Abstract:

Kark is an Internet based learning tool at University of Bergen, Norway. It was created in the late 1990s and has been developed continuously since then. Today it is used by almost all students at the university at some stage in their studies. It was created to solve pedagogical problems: How to reduce drop-out and fails (improve learning) in a situation where there is no extra teaching capacity. Kark was developed to create a digital alternative to the old-fashioned seminars with less use of teaching resources and better learning.
The main objective of the system is to increase learning. We firmly believe in the protestant principle that only hard work can improve learning; hard and efficient work by student and by teacher. For the teachers it is a question of increasing the number of actual hours working, but converting administrative work into real teaching and making the teaching useful for as many students as possible; For the students it is question of increasing the number of hours invested in the studies and first of all increasing the learning-efficiency of their work.
The paper will discuss:
• The pedagogical principles the system is based upon.
• The importance of putting the pedagogy in charge of the computer system, not the other way around, as is the most common way of experiencing it.
• The digital tools available to teachers and to students.
• The simplicity of the system: The importances of letting the teacher teach his subject, not a computer system.
• The possibility and importance of peer teaching: Using the students as teachers.

Keywords:

practical approach to blended learning, e-learning, e-portfolios, on-line history courses, writing.