University of Helsinki has decided to give up the use of the web-based application BSCW (Basic Support for Cooperative Work) after the academic year 2012-2013. There are several reasons for this, of which the most important BSCW’s outdated technological environment. Upgrading to a newer version of the service is not possible and particularly our students have requested a smaller selection of educational technology tools.
The technical environment of online learning management system Moodle is high-quality and reliable, supporting e-learning and group work in many ways especially in cooperation between other universities. In replace, we offer our BSCW users supported educational technology services, of which Moodle and Wiki are recommended for teaching and learning after 2013/06/01.
BSCW can be used for teaching during the academic year 2012-2013, but during the spring term (starting from 2013/01/01) the users are no longer able to invite completely new members to shared workspaces. The BSCW service can no longer be used after 2013/06/01, which applies to all users, both teachers and students. Therefore we recommend that users store all important data and files elsewhere in advance, at the latest during the spring term 2013.