Activities

Resources freely available include:  

• A suite of some thirty multimedia packs for independent learning, in both English and Dutch, on the society, culture, history and language of the Low Countries;
• Two reference grammars for English-speaking learners of Dutch, one at beginners’ level and one at a more advanced level;
• A self-access course enabling you to become proficient in reading Early Modern Dutch – the language of Rembrandt’s contemporaries;
• Another self-access course enabling you to become proficient in reading contemporary Business Dutch;
• Checklists (bibliographies) of English translations of Dutch literature, and of English-language studies of Dutch literature and history and
• A database of all articles published in Dutch Crossing : A Journal of Low Countries Studies between 1977 and today.
  

As an inter-institutional teaching and learning collaboration, Virtual Dutch also engages in activities involving students and staff from UCL, Sheffield and Cambridge. These include: 

• Joint learning projects making use of a virtual learning environment and videoconferencing;
• The shared development and use of WebCT- and Moodle-based course materials;
• The creation of comprehensive online courses for beginners and intermediate learners of Dutch.   
  

Virtual Dutch also provides access to

• external teaching and learning resources on the Web like the high-quality Intute database and
• a directory of newsfeeds, audio and video podcasts with the latest information from Dutch and Belgian newspapers, journals and broadcasting stations.
• All resources can be searched via an advanced search engine.
• A new project, starting in May 2009, envisages the creation of an Open Learning Environment for Early Modern History.

In the longer term Virtual Dutch seeks to develop materials and working methods suited to the growing world market for distance and lifelong learning.

Last modified: 20.09.2009
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