and this way benefits all the partners, and the training is also offered to the working life.

The annual Opinlakeus Learning Technology seminar is organized in cooperation with Seinäjoki Joint Municipal Authority for Education Sedu and Seinäjoki University of Applied Sciences. The event has been very popular each year, and it has e.g. showcased new learning applications and methods. This year it had to be held online, due to the COVID-19 -situation. For the first time ever, it was held in the AltspaceVR virtual reality environment, and the event was a success. In AltspaceVR the the participants are shown as avatars, and participants can join with VR glasses, regularly just by pc or follow the live stream from YouTube.

The theme of the event this year was Remote working. The programme consisted of different company cases regarding working from home, as well as models for schools regarding online education and hybrid education, different platforms as well as representing the digital campus model for vocational education and training.

For a person trying out AltspaceVR for the first time, the event was a welcome surprise: “It was very interesting to take part in an online event like this. Having an active participant role in the online environment. It was a nice change compared to the webinars held via the more traditional applications such as Teams and ZOOM”.

Maybe we will see more of this kind of solutions used in the future, also in education.