elearning_label_training_and_work

Projects

Pienyritysten johtamisjärjestelmän kehittäminen

28 November 2002
The starting point of the project is to prevent exclusion of SMEs and their personnel from working life in the structural change brought on by information society.
The problems in the transfer of information between the main and sub-contractor have an effect on the labour market as well; the networking of enterprises will improve the functioning of the labour market.

The aim is to develop training and operational models which prevent exclusion of ageing employees and increase the capacity of personnel to adapt to the demands of information society. The project aims to improve networking of enterprises, flow of information and the taking into account of personnel and the quality of work.

The intention is to concentrate on improving the transfer of information between the main contractor and the subcontractor and on increasing cooperation between SMEs. In the development of managing systems it is essential to ensure well-being at work and the maintenance of work ability and the provision of training possibilities.

The immediate results of the project will include the following: creation of new jobs, securing existing jobs, improvement of productivity and competitiveness of SMEs and improvement of participation and competence of personnel.

The development of managing systems of SMEs will be implemented through provision of training, provision of individual consultation for SMEs, study trips abroad and meetings between enterprises. During the project the participants have a possibility to obtain a certificate of work manager.

The participating SMEs and other parties can utilise the models created during the project in their own work and to mainstream them further.
Projects

La Selva coopera

27 November 2002
To improve adaptability in SME's and in workers of the region of La Selva through the use of the ICTs.
The cooperation strategy is nowadays essential to front the globalization of economy, specially for the SME's, whose possibilities to survive depend on the ability to cooperate not to compete with others in the same sector or in complementary sectors. The same is for the territory, whose competitiveness will depend on the ability of economic and social agents to cooperate. Aware of these problems we propose with this project to promote cooperation among the different agents of the region in order to find at the local and regional level as well as in the european level the right relationships to cooperate efficiently looking for new opportunities for the region and specially for their inhabitants.

The chief activities will be: cooperation to improve innovation, using of Ntics, new ways of management and work organization among SME's and their workers and to strenghen business associations and to develop NYE, access to training and the sustainable development of the region.

One of the most important characteristics of the region of La Selva is the existence of SME's that during the last years have become the economic foundation of the region. They represent more of 80% of the total and more of 70% of workers.

The business world of the region presents a bundle of structural problems. Among them are: the small size of businesses, lack of international activities, a low technological level and lack of financing. In La Selva exists a low development of business'cooperation in comparison with other regions and specially referred to SME's.

In front of this we have a labour market with a low level of activity, a high level of women unemployed, that is the double of the men'one; an excessive level of seasonal and rotation employment due to tourism sector and low level of education of the total labour force.

All these factors show us a region with a business and productive structure quite breakable that depends on SME's with rare capacity for adapting to changes because of their low level of incoporating the new technologiesto their processes, a limited acces to training and human resources with low qualifications.

This kind of labour market requires a serie of actions in which all the economic and social agents compromised themselves in order to look for solutions to the problems that affect and will continue affecting an important population sector and the competitiveness of the region.

Projects

Afstandleren in de Callcenter-sector

27 November 2002
The project aims at realizing vocational training in the Callcenter business by distance learning sistems giving specail atention to the multicultural aspect and the gender gap.
The Callcenter business (Customer Service Centers) is expanding and getting an international character. The use of modern communication technology, as e-mail and internet, together with the existing telephone, demands a more standardized vocational education method and qualification structure.

Objectives of the DP are to realize in a number of EC-countries identical vocational training and examination. For this purpose an identical qualification structure has to be developed. Education and examination will be by a distance-learning system. Special attention will be paid to the mulicultural aspect and the gender gap, as vast numbers of female employees will be involved.
Projects

Virtual Training Centre in Information Technology

27 November 2002
It will provide reliable and critical e-learning resources in IT to help European SMEs to benefit from the transfer of innovative technology know-how to improve and add value to their software and systems development capability, and thus to remain competitive in the European market.
The project address one of the critical obstacles that SMEs face by providing easy and affordable access to reliable and critical IT training in a virtual environment. It will establish pan-European telematic channels to develop, test and disseminate an integrated training service on common hardware and software platforms, and to make the resulting materials available to SMEs through easy-to-use virtual systems (via internet) with a high level of interaction and at low cost.
VINCITECwill provide for:

-an integrated training service in a truly virtual environment easily accessible and affordable to geographically dispersed SMEs;

-an added-value and interactive training service narrowing the gap between the bulk of ITC information available today and what SMEs require to know, learn and manage in relation to ITC, to remain at the forefront in a competitive market;

-a training service addressing the critical management and process driven issues (such as Software Process Improvement) that are of utmost importance to any SME that is working in a software and systems-intensive environment.

VINCITEC will achieve the following objectives:

-Draw up a four-years business plan to cover the roll-out of the product and to demonstrate the market viability of the proposed venture;

-Define a product prototype, based on the market analysis and market definition. It will demonstrate the key products and services that will be developed throughout the VINCITEC lifecycle;

-Implement the integrated version of the product in four languages (English, Spanish, Italian and German) and to test the interoperability and stability of VINCITEC with the end-users before the market validation phase;

-Demonstrate the viability of VINCITEC in a commercial, trans-European context;

-Create an improved first version of VINCITEC as a result of the demonstration;

-Establish market awareness and find appropriate consortium members for the deployment phase.
Projects

Trans-European Net Academy

27 November 2002
TEN-A is an online world-class brokerage and delivery service, linking educators and trainers for the exchange and distribution of learning resources.
In order to stay competitive in the global market industrial countries require a supply of high-skilled personnel. The development of effective strategies for collaborative and business schemes between European Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and between them and companies in the field of on-line training provision, as well as the cross-fertilisation in the framework of public private partnerships have become a crucial issue for the global economy.

This is the context addressed by the TEN-A project, where all together the key players of the eLearning sector are involved in the exchange of knowledge.

The TEN-A project aims to provide eLearning exchange services at trans-European level, based on the results of the EC-IST funded UNIVERSAL project, which delivered a first prototype in August 2001. The main objectives of the TEN-A services are to:

-assist the exchange and diffusion of valuable academic knowledge and expertise of renowned European education and training institutions with private corporations and public organisations.

-strengthen the competitiveness of the European industry by linking the best expertise of HEIs with corporate learning requirements. This can be supported in the framework of Public Private Partnerships.

-help increase the quality and efficiency of tertiary education in Europe and to contribute to the continuous education of professionals with emphasis on high demand sectors (e.g. ICT).

-The TEN-A project is a co-operation of several leading educational institutions and technology companies throughout Europe, funded by the European Community. TEN-A itself is an on-line world-class brokerage and delivery service, linking educators and trainers for the exchange and distribution of learning resources. This on-line "broker" can be described as an entity that offers an attractive electronic marketplace, where offer can meet demand.

The objective of the market validation phase is to investigate a cost-effective way to exploit the TEN-A platform in a number of European countries, responding to the need of testing the overall user acceptance and interoperability while establishing an important number of strategic alliances for a large scale deployment.

The consortium will validate an eLearning brokerage platform combined with delivery systems for live and packaged content, which will act as a marketplace enabling HEIs, companies and public organisations to procure and deliver learning resources and learning related tools.
Projects

On-Line Alinari Photographic (Heritage) Archive for European Educational System

27 November 2002
ORPHEUSwill enable the educational institutions in Europe to access the unique European photographic heritage.
A unique patrimony of the Alinari photographic archives embracing an important dimension of the European heritage has a large potential of e-education/e-learning use, provided that on-line adequate access can be assured.

The ORPHEUS project is the necessary validation phase to conduct focused market research, to exploit the results of the pilots and finalise a business plan to prepare the further roll-out of the service in Europe. After this project’s phase, the number of archives accessible on the website will be enlarged and consulting services will be provided to other archive owners willing to run similar initiatives.

The market validation project is centred on three axes:

-Business plan validation: to verify the market response, to what extent the implemented service meets the users' needs, how to guarantee the financial resources needed for the complete roll-out of the service in Europe;

-Internationalisation: to identify possible nodes in other European countries, interested in starting up operations in additional members states and possible liaisons with other similar EC projects and e-learning activities.

-Pilot service: monitoring and assessment will be carried out to validate the characteristics of the pilot services and to draw precious information on how to improve.

Picture database will be translated for a selection of 5.000 images coming from the famous Alinari photographic archive in French, Spanish and German (beside the current English and Italian versions).
Projects

Distance Learning by Satellite

27 November 2002
The Metafor project aims at proposing a complete solution, based on satellite transmissions and multicast technology, to train people at distance.
METAFOR has been conceived to answer the specific needs to:

-test the market and prepare commercial services;

- draw the line between generality and specificity in distance-learning applications in order to include a generic software platform in the product while leaving room to software developments well suited to customer’s needs;

-define additional customer support services (help-desk, equipment distribution and installation);

-size more accurately the transmission network (bit rate);

- investigate the opportunity to associate satellite carriers as well as terrestrial operators to the future venture;

-derive a methodology for an efficient pedagogical use of the system.

The main goal is to set up an integrated solution for distance learning by satellite. Learning and education are to be taken in a broad sense and we mean also access to professional information (e.g. geographical databases). It will be based on satellite transmissions, offering a portal giving access to contents and including distance learning applications and user friendly interfaces both on the content provider side and on the end user side.

The project is targeting first the agricultural and rural market. The market validation study is aimed at setting sound basis for future extension in terms of market segments and the geographical area.
Articles

A Virtual Laboratory for the e-Learning Training of Teachers and Trainers<br> <font color= "#888888">

15 January 2003
The European Commission’s elearning Action Plan has identified the potential of elearning and set ambitious targets. However, as the plan itself acknowledges, and a series of reports confirm, there are major barriers to be overcome if this potential is to be realised. Foremost amongst these are the training of teachers and trainers in the pedagogy and application of elearning and the evaluation of the effectiveness of elearning and elearning materials. Evaluative reports have further pointed to the gap between policy and practice.

The initial focus for the iLAB (internet LABoratory) is based on a well-developed constructivist approach to knowledge development and sharing. This is focused on communication, discourse and dialogue leading to shared meanings and the generation of explicit knowledge from tacit knowledge and understandings. The project is also developed around the concept of communities of practice and builds on previous research and projects in activity theory and knowledge creation whilst the software tools build on the Semantic Web developments of the W3C and the MIT.

The project aims to develop dialogical methodologies and partnerships to promote practice-based policy and a collaborative-based query and mutual learning between different sectors and cultures in order to find common European pathways to the implementation of elearning. iLAB is intended as an exemplar and case study in the use of elearning and ICT for European collaboration. It builds on previous attempts to develop ICT based networks by introducing at its centre a dialogical methodology based on activity and participation rather than just Web based information provision.

The major result of the project will be:

· the development of a sustainable and scaleable European virtual laboratory and network of participants in European countries for teachers and trainers in the use of ICT in education and training. The laboratory will bring together experts, policy makers and practitioners from different sectors of education and training.

· the development of recommendations for national policy makers and guidelines for teacher training institutions in two key problem areas associated with the implementation of the elearning action plan – the training of teachers and trainers in pedagogies for the use of ICT, and the evaluation of elearning and elearning materials.

· an innovative methodology using advanced XML based ICT tools and will itself serve as an exemplar for collaborative ICT based learning in Europe.

The methodology of the project demands the active involvement of a broad target group including: trainers of teachers and trainers in elearning; managers and strategic developers in teacher training institutions; policy makers and planners at national, regional and European level; researchers in elearning; curriculum and materials developers; experts in evaluation. These will be drawn from school-based education, vocational education and training, adult and continuing education and university and higher-level education.

The target groups will benefit from both the process and outcomes of the project. The process of dialogical query will be part of the continuing professional development of the target groups (enhancing participation and sustainability of the iLAB). The process will also enable an exchange between those involved in policy making and implementation of elearning policies leading to mutual learning and a sharing of meanings. The outcomes will provide on the one hand policies to enhance the development of elearning and overcome barriers; on the other hand it will lead to the organic development of pilot and practice based projects for implementing elearning practice.

The project will ultimately be of benefit to learners in the form of more effective and efficient practice in elearning and the development of richer learning environments through new curricula and new evaluation tools for elearning.

The European added value lies in the development of an exemplary and innovative virtual laboratory for the implementation of the elearning action Plan. The project has an organic multiplier effect based on activity leading to the sustainable development of powerful new trans-national networks and practice. In order to achieve such ambitious goals the project has developed an extremely innovative methodology underpinned by previous research and pilot activities. The main innovations consist of the methodology and didactic and pedagogic approach to problem formulation and solving and the elearning technologies to be employed by the project. The project will utilise XML web based tools for a Semantic Web between the partners allowing annotation and querying and dialogue based on multi media. The tools themselves will provide a powerful elearning environment for the extended project partner network.

The project is designed as a collaborative European approach promoting activity based exchange and mutual learning, whilst respecting different cultures and sectoral differences and uses innovative elearning methodologies for developing elearning policy and practice.

The project will investigate the questions concerning the use of ICT in teacher training at European, National, Institutional and Practitioner level through the use of an interactive web site employing both CMC (discussion), XML (organisation and design), and multimedia (video case studies). The web site will be a large-scale online experiment wherein the contributions of the participants will form the basis for the development of the outcomes as well as being an outcome in itself, an investigation and evaluation of the effectiveness of trans-European collaboration.

Part of the core focus for this project is the tools being developed for computer mediated communication supported knowledge development. Given that the key aim of iLAB is to develop knowledge through sharing of ideas and meanings, we believe that there is the need to exchange a far wider range of materials. The web site will form the locus for a community of practice for teacher training professionals and institutions. The video case studies will provide an online resource both for professional debate and discussion as well as resources for teacher training development.

The central focus of the project is based around improving the quality of teaching, training and learning in Europe remains the professionalisation of teachers and trainers through collaboration.
For further information about the project or joining a focus group contact: Philip Crompton, Institute of Education, University of Stirling, United Kingdom. Tel: +44(1786)467615

This project does not as yet have a public web site.

pc4@stir.ac.uk
Projects

KIVA

27 November 2002
The project aims at analysing the training and development needs of the personnel in SMEs and their networks and creating a model to meet these needs.
The aim of the project is to solve the following problem: the training and development needs of the personnel in SMEs and their networks in the area have not been systematically analysed. The area does not offer any training or support and coucelling services which would meet the needs.
The project has a wide range of actors and it offers wide-scale and diverse development actions e.g. training, support and councelling services for SMEs in the Kainuu region. A great number of SMEs participate in the project.

The main goal of the project is to solve a model through which the following actions will be implemented:
- a systematic skills mapping survey and analysis of personnel competence and introduction to SMEs of a survey and analysis of their development needs
- development of network model to SMEs operating in the same field
- development of operational model for SMEs practising direct business cooperation e.g. by utilising new technology
- testing of a cooperation model among enterprises which have common interests but which do no practice business cooperation but operate in different fields; testing would involve e.g. mainstreaming of good practices
- development of a training model in order to improve knowledge of language and culture which are needed in networking of enterprises; the training model would be based on individual needs
- testing of a model of social responsibility where entrepreneurs promote their personnel's working life needs in order to improve the quality of work, the participation and commitment of personnel.
In order to find out the development needs of SMEs and their personnel, surveys of development needs and competence needs will be carried out. These will be analysed and on their basis the SMEs will be offered different training, support and councelling services
Projects

Tietotekniikka ja Verkosto tRakenteiden Uudistamisessa

27 November 2002
Its aim is to support enterprises in adapting to structural change and in introducing new technologies.
The project is needed because in the textile, clothing, footware and leather industry there are a great deal of ageing women whose basic training is low and whose information technology skills are deficient. If the project can promote the success of this industry, it will have significance also to national economy.

The target group of the project are the SMEs and their personnel in the textile, clothing, footware and leather industry and young people training for the professions in this field. The objective is to increase technological competence in the recruitment of labour, in product development, in direction and marketing of the production in order to secure employment in the field. A special aim is to increase the ageing personnel's ability and possibility to adopt new contents of work and to trasfer their skills to other generations. The means to provide support to the resources of enterprises and their personnel is active networking in adult training and in basic vocational training. The project will also organise meetings of the network where it will be possible to exchange expertise and experiences in order to strengthen information technology skills and in order to provide more diverse tasks.