elearning_label_learning_and_society

CHARM takes Regional Health Care Social Service Networks into a new age demonstrating telematic services for citizens, healthcare professionals and social workers on an unprecedented scale and integration level. CHARM brings together private and public enterprises, health and local authorities, and healthcare providers who share a common view of what kind of services citizens should be provided with given and who are willing to capitalise on each other's know-how to improve their service capability.

Citizens will be guided through the complex organisation of healthcare and social services to find an adequate answer to their needs and will be able to book services and pay for them from convenient access points. Healthcare and social workers in CHARM will find a tool for improving their collaboration through a real information sharing achieved through secure messaging and interactive access to relevant personal information on citizens, with their explicit consent. Stand-alone applications working independently from one another will be enabled to co-operate through the network and to provide a solution to the demand for swift and smooth information flow among different organisations caring for the a same citizen.

Work description:

CHARM, to achieve its objectives, will go through a series of steps. In each of the demonstration sites the need for communication and information sharing will be discussed with the various categories of users. Functional service specifications will be drafted by the project team, re-discussed with the users and finally agreed upon. The training gap of the various categories of professional users will be evaluated through a skill inventory among the user population.

A survey of the existing technological platforms will be carried in each demonstration site and a common architecture will be agreed within the project team. This will ensure that the envisaged solutions are applicable to a variety of situations and are easily exportable towards other regional realities.

Bridging software to link existing systems into the network will be developed in parallel in the four demonstration sites according to the common architecture agreed upon in the previous step. In each demonstration site the bridging software will be installed and commissioned. In parallel, professionals users will be trained using a combination of traditional classroom training and CBT, tailored to the specific training needs identified in the previous phases of the project.

The new set of telematic services (Initial Demonstrators) will be activated and users will be supported during an initial period of 6 months, during which the quality, performance and appropriateness of the services will be evaluated.

The outcome of the evaluation will serve as a base for enhancing the service and delivering deliver the Final Demonstrator for a final four-month validation period. The Deployment Phase, which is not part of the current proposal, will follow immediately on from the end of the Demonstration Phase, subject to a positive evaluation of the impact of CHARM on the economics and quality of the social/healthcare services directly addressed in the project.

Milestones:

The end result of CHARM is represented by four operational regional networks, in three EU countries, encompassing both the social and healthcare sectors. The milestones during the lifecycle of the projects are:
· Agreed functional specifications;
· Common system architecture definition;
· Release of bridging software;
· Completion of the professional user training;
· Release of the Initial Demonstrators;
· Release of the Final Demonstrators;
· Impact assessment and Decision about subsequent Deployment.

Training is vital for the successful uptake of ICTs and the future of e-learning among older Europeans. At present, general education varies greatly among older people in Europe and illiteracy is still a problem. Many older people in Europe speak very little English, but a lot of content, software and computer terminology is in English. Nevertheless the experience of existing training courses targeted at older people is that language is not a real barrier to learning. The fact that browser software is in English, for example, is not a significant problem if ultimately interesting own-language content is available. In general, older men have a higher level of education, are more interested in ICT and are more likely to use computers at work; therefore older women need to receive special attention.

In order to improve eLearning access for older people in Europe, the following recommendations are suggested:

· There is a need for a greater number of general introductory courses on ICTs targeted at older people. The learning environment and course content and materials should be adapted to meet the needs of older people.

· More research needs to be done regarding how older people best learn about ICTs and this should include the learning environment. The most successful initiatives seem to be those targeted specifically at older people and courses that are tailor made for older people and take their background, learning speed and social context into account seem to be the most effective.

· Public funding needs to be available to subsidise training courses for older people. Consideration needs to be given to the pricing structure of computer training courses for older people to ensure that older people on low incomes can participate in them. Reduced charges based on means testing could be one option.

· Public funding is needed to ensure that teachers of ICTs to older people are adequately trained. Public places which offer access to the Internet must have trained staff. As many older people lack confidence in their ability to learn about ICTs, it is particularly important that trainers understand their learning needs and use appropriate material and methodology. In addition, if public buildings such as libraries are to be used to provide introductory ICT training courses, their staff must be suitably trained.

· There is a need for an inventory of current initiatives on IT training courses for older people in Europe and an analysis of their impact. This inventory should produce best practice guidelines on the structure and financing of initiatives, the content and style of training programmes. Efforts must be made to ensure that knowledge and experience gained are not lost and that activities are not unnecessarily duplicated.

· Volunteers have played a vital role in PC training programmes organised by NGOs in the USA and this is an area that should be further developed in Europe in the future. Although many volunteers are older people themselves, both peer group and intergenerational training have been successful and it is important to encourage volunteers from all age groups.

· The promotion of the European Computer Driving Licence (ECDL) appears to be an excellent incentive to get people of all ages motivated in learning how to use computers. This would also promote PC literacy among older Europeans and build up their confidence in the use of ICTs and promote eLearning for this age group.


Initiatives Encouraging eLearning Among Older Europeans

There are a surprising number of initiatives taking place in Europe which encourage older people to use ICT and in this way promote eLearning. Most of these initiatives have been organised by non-governmental organisations (NGOs), non-profits and local government agencies. However, to date there has been very little co-ordination or sharing of knowledge between initiatives and little follow-up. Some of the more interesting initiatives currently taking place in Europe are described below:

Senior-Info-Mobil
The Senior-Info-Mobil was launched in Germany in 1998 by a non-profit organisation (Verein Senioren und Seniorinnen in der Wissensgesellschaft e.V) and is supported by the Bundesministerium für Bildung, Wissenschaft, Forschung und Technologie (Federal Ministry of Research) and various private companies. This is a mobile internet café and is available on request for demonstration and training purposes throughout Germany.

This initiative is specifically aimed at older adults and the computer equipment has been installed within the so-called Senior-Info-Mobil (a two-level omnibus). In addition, a further computer network is available which can be used inside buildings. Interested communities and ageing organisations can request the equipment together with training staff for a week’s stay. Due to weather conditions, it is only possible to run this programme during the summer months and although the organisers say that the initiative has been a success, there is no information available on how many older adults purchased equipment or went online after participating in one of the courses.

University of the Third Age
The University of the Third Age deserves special mention as it encourages learning in later life and offers new services to older adults. For example in Finland, the University of the Third Age, Ikäihmisten yliopisto or Ikääntyneiden yliopisto, is a learning co-operative of older people which enables members to share many educational, creative, social and recreational activities. At the moment there are nine universities offering education for seniors in over 30 municipalities. Recently, the University of the Third Age of Helsinki started IKIS Internet, a series of courses on internet services which have proven to be very popular.

LILL network
In Germany the European network LILL (Learning in later life) is a co-operation of universities, further education institutions, universities of the third age and other institutions from 18 European countries which deal with science-orientated training for older adults. It was initiated by the ZAWiW (Zentrum für Allgemeine Wissenschaftliche Weiterbildung/Centre for General Scientific Continuing Education) at Ulm University. It provides an overview of relevant addresses and offers relevant studies from different European countries as well as information on new publications and relevant meetings. A working group called “Seniorinnen/Senioren im Internet” (Seniors in the Internet) has been initiated.

COMMA
In the small town of Batley, Yorkshire, in the UK, a project has been successful in encouraging older adults to produce multimedia content for their website. Specially developed software enables a local group of seniors to scan photos of their local community and archive them with text, sound clips and other material into a local Community Multimedia Archive (COMMA) In this way the knowledge of older people can be transferred to users of the archive (e.g. schools and libraries), which can be reproduced on a CD-Rom. The project has now expanded to the region around Batley and has been implemented in Denmark. At the time of this study, the Netherlands also planned on starting local COMMA projects.

Seniorweb
Seniorweb, a website which targets those aged 50+ in Europe, was launched in 1996 in the Netherlands, in Germany in 1997, and has now spread to Austria and Switzerland. The main aim of Seniorweb is to encourage older people to use information and communication technology by offering both online and offline services. Its websites in the different countries provide information that is of particular interest to this age group and this includes information on: medicare, investment plans, legal aspects, shopping, travel, timetables for events, TV tips, book reviews etc. It also offers chat groups, e-mail discussion lists, links to other relevant websites and more important information sources. Offline Seniorweb is involved in organizing computer and internet courses for older people. In March 1999, Seniorweb in the Netherlands organized the Internet Fiesta, which saw the launch of two internet cafés in residential homes for seniors in the Netherlands. SeniorWeb in the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland and Austria have worked together to create a website called EuroSeniorWeb. The aim of this website is to bring together different initiatives in Europe and facilitate the exchange of news in this sector.

See the related article on Obstacles to Older People Using Computers by Melanie LewinRosemarie Gilligan previously worked as a project manager and researcher on the AOP-IS project at the European Institute for the Media, Düsseldorf, Germany. She is at present carrying out her PhD at University College Dublin. Her PhD studies focus on the domestication of ICTs in Irish rural households.

Rosemarie Gilligan participated in an European study carried out between 1998/99 which explored older people’s access to the information society in Europe. This project was co-ordinated jointly by the European Institute for the Media, Düsseldorf, Germany, and the Netherlands Platform for Older People and Europe, Utrecht. The study received the financial support of the European Commission’s Information Society Promotion Office (ISPO) and was selected for presentation in the ISPO Showcase 2000. Three project reports were produced which may be downloaded at Rosemarie Gilligan website

Contact
Rosemarie Gilligan
e-mail:gilligan@o2.ie

Most European companies, independently from their size, field of activity or country of origin, show a growing need for qualified and renewable skills, looking for a training solution that should be considered as an investment and not as a pure short-term cost.
On the other side, training suppliers are willing to shape their products and services to become more effective and accessible, mainly on-line.

In this context ETABETA has been designed to provide the players in the training field with an innovative tool. The European dimension and the brokerage functions are the main strength; the solution will give more visibility to the training offer, combined with an easier access for the training demand to all the information needed in order to optimise the selection of alternative choices.

The ETABETA project aims at fostering the development of a truly trans-European training market by facilitating the matching between demand and supply through a distributed web-based service.
The main objective of the project is to provide a one-stop-shop of Europe-wide training provision with enhanced supported accessibility.

ETABETA will set up a training brokerage service designed to match best-fit services between client companies and providers. This will be an early implementation for Europe and will both enhance the concept of European training markets, and expand the perimeters of buyers and providers of training material.
In the medium-long term ETABETA will be enriched of an additional service designed to respond to a growing request for customised training products. An optional consulting activity will offer the preparation of training products tailored on the individual requirements of the clients.

The market validation is the project phase necessary to verify the hypotheses done and constitute the foundations on which the European ETABETA service will be deployed. The validation activity is centred on three objectives:

- Establish the customers’ and providers’ base needed in view of launching the full service;
- Verify the market response and test users’ acceptance regarding their needs and service's cost-effectiveness;
- Identify other actors interested in starting up the ETABETA service and in participating in the financial investment, in as many as possible additional members states.

The current employment market is characterised by tensions and lack of transparency: on the one hand, a huge number of candidates are looking for jobs, on the other hand, a large number of job vacancies are not filled. For several reasons, there is no effective meeting place between candidates and employers; in particular:

- Both CVs and vacancies are disseminated in several databases and among many brokers lacking of information sharing for competitive reasons.

- There is incompatibility among the data used by the different brokers as there are no common standardised search criteria, which makes impossible seamless and overall searching.

- At international level, there is no common standard for a multilingual search.

- Too many databases having too small visibility: for example for a market size of Belgium, there are more than 100 on-line job boards available. But, in order to achieve a satisfactory level of visibility, candidates still have to register on several web sites and companies also need to publish their vacancies on several web sites.

To solve this problem the EBP consortium, consisting of three Public Employment Services FOREM (Belgium, Wallonia), AMS (Sweden) and ANPE (France) and a private telecom company (WIN) has set up a concept of employment marketplace where information about employment would be exchanged in a standardised format through specific translating gateways. The partnership is also developing a detailed description language (based on the already existing international codified descriptive language) allowing very detailed multilingual information.

The goal of EBP is to improve the employment situation by allowing:
- Employment professionals to exchange information about vacancies and candidates;

- Competent authorities to better detect and react to tensions on the employment market (early detection of shortages and surpluses).

Looking more specifically at the project phase, the main objective is to provide a Business Plan, including all necessary and suitable information, which will help to take the decision about the opportunity to launch and deploy EBP on the European employment market.