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Feasibility of an Electronic Platform for
Adult Learning in EuropeDG Education and Culture
4 May 2012
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Feasibility of EPALE
Feasibility of an Electronic Platform for Adult Learning in EuropeDG Education and Culture
A report submitted by GHK in association with
Technopolis Limited
Danish Technological Institute3s Unternehmensberatung GmbH
Date: 4 May 2012
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Feasibility of EPALE
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Contents
Executive summary ........................................................................................................ 4 Approach to the study.............................................................................................................................. 4 Potential users’ views.............................................................................................................................. 5 Key messages from the experience of other similar websites................................................................ 5 Assessment of proposed features and functions .................................................................................... 7 Assessment of approaches ..................................................................................................................... 8 Conclusions............................................................................................................................................. 8 1 Introduction......................................................................................................12 1.1 This study............................................................................................................................... 13 1.2 Method ................................................................................................................................... 14 1.3 Structure of this report............................................................................................................ 18 2 Potential users’ views .......................................................................................19 2.1 Features/content .................................................................................................................... 19 2.2 Functions................................................................................................................................ 23 2.3 Participation / contribution...................................................................................................... 25 2.4 Languages ............................................................................................................................. 26 2.5 Online Events/Training........................................................................................................... 27 2.6 Dissemination / Use of social media ...................................................................................... 28 2.7 Need and rationale for a platform .......................................................................................... 30 2.8 Key messages emerging........................................................................................................ 30 3 Learning from the experience of other websites............................................. 32 3.1 Other platforms ...................................................................................................................... 32 3.2 General platform characteristics ............................................................................................ 44 3.3 Usage and value of features and functionalities.................................................................... 50 3.4 Dissemination and communication ........................................................................................ 51 3.5 Key messages........................................................................................................................ 54 4 Assessment of features and functionalities......................................................57 4.1 Assessment of features.......................................................................................................... 57 4.2 Assessment of functionalities................................................................................................. 66 4.3 Assessment of languages...................................................................................................... 74 4.4 Key messages........................................................................................................................ 77 5 Assessment of approaches............................................................................... 79 5.1 Development and management............................................................................................. 79 5.2 Dissemination......................................................................................................................... 84 5.3 Key messages........................................................................................................................ 85 6
Conclusions......................................................................................................86
6.1 What is the case for EPALE................................................................................................... 86 6.2 What are the broad options.................................................................................................... 87 6.3 Way ahead............................................................................................................................. 89
Annex 1 Glossary of Technical Terms................................................................. 93 Annex 2 Online Survey........................................................................................ 95 Annex 3 Survey: Detailed Analysis Tables........................................................ 102 Annex 4 Summary of Information about Other Platforms .............................. 105 Annex 5 Pros and Cons of 5 Content Management Systems (CMS) ................. 112
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Executive summary
Background to the study
The European Union (EU) has aimed to increase the participation of adults in lifelong learning and
education. It has set a target of raising average participation across the EU to 15% by 2020 from anaverage of 9.5% in 2008. The European Agenda for Adult Learning was renewed in 2011, in
recognition of the contribution that can be made by adult learning to enabling adults to improve their
prospects in a changing labour market and their contribution to society1. The renewed Agenda
identifies the following priority areas for the period 2012 to 2014:
▪ Making lifelong learning and mobility a reality;
▪ Improving the quality and efficiency of education and training;
▪ Promoting equity, social cohesion and active citizenship through adult learning;
▪ Enhancing the creativity and innovation of adults and their learning environment; and
▪ Improving the knowledge base on adult learning and monitoring the adult education sector.
The Grundtvig sub-programme of the EU’s Lifelong Learning Programme (LLP) aims to support the
achievement of the target for adult participation in lifelong learning through providing more and better
learning opportunities to adults and particularly to: improve the quality and amount of co-operation
between adult education organisations; develop innovative adult education and management
practices, and encourage widespread implementation; and support innovative ICT-based educational
content, services and practices2:.
As a consequence the Grundtvig sub-programme’s activities are contributing to creating a European
area of adult education, driving innovation and transferring knowledge and expertise in the field of
teaching adult learners, and raising participation.
For the EU’s programme for Education, Training, Youth and Sport for the period from 2014 to 2020,
the Commission has proposed to establish an Erasmus for All programme3. This is designed tostrengthen lifelong learning and support Member States to modernise their education and training
systems. In particular it proposes a greater emphasis on cooperation for innovation, good practice in
adult learning and an IT platform for adult learning for peer learning and exchange of good practice for
a greatly enlarged group of potential beneficiaries than events and mobility programmes can achieve.
It is also clear in the current and future framework for lifelong learning that further progress is sought
across the EU towards good quality non-vocational adult education which encourages participation,
enables adults to continue learning and developing their skills, and enables social inclusion. It is also
clear that to achieve this, learning from Member States should be shared through exchanges,
products, cooperation and collaboration.
An Electronic Platform for Adult Education (EPALE) could therefore be expected to:
▪ Help to develop a culture of lifelong learning by making adult education more attractive, accessibleand effective;
▪ Support the process of building a European adult learning community by providing good quality
information about policy and practice and learning products for mutual learning from the range of
providers of non-vocational adult education;
▪ Enhance and speed up the process of building closer cooperation, networking and exchanges of
information and people that currently largely take place through workshops and events;
1Council of the European Union 16743/11 draft Council resolution on a renewed European agenda for adult
learning2 Grundtvig: practical learning for adults: http://ec.europa.eu/education/lifelong-learning-programme/doc86_en.htm3
Erasmus for All: the EU programme for education, training, youth and sport. EC Communication from theCommission to the European parliament COM (2011) 787 final
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▪ Capitalize on the results of Grundtvig projects, products and activities and those funded by other
European , national, regional and local sources both public and private by disseminating them
more widely, in particular evidence of best practice to address specific problems in adult learning
such as around participation and the quality of adult learning; and
▪ Support the process for developing as well as implementing European adult learning policies.
GHK Consulting was commissioned in August 2011 to carry out a feasibility assessment and cost
analysis of EPALE to identify the most useful features and functionalities of EPALE and the costs and
benefits of such features and functionalities; consider the models for providing EPALE and associated
costs and the approaches to disseminating information about EPALE; and provide estimates of the
potential costs to establish, promote and maintain EPALE. This was with a view to shaping any
commissioning of the development of a platform.
Approach to the study
The feasibility study drew on:
▪ Interviews and assessments of 11 existing websites with similar objectives to identify feasibility of
features and functions, costs, management arrangements and challenges;
▪ Consultation with potential users with a short on-line survey which had 573 responses
representing the range of potential users from 33 countries;
▪ In depth interviews with representatives of different potential users from a range of countries (15);
▪ A discussion at a Grundtvig National Agencies meeting;
▪ Cost utility assessments of the features, functions, development, management arrangements,
dissemination and languages options; and
▪ An assessment of various scenarios for development of EPALE with the broad implications for
costs and staffing
Potential users’ views
The survey findings and stakeholder interviews suggest that many stakeholders hope that EPALE
could raise the profile of the sector and be a one stop shop or springboard to the sector’s information
resources. But it needs a clear reason to be a tool that the potential users would use. While most
respondents are generally very positive about the suggested content of EPALE (around 70-80% for
each feature), a smaller proportion (15-20%) suggest they would not use it because there are other
websites available. While generally supportive, several stakeholders cautioned that it runs the risk of
“being all things to all men” without a clear function and being too focused on EU funded activities.
About three quarters of respondents indicate that they would use each of the features suggested but
many cautioned that the content would need to be identifiable (well-tagged) and searchable and linked
to other platforms. Respondents have more varied views on the functions suggested with much higher proportions indicating that a calendar of events, resources for staff training, and a tool to find partners
in other countries would be more useful than a members’ community and a discussion forum, for
example. Adult education providers are slightly less interested in adult education policy and more
interested in calendars of events and staff training resources. The National Agencies and government
bodies are more likely to have information from other sources and need links and some resources less
than adult education providers. Respondents would be much more willing to undertake participative
activities that required less time commitments, such as uploading event information and joining a
partner finding tool (over 80%) than translating content (under 40%) or uploading lesson plans and
other learning tools (under 60%) from which they would not personally gain. There is considerable
interest in on-line events and training even if they are only in English; though this is a lower proportion
than for most of the suggested functions that respondents would find useful/very useful (under 60%).
There are mixed views about the extent of content available in EU languages. Some strongly believethat English would be adequate especially if plain English guidance were applied; others that all EU
languages are needed if the platform is to engage adult education providers in Eastern and Southern
Europe. This appears to depend on the content and functions; with perhaps greater need for multi-
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lingual provision for good practice information and for partner finding tools than for discussion forums
and information for policy makers.
Email newsletters are used by three-quarters of respondents and many would prefer this for keeping
up to date with the platform’s content and functions. Some have suggested targeted newsletters as
well for specific areas of adult learning. There are very mixed views on other social media tools butless contention over RSS feeds than Facebook for example.
Key messages from the experience of other similar websites
General approach
Useful learning for establishing EPALE appears to be that having a clear set of purposes (expected
outputs and outcomes linked to increasing target users’ knowledge, skills and abilities) and a menu of
content and functions to achieve these is more likely to focus attention and lead to successful
development. Establishing ownership at the outset is critical for development and re-tendering as well
as ensuring that resources and materials which are available on other websites are signposted.
Initial and continuing developmentsUseful learning for setting up EPALE appears to be:
▪ A few have had short set up contracts but most with wider ambitions have had initial contracts for
several years (3-5 years) to set up/launch within a year and continue development with
management activities; few have done this in-house;
▪ Costs of development range from €10-40,000 to €100K-1million but the scale is clearly linked to
the ambitions and when initial development merges with management and maintenance;
▪ Some have been developed incrementally but many have been designed to service a potential
fixed range of purposes and functions linked to these (and re-designed periodically). Contracts
require flexibility to enable evolution of functions and content;
▪ Making the decision about whether the website should be multi-lingual early on is important as it isdifficult to add a language functionality at a later stage. Adding an additional language on a
website that is already multilingual is not as problematic; and
▪ The chosen Content Management System should be open source and straightforward to use but
the final choice should reflect the uses of the platform including the languages available.
Other useful learning for the process of development appears to be:
▪ Potential users can test and provide feedback on the website as a whole, as well as for each new
feature. Testers should represent the demographic of the target group; this should include staff of
small adult education providers, older workers and staff with limited experience of online portals;
▪ Building in means of monitoring, such as counting downloads of resources, should be done at the
outset so that outputs can be measured and evaluated;
▪ A Web Accessibility Initiative Level A accessibility requirement should be met at the outset; and
▪ EPALE could potentially use the LRE resource hosting platform rather than create one from
scratch.
Maintenance and management
Useful learning for EPALE appears to be that most other platforms have included maintenance and
management with continuing development and have flexible contracts (3-6 years) to enable priorities
to be agreed between client and contractor on a regular basis. Costs of maintenance and
management are not always distinguished from other related activities (such as dissemination,
organisation of events, developing content, editing/ reviewing new content, organisation of training
activities and delivery of training) but it is not generally believed to be necessary to separate them
contractually. Functions tend to increase management costs more than features though both need
active management if they are to be useful to large numbers of target users.
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Active management ranges from developing and commissioning new material to exploiting content
(editing and disseminating) and targeting potential users. Most have specified these additional
activities partly to ensure that content is up to date and functionality is enhanced and partly to make
the content relevant and useful or to increase and maintain take up. Costs range from €250K to
several millions a year but these seem to be related to scale and the extent of roles and
responsibilities.
Several have networks as well as a contractor with the network members (in Member States) required
to do local dissemination and to produce local material. Most have contracted out the work but a few
have in-house teams undertaking some of the active dissemination and updating of content, for
example, in addition to contract management; one has several contractors with different
responsibilities but acknowledges that this requires coordination. Some successfully use panels or
groups of users to check new materials and propose content.
Features and functions
Useful learning for EPALE’s potential features and functions appears to be that a critical mass of users
is needed for some functions, such as partner tools and discussion forums, to be viable. Discussion
forums can generally only flourish when a website has become established or has developed acommunity of users who have established relationships at events or visits. The various school partner
finding tools support the creation of virtual professional networks and exchanges by enabling the
sharing of information and resources.
Many functions enable a legacy from events, exchanges and visits to be built because they will bring
in other users of the knowledge and understanding gained. Content such as materials for teaching and
‘good practice’ need to have search functions and ought to have editorial controls and quality
standards if they are to be useful.
Discussion forums, online communities and ask an expert functions need active management too if
they are to be used and provided resources for other users. Some features and functions are already
available through other means (such as E-partnership space) or existing websites (such as Infonet).
Some features are available on websites in some Member States and in some languages. Examples
of national websites offering resources for teachers are the Norwegian Agency for Lifelong Learninghttp://www.vox.no and the Association of Austrian Adult Education Centres http://www.vhs.or.at.
Dissemination
Useful learning for EPALE’s potential features and functions appears to be that a ‘have to use’ or
‘must use’ feature can increase usage though neither necessarily bring users to all other features and
functions. This needs to be supplemented by search engine optimisation (SEO) and active
dissemination. Most of the platforms demonstrate that active management and dissemination increase
use and can significantly increase take up of features/functions such as downloadable teaching
materials, partner finding tools and discussion forums. Some activities bring in users, such as regular
e-newsletters and RSS feeds. Rewards and quality marks for active participation are appreciated and
may support active contributions from users. There are mixed views about registering and restricting
access and having open access; some of the most successful have open access.
Languages
The experience of other platforms tells us that the languages available for resources bring in new
users but also restrict users to the languages they can work in. While the use of plain English will help
(which then requires editorial control and guidance), some features, such as resources, benefit
considerably from being translated. The cost of translation depends on the scale of translation
required; those providing material in six or more languages only translate the material which is
centrally generated or for some features/functions. This can be supplemented by translation on
request and machine translation software availability.
Assessment of proposed features and functions
The assessment indicates that EPALE could significantly contribute to some of the key aims of the
adult learning agenda and the proposed Erasmus for All programme, especially to improve the quality
and extent of cooperation, widen the beneficiaries of resources produced and to strengthen the sector
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by supporting innovative better quality teaching. It could also drive transferring knowledge and
expertise in the adult education field for both teaching and raising participation and achievement both
by enhancing and expanding the opportunities for exchanges and sharing for mutual learning and
collaboration.
Principally because some of the features and functions could be expected to have a greater impactthan others and make a more significant contribution to the aims and targets of the adult learning
agenda and the Commission’s future programme, the highest priorities should be:
▪ Good practice on adult education policy;
▪ Partner finding tool;
▪ Resources for teaching / teachers;
▪ Resources for staff training;
▪ Calendar of events;
▪ Learning opportunities for staff; and
▪ On-line training / e-learning space.
The following would only be secondary priorities:
▪ Good practice on delivering adult education;
▪ Resources for managers;
▪ Catalogue of useful links;
▪ Funding and awards information;
▪ On-line members community; and
▪ E-partnership space.
And the following should not necessarily be considered for EPALE: adult education news, library of
documents, discussion forum, and Ask an Expert, unless they provided value to any of the highest
priority features and functions by increasing traffic to the platform or providing resources to users.
The highest priority features and functions would benefit from the following arrangements for
languages:
▪ Professional translation in 25 languages:
– Good practice on adult education policy
– Learning opportunities for staff
– Summaries of resources for teaching and staff training
▪ Machine translation:
– Partner finding tool
– Calendar of events
▪ English only:
– On-line training events / e-learning space.
Assessment of approachesThe assessment of development and management approaches suggests that most of the desired
features and many of the functions for EPALE can be delivered through the development
management and maintenance (DMM) option. Adding resource support and development (RSD)
allows for the creation, moderation and production of new material and events so that the website can
evolve to offer a core “service” rather than function as a depository of material and information created
elsewhere. This has the potential of attracting new users to the site; as well as generating return traffic
from existing users which would be necessary for the platform to ensure a critical mass of users. The
addition of network support (NS) would allow EPALE to directly engage with the target audience in
their own country and in their own language and therefore increase the likelihood of “community”
functions being taken up. Creating a source of exclusive content, SEO and targeted e-newsletters are
likely to be the most effective ways of attracting visitors to the site at relatively low cost.
In relation to the priorities for EPALE and language provision suggested above, EPALE would requireDMM and RSD in the first instance to create an adult education learning community and ensure the
functions were effectively used and met users’ needs. A RSD would also ensure that dissemination
could include targeted e-newsletters which should be one of the priorities for dissemination. NS would
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be a necessary enhancement in some Member States to promote and enable use of resources and a
partner finding tool.
Conclusions
What is the case for EPALE?
It is clear that EPALE could play a key role in transferring innovative and well tested practices in
teaching and training in adult learning to strengthen the adult learning sector across Europe and
create a wider learning community for mutual benefits. It could provide a sustainable network for
dissemination and the exploitation of knowledge and understanding to a much wider range of
beneficiaries. It would be feasible to establish the platform since the features and functions have been
developed elsewhere and it is evident that learning can be drawn on to ensure they are developed to
meet the adult learning community’s needs.
The table below adapts a PEST analysis to summarise the findings which support the case.
The case for EPALE
Policy relevance Economically effective
The Agenda for Adult Learning includes raising
the quality of teaching and learning in adult
education; increasing the participation of adults
in learning
Erasmus for All could expect an IT support
platform to provide opportunities for peer learning
exchange, training and open resources, and
enlarging the group of beneficiaries of partner
activities and learning events
Opportunity to spread resources and practice to
less developed adult education providers toincrease availability of innovative teaching and
ways to increase participation in adult learning
especially for the low skilled and older people
Provides for open educational resources
Functions such as downloadable resources and
shared space for e-partners attract users who
would otherwise not participate in sharing and
using new materials because of the cost
New resources obtained by practitioners and
policy makers at less cost than developing them
themselves
Tools to enable cooperation and sharing provide
‘virtual mobility’ at low cost
Opportunity to exploit the legacy of resourcesand materials from Grundtvig and other
programmes
Learning available about the development of
tools by other platforms with features and
functions planned for EPALE
Social benefits Technically feasible
Very high proportions of potential beneficiaries
believe they would use features and functions
Recognition by many potential beneficiaries that
it could address needs for training and better teaching materials
Gaps in current electronic resources for adult
learning which it could fill, especially for teaching
resources
Difficulties with current resources to retrieve
good practice and legacy materials
Similar platforms are operational and have
similar features and functions
Lessons can be learned from the experience of
other platforms about what works
Language translation can be carried out for
features and functions that would benefit from
being multi-lingual
As a consequence the development of a platform should be supported because it:
▪ Directly contributes to fulfilling many of the ambitions of the Agenda for Adult Learning;
▪
Fills a gap in what is generally available to increase the knowledge, understanding, skillsand competencies of adult learning providers;
▪ This is recognised by the majority of potential users;
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▪ Provides cost effective means to increase sharing and use of information and resources;
▪ Could create a learning community across Europe for adult learning managers and
practitioners in particular with the remit to transfer and share resources which could raise
the quality of teaching, enhance participation, and encourage effective investment in adult
learning; and
▪ It is not a high risk in terms of technical requirements.
What are the broad options?
The broad options are more about different scales of development than mutually exclusive choices
between different features and functions because the assessment points to features and functions
which should be a greater priority than others. The features and functions to be developed in turn have
implications for the management and maintenance arrangements necessary as well as the
dissemination and language requirements.
The first scenario focuses on the highest priority features and functions, the second scenario a wider
range of higher priority features and functions; and the third scenario brings in some which are a
lesser priority.
In grouping the package of features and functions in each scenario, key considerations have been:
Providing content which will provide potential users a reason to visit the website;
Reflecting on the need to provide resources and partnering opportunities when the Grundtvig
programme comes to an end in 2014;
Reflecting on the assessments which highlighted the features and functions that were the highest
priority;
Considering the views of beneficiaries and other platform owners about the features and functions
most likely to make a difference, contribute to the agenda for adult learning, and fill a gap in what
is available; and
Building a critical mass of users to enable a partner finding tool to be useful.
As a consequence the first scenario groups the features and functions most likely to contribute to the
planned programme for adult learning and have an impact on its key aims.
The associated management and maintenance, dissemination and languages proposals for each
scenario reflect:
The degree of need for active management and dissemination;
The limited extent users are likely to be active participants and the wish to exploit resources and
materials that already exist;
The indication that multi-lingualism (25 languages) will encourage the use of shared resources for
teaching and training; and The criticality of raising awareness and generating traffic if the e-partner finding tool is to draw in
users across the Member States.
Additionally, we assumed that the website would:
▪ Be built using a CMS which can support content in many languages;
▪ Comply with at least the A level WAI accessibility standard but aim for Triple “A” compliance;
▪ Be suitably coded so that it can be accessible on a range of devices;
▪ Have effective security and personal data safety provisions in place; and
▪ Include a “how to” section which would offer step-by-step guidance to users on how they can
participate in the various tools.
There are opportunities for collaboration with existing websites and their functions. For example,
instead of creating a new database of learning resources EPALE may wish to engage in a partnership
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with LRE or with Open Education Resources4
so that adult education material is uploaded onto their
existing database. This may result in cost savings and offer the possibility of a larger, worldwide
audience for the material. However, it might also mean that adult education material is “lost” on these
larger databases among the large number of other resources that are available5.
The estimated costs are based around the costs of other platforms with adjustments to take account of the scale of EPALE proposed compared to these. This is not an exact approach to costing but should
indicate the relative scale of different scenarios and their components.
It should also be noted that:
▪ Some of the annual costs (2014 onwards) could start before the launch of the platform; for
example the National Support network should be established before the website is launched;
▪ There will be contract management costs falling on the Commission as well as a considerable cost
to lead and support development in the first two years. The former have not been estimated; and
▪ Staffing estimates for RSD and NS have led the costing.
In considering the scenarios the Commission should balance costs against budget and what package
of features and functions will achieve its ambitions from 2014 onwards. The highest priority scenarioincludes features and functions which should have the biggest impact on the aims of the Agenda for
Adult Learning. Other platforms suggest that the creation of EPALE can be achieved by 2014.
Way ahead
Once the Commission has considered the business case made for EPALE and the features and
functions for development in the first stage if it is to go ahead, the Commission should consider
drawing on the lessons of other platforms particularly their experience in developing and delivering
similar features and functions and the challenges that have arisen in making them effective. It should
also make decisions about the related packages of management and maintenance, dissemination and
languages as set out in the scenarios above and whether any opportunities for collaboration should be
explored.
4 http://www.oercommons.org
5For example, Open Education Resources filters material in its database by post-secondary grade which covers
more than adult learning.
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1 Introduction
The European Union aims to increase the participation of adults in lifelong learning and
education. It has set a target of raising average participation across the EU to 15% by 2020
from an average of 9.5% in 2008. The Commission has acknowledged in its Europe 2020strategy that lifelong learning and skills are a key element of the Agenda for New Skills and
Jobs and tackling the economic crisis, especially for lower skilled and older workers.
As a consequence there have been commitments to increase participation in and raise the
quality of adult learning and a recognition that adult learners could benefit from innovative
methods for teaching and learning and more comprehensive learning opportunities.
The European Agenda for Adult Learning was renewed in 2011, in recognition of the
contribution that can be made by adult learning in enabling adults to improve their ability to
adapt to changes in the labour market and society6. The renewed Agenda identifies the
following priority areas for the period 2012 to 2014:
▪ Making lifelong learning and mobility a reality;
▪ Improving the quality and efficiency of education and training;
▪ Promoting equity, social cohesion and active citizenship through adult learning;
▪ Enhancing the creativity and innovation of adults and their learning environment; and
▪ Improving the knowledge base on adult learning and monitoring the adult education
sector.
The Grundtvig sub-programme of the EU’s Lifelong Learning Programme (LLP) aims to
support the achievement of the above target through providing more and better learning
opportunities to adults and tackling problems associated with Europe’s ageing population.
Grundtvig specifically aims to7:
▪ Increase the number of people in adult education to 25,000 by 2013, and improve thequality of their experience, whether at home or abroad;
▪ Improve conditions for mobility so that at least 7,000 people a year can benefit from adult
education abroad up to 2013;
▪ Improve the quality and amount of co-operation between adult education organisations;
▪ Develop innovative adult education and management practices, and encourage
widespread implementation;
▪ Ensure that people on the margins of society have access to adult education, especially
older people and those who left education without basic qualifications; and
▪
Support innovative ICT-based educational content, services and practices.
The Grundtvig sub-programme’s activities are contributing to creating a European area of
adult education, driving innovation and transferring knowledge and expertise in the field of
teaching adult learners, and raising participation.
For the EU’s programme for Education, Training, Youth and Sport for the period from 2014
to 2020, the Commission has proposed to establish an Erasmus for All programme8. This is
designed to strengthen lifelong learning and support Member States to modernise their
education and training systems. In particular it proposes a greater emphasis on cooperation
6Council of the European Union 16743/11 draft Council resolution on a renewed European agenda for adult
learning7 Grundtvig: practical learning for adults: http://ec.europa.eu/education/lifelong-learning-programme/doc86_en.htm8
Erasmus for All: the EU programme for education, training, youth and sport. EC Communication from theCommission to the European parliament COM (2011) 787 final
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for innovation, good practice in adult learning and an IT platform for adult learning for peer
learning and exchange of good practice for a greatly enlarged group of potential
beneficiaries than events and mobility programmes can achieve.
It is clear in the current and future framework for lifelong learning that further progress is
sought across the EU towards good quality non-vocational adult education whichencourages participation, enables adults to continue learning and developing their skills and
enables social inclusion. It is also clear that to achieve this, learning from Member States
should be shared through exchanges, products, cooperation and collaboration.
Consultations on the future programme in relation to adult learning point to9:
▪ The particular importance of transferring innovative projects to strengthen the adult
learning sector;
▪ The need for institutional networks which could strengthen learning exchanges between
the more developed and the underdeveloped areas of the EU in relation to adult learning
provision; and
▪
The relatively high importance of supporting sustainable networks to disseminate andexploit good practice in adult learning and to support peer learning activities.
An Electronic Platform for Adult Education (EPALE) could therefore be expected to:
▪ Help to develop a culture of lifelong learning by making adult education more attractive,
accessible and effective;
▪ Support the process of building a European adult learning community by providing good
quality information about policy and practice and learning products for mutual learning
from the range of providers of non-vocational adult education;
▪ Enhance and speed up the process of building closer cooperation, networking and
exchanges of information and people that currently largely take place through workshops
and events;▪ Capitalize on the results of Grundtvig projects, products and activities and those funded
by Member States by disseminating them more widely, in particular evidence of best
practice to address specific problems in adult learning such as around participation and
the quality of adult learning; and
▪ Support the process for developing as well as implementing European adult learning
policies.
1.1 This study
GHK Consulting was commissioned in August 2011 to carry out a feasibility assessment and
cost analysis of a possible Electronic Platform for Adult Learning in Europe (EPALE). The
feasibility assessment is expected to:
▪ Identify the most useful features and functionalities of EPALE;
▪ Identify the costs and benefits of such features and functionalities;
▪ Consider the models for providing EPALE and associated costs;
▪ Consider the approaches to disseminating information about EPALE; and
▪ Provide estimates of the potential costs to establish, promote and maintain EPALE.
This is with a view to shaping any commissioning of the development of a platform.
The Commission provided some initial consideration of potential features and functionalities
and in discussion identified that EPALE must be interactive (allowing users to contribute in
9Preparation of a new programme on education and training (LLP) post 2014: results of the public consultation
undertaken by GHK for DGEAC (2011); EAEA Action plan follow up paper (2011)
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some way), dynamic (kept up to date) and appeal to a range of people (adult learning
teachers and managers, researchers, policy makers). The following were felt to be priorities:
▪ A platform in all European languages;
▪ A source of practical materials for adult learning teachers which could be downloaded;
▪ An opportunity for e-twinning and exchange of information; and
▪ Features that will encourage use by practitioners (possibly practitioner led content on
good practice or a calendar of events with rewards/incentives for contributors).
It was agreed that the feasibility study would:
▪ Take the initial consideration about features and functionalities and their rationale further
with a survey and telephone interviews of a range of potential types of user across the
EU;
▪ Draw on the experience of similar websites established to identify actual costs and
models used for setting up, dissemination and management (both maintenance and
further development); consider what works and what is most cost effective; and identify
what might be used to inform the development of EPALE;
▪ Also draw on the experience of similar websites to test out the rationale for features and
functionalities and the subsequent usage/feedback from users;
▪ Develop a range of broad options and choices for EPALE’s features and functionalities
and EPALE’s development and management which can be narrowed down; and
▪ Develop and use a cost utility assessment tool to compare these options and choices.
1.2 Method
Each of the main components is described briefly below.
1.2.1 Learning from existing platforms
From a review of a long list of 28 platforms, a sample of 11 case study websites was
selected to investigate in greater detail. These were chosen on the basis of similarities with
EPALE’s aims, initial range of features and functionalities, types of user, and the availability
of information on development and management but with some different arrangements for
management and development. The platforms are listed below in Table 1.1.
Table 1.1 Sample of Websites for in-depth analysis and critical review
Online
Community
Features
Dissemination
of good practice
/ learningproducts
Management
systems
(differenttypes)
Multiple
Languages
Community of
Users / Active
membercontribution
Etwinning.net 9 9 E-platform +
National
Resource
Centres
9 (including
on
TwinSpace)
9
Salto-youth.net 9 9 European
resource centre
+ national
agencies
9
European Infonet
Adult Education
9 23 national
correspondents
CORDIS 9 E-platform only 9
British Council
Schools online
9 9 E-platform +
partnership
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OnlineCommunity Features
Disseminationof good practice/ learning
products
Managementsystems(different
types)
MultipleLanguages
Community of Users / Activemember
contribution
supportScientix network 9 E-platform +
annual
conference
9 9
iNET
(International
Networking for
Educational
Transformation)
9 9 E-platform +
central resource
centre (products
& events)
9
elearning europa E-platform only 9 9
Learning
Resource
Exchange
9 E-platform only
(provider controls
content)
9
Adult Learning
Australia
9 E-platform +
webinars +
members’ area
Possibly through
Webinar feature
Teachers TV 9 Teaching
material +
community
activity
9
In addition to looking critically at the websites and reviewing the content and functionalities,
members of the team interviewed the site owners and/or the managing agents about their creation and management, their purposes and usage, the effectiveness of their
functionalities, the reasons for their choices and the costs of development and management.
This has enabled the study to:
▪ Identify and list all functionalities and tools offered on similar platforms and assess their
pros and cons in terms of EPALE’s aims as well as feasibility, technology and cost;
▪ Review management arrangements as well as other possible activities and gather
information on the cost and resources required for each;
▪ Identify good practice/examplar features in terms of content, features, management
arrangements and communications; and
▪ Understand the process and challenges faced when creating a good product and setting
up a new e-platform and identify lessons from established websites’ experiences.
While the interviews have usefully supplemented use and review of the sites, it was not
possible to secure interviews with iNET and Teachers TV, who did not wish to participate in
our research. Ten interviews were completed in total, which included a mixture of owners
and managers. Interviewees from British Council Schools and Adult Learning Australia were
not prepared to provide information about costs – and estimates provided in terms of
numbers of staff, time required for various functions and budgets have to be treated with
some caution because they are for websites which may not be directly comparable with
EPALE and they are only a small sample. As will be discussed in Chapter 3, many websites
examined are delivered through a contract which includes several other requirements
beyond developing, maintaining and managing the dynamic and static elements of thewebsite. These, for example, include producing research and other reports and material,
organising training, providing helpdesks for users, organising events and conferences and
undertaking on-line and off-line dissemination and communication activities. It was not
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usually possible for websites to provide detailed information on any itemised costs, such as
the development of specific functions and features.
1.2.2 Consulting potential users
To gain a wider view of the need for EPALE, potential end users were consulted through:▪ A short on-line survey distributed through Grundtvig National Agencies and the contacts
held in DG EAC’s database of adult learning organisations. Respondents were asked to
indicate the most useful features, their value to their work and the work of other potential
users, and what contribution they would make to content and interactive features. The
survey is included in Annex 1. This has been analysed by type of user;
▪ In depth interviews of different potential users in a range of countries covering needs,
key gaps in electronic information within the adult education sector, the priorities among
the proposed features and functionalities, views on specific content (training materials,
news, languages), and maintenance requirements. The sample is set out in Table 1.2
below;
▪ A discussion at a National Agencies meeting in Brussels.
Table 1.2 Interviewees
Type of User No. of
Interviews
Interviewee organisations
(Country)
EAEA Representative 2 EAEA (UK) (AT)
National Adult Education Association or
National Council of Adult Education (or
similar body)
1 NIACE (UK)
Academic / Researcher 1 EUCEN (AT)
National Policy Maker (Education Ministry) 2 Department of Education and Science,
Further Education Section (IE)
General Secretariat of Adult Education
(GR)
Regional / Local Policy Maker 2 Instituto Beni Culturali (IT)
Commune de Ferrara (IT)
Grundtvig National Agency 2 ECORYS (UK)
Foundation for the Development of the
Education System (PL)
Adult Education Provider 4 Alden Biesen (BE)
Kriminalvarden / Prison and Probation
Administration/Service (SE)
Hordaland County Adult Education
(NO)
E.N.T.E.R Network (AT)
EACEA (Executive Agency) 1 EACEA (LT)
Total 15
There were 573 responses to the survey. Table 1.3 shows the responses by country of origin
(as indicated by respondents). Responses were received from 33 countries; all LLP
countries except Estonia, the spread across Europe suggesting it is broadly representative.
The largest number of responses came from Belgium which included a relatively large
number (13) of national and local policy makers though there were relatively good responses
from most of the larger countries too (Germany, France, and UK with 35 or more responseseach and Italy with 29).
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Table 1.3 Survey Responses by Country of Origin
Country No. of Responses % of all responses
Austria 17 3%
Belgium 53 9%
Bulgaria 9 2%
Croatia 13 2%
Cyprus 9 2%
Czech Republic 6 1%
Denmark 15 3%
Estonia 0 0%
Finland 13 2%
France 35 6%
Germany 51 9%
Greece 22 4%
Hungary 8 1%
Iceland 3 1%
Ireland 26 5%
Israel 2 0%
Italy 29 5%
Latvia 15 3%
Liechtenstein 2 0%
Lithuania 5 1%
Luxembourg 13 2%
Malta 9 2%
Netherlands 26 5%
Norway 11 2%
Poland 12 2%
Portugal 17 3%
Romania 15 3%
Slovakia 5 1%
Slovenia 4 1%
Spain 19 3%
Sweden 30 5%
Switzerland 1 0%
Turkey 6 1%
United Kingdom 35 6%
No Response 37 6%
Total 573 100%
Table 1.4 below shows the type of respondents (respondents could select more than onetype). Almost two thirds of responders indicated that they are providers of adult education,
the main group of users envisaged for EPALE. A large number of respondents described
their type as “other”, reflecting the range and diversity of stakeholders involved in adult
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education. These organisations include national and European umbrella bodies in education
and/or representing a particular group (e.g. national organisation for senior citizens),
consultancies and evaluators, cultural organisations, museums and libraries and
employment and welfare organisations.
Table 1.4 Survey Responses by Role
Type of Provider No. of
Responses
% of
Total
Provider of Adult Education 368 64%
National or Local Authority Responsible for Adult Education 72 13%
LLP National Agency 16 3%
Body providing Guidance about learning and/or careers 72 13%
Higher Education Institution (Research in the field of Adult Education) 93 16%
Media / Press 8 1%
Other 72 13%
It was recognised that respondents could be tempted to indicate that all the potential
features and functionalities would be useful so in the survey and interviews respondents
were asked to indicate gaps, priorities and the extent of usefulness to their role.
1.2.3 Assessment
A systematic assessment of costs, utility and risks was carried out drawing on the
information obtained from the case study platforms, survey and interviews. This included an
assessment of the features and functional options: considering each of these against the
aims of the Grundtvig programme, the availability of alternatives, the value to potential target
end users, the facility of achieving an effective tool, and the relative costs of development
and management. To draw conclusions a rating system was devised to help to indicate
priorities.
It also included similar assessments of:
Development and management arrangements (three broad models identified);
Dissemination options (a menu of methods); and
Languages (four potential models identified).
Because the development and management arrangements, dissemination and languages
are influenced by choices over features and functions, the assessment of these narrowed
down the options to provide several models/scenarios for the development proposal and
costs.
1.3 Structure of this report
The rest of this report is as follows:
▪ Chapter 2 presents potential users’ views on the need for EPALE and its potential
features and functionalities based on an analysis of the survey and interview responses
in the main;
▪ Chapter 3 presents the learning from other platforms’ experience about developing and
maintaining such a platform effectively and ensuring it is effectively used;
▪ Chapter 4 contains an assessment of the features and functionalities;
▪ Chapter 5 contains an assessment of development, management and dissemination
options; and
▪ Chapter 6 brings together the findings to address the key questions posed for this
feasibility study and proposes the broad options and their implications.
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2 Potential users’ views
In this chapter potential users’ views are presented and analysed drawing on the responses
to the e-survey, the stakeholder interviews and the comments of National Agencies.
2.1 Features/content
Of the suggestions made about content, around three quarters of the survey respondents
indicated they would use each of them because they could not find them elsewhere; around
a quarter would not (Table 2.1 below). The breakdown of responses by type of provider is
presented in Table A3.1 to Table A3.8 in Annex 3.
The main differences are:
▪ 20% indicated that they found information on funding available elsewhere;
▪ 8% indicated that they do not need information on learning opportunities or good practice
on adult education policies;
▪ A greater share of higher education/ research institutions (86%) and national/local
authorities (78%) than education providers (76%) indicated that good practice and case
studies on adult education policy would be useful to them;
▪ Almost a third of LLP National Agencies (27%) and over a fifth of national/local
authorities (22%) indicated that they could find information about news elsewhere,
compared to 14% across all responses;
▪ Information about learning opportunities for staff would be useful to a greater share of
adult education providers (76%) compared to all responses (72%);
▪ A library of documents and a catalogue of useful links / bookmarks in adult education
would be useful to the media/press (100% for both) and LLP national agencies (91% for
both); fewer national/local authorities would find a document library (62%) or linkscatalogue (64%) useful.
Responses may reflect the level of knowledge of where such content can be currently found
(National Agencies, Infonet).
Comments were broadly that:
Content must be easy to identify and find. This could be achieved through a clear
structure of categories provided in drop down menus, through tag clouds (as in the example
presented in Figure 2.1 below), though a powerful search function or, ideally, through all of
these.
Figure 2.1 Image of the data.gov.uk tag cloud
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Interviewees feel strongly that the platform must not become a depository of information or a
complicated database (along the lines of EVE) where material is deposited and then “forever
lost” behind complex search forms that fail to yield results when there are spelling mistakes,
for example. The idea of a depository was felt to be a “Web 2.0 concept which belongs to the
previous decades” . The platform should reflect the next generation which is open and directs
users to other websites and sources (through links).
The content must not reproduce material or tools that already exist . Over the years,
both European-funded initiatives10
and national initiatives have created a wealth of tools and
materials. One interviewee explained “I keep coming across material in [my language]
produced in [another country] that we didn’t know about here. This must be true with other
countries who share languages”. It was suggested that if the platform is developed it should
invest resources in the development stages in collecting, indexing, tagging with keywords
and uploading the material or links to currently available material, so that it is not lost.
The content would be restricted if it only drew on the LLP funded priorities . Adult
learning activities are funded not only through the LLP and DG EAC but also through other
DGs such as EMPL (through ESF), HOME (migration), SANCO (consumer initiatives) and
ENV (environmental initiatives). “Currently it is difficult to find information about projects that are not funded by the EU”.
Content must not necessarily be organised in a way to reflect EU funding streams .
The distinction between informal adult education and vocational adult education is becoming
increasingly blurred and therefore potentially unhelpful to learning providers and learners, as
well as national policy makers.
10Examples include materials produced by the EAEA, ERA, LLP Thematic Monitoring and Peer Learning
Activities.
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Table 2.1 Potential User’s Views on Type of Content
Survey Responses to W
European Electronic Pfollowing?”, percentag
Content Information from Qualitative Interviews and OpenSurvey responses
Yes - I can'tfind thisinformationanywhere
else
I don'tI can fiinformneed
somew
Good practice and case
studies on the delivery of
adult education inEuropean countries
Need to be practical examples that other providers can apply to
their own situation
Queries about their usefulness: “we have been producing and
collecting case studies for many years for European-funded
projects. But I have to ask, who reads them? What do they do with
them? I don’t know how effective they are in disseminating good
practice?”
Concerns about the selection of good practice: “I think all projects
should be presented. Not just the good ones. Others might want to
learn from mistakes and not replicate what has already been tried.
Also, how do you choose? You don’t want to create an exclusive
VIP lounge just for the good projects”
79% 14%
Good practice and case
studies on adult education
policy in European
countries
Summaries of new developments in and good practice in different
countries would be useful to policy makers and representative
bodies
76% 14%
Information on funding
available and awards
National Agencies usually provide this information.
Information about non-LLP opportunities is hard to access.
Platform could be used as a forum where the AE sector could
make suggestions about future funding areas
73% 20%
News on adult education in
European countries
Infonet currently provides this function. The service was valued by
its users76% 14%
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Survey Responses to WEuropean Electronic Pfollowing?”, percentag
ContentInformation from Qualitative Interviews and Open
Survey responses Yes - I can't
find thisinformationanywhereelse
I don't
I can fiinformneedsomew
Calendar of Events in the
field of adult education
Should allow users to filter / search for events that interest them
Quality control required (for example some NAs are more
permissive about the types of events they advertise compared to
others)
75% 13%
Learning opportunities for
staff in European countries
Would this replace the Comenius and Grundtvig In-service Training
Database? If so, then it could be redesigned to make searching
easier
If it will not replace the existing database then a link to the currentresource will suffice – do not replicate what is already been created
72% 15%
Library of documents on
adult education
Needs to be properly tagged and searchable.
Library not just of documents but also of links to useful documents
or tools (see below).
75% 17%
Catalogue of useful links /
bookmarks on adult
education
Links to useful documents or tools should be integrated in the
“library of documents”. Do not create separate index for links.79% 14%
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2.2 Functions
In the main, stakeholders were positive about all the functions proposed to them. Comments
on each function were broadly that:
Partner-finding tool: this was the function that most stakeholders mentioned spontaneouslyas a current gap that an EPALE may fill. Some said that no such tools exist while others said
that there are a number of such tools but they do not work very well. They indicated that
elements which contribute to a useful partner-finding tool include: very good filtering and
searching functions, up-to-date information and well-defined subject areas.
Calendar of Events: Interviewees mentioned that there are other calendars of events
available and that EPALE should look to bring information together. Not all types of events
would be of interest to everyone – with too much information or too much irrelevant
information reducing the usefulness of the calendar. Therefore the ability to filter, search and
personalise the calendar would be valued by stakeholders.
ePartnership Shared Space: some interviewees could identify potential that may arise from
using this function, such as improving the quality of partnerships and reducing costs by
eliminating the need for travel. Others, however, expressed concerns about virtual
partnerships because they believe that successful partnerships require some degree of face
to face contact. Simplicity and ease of use was seen as an important ingredient in
encouraging take-up of this function.
eLearning Space / Virtual Classrooms: these were described as being increasingly
popular in adult education and becoming increasingly important because of the need to
reduced travel costs. Providing such resources for free was suggested to potentially be a
“good selling point” to attract users to EPALE.
Downloadable resources: some interviewees mentioned examples of resources they are
aware of created through European funding which have been “lost” to the sector because
they are not readily available or because it is not easy to find them. They explained that it
would be useful for EPALE to invest some time in collecting and categorising theseresources in order to make them available. This was seen to be a more effective use of
resources than EPALE creating new resources from scratch.
Discussion Forums: some scepticism was expressed around discussion forums. Several
stakeholders told us of their experiences with discussion forums provided by their own
organisations or as part of a project they participated in which were that forums require a
high degree of moderation. This is especially true if they are meant to provide accurate
information and advice: one national agency reported that considerable resources are
required to correct inaccuracies and wrong information posted on forums (for example
around eligibility rules on funding). Furthermore, discussion forums often require active
animation and encouragement activities in the form of the moderator posting questions,
answering questions and responding to comments and setting up polls and other features.
In addition to the functions listed above, several stakeholders suggested that a Pre and PostEvent Tool would be useful. This tool would enable attendees of events to register and“meet” prior to the event, download preparatory material and then share learning and other material with event participants. They believed that such a function would enhance thequality of the event itself and improve dissemination. Some Grundtvig and other Europeanfunded projects currently provide such pre and post event networking, through their ownwebsites or by creating a Facebook group or event
11. However, there is no established tool
or software used for this function at the moment and therefore this presents an opportunityfor EPALE. It was further suggested that this function should be integrated with the “calendar of events”, although online discussions between attendees should remain in a private spaceand viewable only by other attendees.
11Some participants prefer not to become members of Facebook and therefore do not use these functions when
offered.
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Survey respondents have similar views (Table 2.2). As with the content fewer than 10%
indicated that any of the proposed functions would not be useful to them. However there are
differences in the extent that they would find different functions useful with between a half
and three-quarters of respondents indicating some functions to be useful/very useful and
between 15% and 28% indicating some functions to be not very/not useful.
This is clearer when the ratios of percentages very useful/useful and not very/not useful are
compared. This shows a ratio of over 4:1 for the calendar of events, over 3:1 for the
resources for staff training, and over 2.5:1 for the partner finding tool and shared space but a
ratio of a less than 1.5:1 for the members’ community and the discussion forum.
Analysis by type of provider shows considerable differences in the usefulness of functions
because of their organisations’ role. More specifically:
▪ A greater share of adult education providers and higher education / research
organisations would value a calendar of events and resources for staff training,
compared to other types of users;
▪ 81% of higher education / research organisations described a partnership tool as useful
or very useful, compared to 71% of all respondents;▪ 82% of LLP National Agencies rate an ePartnership Shared tool to be useful or very
useful, compared to 57% across all responses; an equally large share of LLP National
Agencies give the same rating to an eLearning Space tool.
Table 2.2 Answers to “How useful would this feature be to your organisation?”, percentage of total.
Function
Very useful- I
woulduse ita lot,
it would
helpme domy
job better
Useful - I
woulduse itregularly,
it would be a benefit to
my work
Not very useful - I
might use itoccasionally but it is not
critical tomy work
Notuseful
- I willneveruse
thisfeature
I
don'tknow how
usefulthis will
be
No
response
Valueratio(sum of
columns1 and 2
divided
by sumof
columns3 and 4)
Calendar of events
in the field of adult
education 39% 38% 15% 3% 3% 2%
4.3
Downloadable
Resources for
Teachers (such aslesson plans, course
material, videos etc) 38% 27% 21% 8% 4% 3%
2.2
Tool to find Partners
in other countries 35% 36% 21% 4% 3% 1%
2.8
Resources for staff
training 34% 36% 17% 6% 4% 2%
3.0
Downloadable
Resources for
Managers (such as
on recruiting
learners, bidding for
funding etc) 32% 32% 18% 9% 6% 3%
2.4
ePartnership Shared
Online Space (for
sharing resources 30% 33% 18% 7% 9% 3%
2.5
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Function
Very useful- I
woulduse it
a lot,it wouldhelp
me domy job
better
Useful - I woulduse itregularly,
it would be a benefit to
my work
Not very useful - Imight use it
occasionally but it is notcritical to
my work
Notuseful- I will
neverusethis
feature
Idon'tknow how
usefulthis will
be
No
response
Valueratio(sum of
columns1 and 2
divided by sumof columns
3 and 4)
with partners)
"Ask an Expert"
feature with user
comments and
searchable lists of previous responses 27% 37% 20% 6% 8% 3%
2.3
eLearning Space /
Virtual Classroom 26% 31% 19% 13% 8% 3%
1.8
Online Members
Community 23% 28% 28% 9% 9% 4%
1.4
Discussion Forum 21% 28% 28% 11% 8% 3% 1.3
Source: GHK Online Survey
2.3 Participation / contribution
Stakeholders interviewed were hesitant about the extent of either their or others’ active
involvement in such a platform. Most said “I will wait and have a look at the platform before
deciding what to share” .
Survey respondents were more positive about undertaking participative actions that require
limited time commitment, such as uploading information about events, joining a partner-
finding tool and creating a profile in a secure community (Table 2.3). Fewer potential users
stated that they would be willing to contribute to more time-consuming activities, such as
uploading case studies and lesson plans. Translating content from or to their own language
was the least likely participative action, although nearly 4 out of 10 respondents were still
willing to do this.
When compared to responses about functional usefulness the proportions who would
actively participate do not all match up. Higher proportions say they would upload
information about events and a profile for partner finding, for example, much lower for sharing lesson plans and other learning tools. LLP National Agencies were most willing to
upload information about events with 91% indicating that they would do so. National/local
policy makers were less willing to undertake any type of participative action proposed.
Table 2.3 Answers to “Please tell us whether you would be willing to do the following”,percentage of total
Participative Actions Yes NoNoResponse Total
Upload information about events you are organising 84% 13% 3% 100%
Upload a profile of your organisation in a partner-finding tool 81% 15% 4% 100%
Become a member of a secure community and create a profile 75% 22% 3% 100%
Answer a question on a discussion forum 68% 27% 5% 100%
Ask a question on a discussion forum 68% 27% 5% 100%
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Participative Actions Yes NoNoResponse Total
Make comments and submit feedback on news, articles, tools
etc 65% 30% 5% 100%
Create content such as news articles or case studies of your activities or policy developments in your country 63% 32% 5% 100%
Use virtual classrooms / eLearning Space 60% 35% 5% 100%
Upload photos and videos from your activities 57% 36% 6% 100%
Upload and share lesson plans and other learning tools 57% 37% 6% 100%
Translate content to your own language (from English or
another language) 38% 55% 6% 100%
Source: GHK Online Survey
Key factors influencing participation and contribution were time availability and what they
would get out of it. As one interviewee explained “ people will not be logging on to this
platform every day, several times a day. They will log on when they need information. Youcannot expect it to replace Facebook or email .” A survey respondent stated “This electronic
platform shouldn't add to our workload, require a permanent vigilance or overwhelm our
inboxes”.
Potential participants clearly need a rationale to undertake an action and participate. “Some
organisations will grasp the opportunity to advertise their events and activities because they
will gain from increased attendance at their events and boost their profile” .
2.4 Languages
Stakeholders interviewed had mixed views about the languages in which the platform should
be provided. Some told us that they believed that it should only be provided in English.
Reasons for this include:
− Most people have a working knowledge of English;
− Multi-lingual websites are confusing and off-putting;
− Multi-lingual websites are slow to load and cumbersome to navigate;
− Translation takes time and is costly.
Many indicated that if English is used it can be more easily used if content is written in plain
English and there is clear guidance on this. For content aimed at national policy makers and
pan-European networks / representative organisations (such as EAEA, EPEA etc) it was
broadly agreed that English would meet the needs of most users. Providing other content in
French, German and Spanish was thought to cover the needs of the majority of users.
However, for content aimed at adult education providers, some interviewees strongly
supported the view that this should be provided in all or as many languages as possible.
They explained that many providers in their countries and partners that they have met in
other countries, especially from Eastern and Southern Europe, do not have adequate
proficiency in English. Some may be able to navigate a website in English but would be
unable or unwilling to digest complex information about policy or funding in English or to
understand and translate materials for teaching and training.
This view appears to be broadly confirmed by the answers provided to the online survey. We
asked respondents in our e-survey to rank from 1 (most useful) to 10 (least useful) which
features from a list would be most helpful if they were available in their own language. The
results are presented in Table 2.4 below. These suggest that users mostly need to access
text in their own language if it is lengthy and requires in-depth understanding of context anddetail, such as case studies, resources for teaching and information about funding. They can
assess text in English or another common language that is shorter, such as calendar entries
and discussion forum contributions.
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The differences between the actual average ranking scores are relatively small. But those
with average rank scores of around 4 (good practice and case studies in adult education
delivery and a partner finding tool) can be distinguished from those with an average ranking
score of over 6 (ask an expert, discussion forum and calendar of events) in Table 2.4 below.
The most significant differences between types of potential users are:
▪ More AE providers have given high ratings to accessing downloadable resources for
managers and teachers and resources for staff training in their own language, compared
to other types of potential users;
▪ Higher education / research organisation and national/local authorities have given higher
ratings to accessing good practice and case studies in both the delivery and practice of
AE in their own language, compared to other types of potential users.
Table 2.4 Ranking of answers to “which of the following features would be most helpful if provided in your own language?”
Feature / Function AverageScore
Overall rank (mostuseful to least useful)
Good practice and case studies on the delivery of adulteducation in European countries
3.98 1
Tool to find Partners in other countries 4.07 2
Information on funding available and awards 4.57 3
Resources for staff training 4.63 4
Good practice and case studies on adult education
policy in European countries
4.77 5
Downloadable Resources for Teachers (such as lesson
plans, course material, videos etc)
5.21 6=
Downloadable Resources for Managers (such as on
recruiting learners, bidding for funding etc)
5.21 6=
News on adult education in European countries 5.34 8
"Ask an Expert" feature with user comments and
searchable lists of previous responses
6.33 9
Calendar of events in the field of adult education 6.47 10
Discussion Forum 6.77 11
Source: GHK Online Survey, 2011
2.5 Online Events/Training
Table 2.5 below shows that the majority of respondents to the online survey would be
interested in participating in on-line events and training organised by EPALE. Only 14%would only do so if they were available in their own language (these respondents came from
across 24 different countries thus not indicating any particular need for the provision of some
languages over others).
Table 2.5 Answers to “would your organisation be interested in participating in online eventsand training organised through a European Electronic Platform for AdultEducation?”
Response No. of Responses Percentage of total
Yes, even if they are only
available in English 334 58%
Yes, but only if they areavailable in my language 82 14%
No 32 6%
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Response No. of Responses Percentage of total
I don't know 122 21%
No response 3 1%
Total 573 100%
Source: GHK Online Survey, 2011
Reasons provided by those who indicated that they were not interested were:
▪ I do not need it (12)
▪ Lack of time (10)
▪ Lack of agreement from my manager (1)
▪ Lack of IT resources (2)
▪ Concern about the quality of the training (2)
▪ Prefer face-to-face contact (2)
The topic/content of the training is the most common factor which would attract potentialusers to online training and events (Table 2.6) followed by the low cost. In the open
response to this question, potential users listed a large number of topics that would be of
interest to them. These ranged from “clarification sessions about the filling in of funding
applications and forms”, to pedagogical theories and methods such as “group management
and conflict theory”, to specific areas of learning such as “arts and crafts” and “sustainable
building techniques”.
Table 2.6 Answers to "what key factors would make online training and events attractive to you"
Factor No. of Responses
A topic that interested me 460
Free / low cost 370
To network with other participants 294
To learn from other participants 257
Length and timing of event 210
Source: GHK Online Survey, 2011
Other factors to make such events attractive identified include:
▪ High quality / delivered by good experts;
▪ Provision of certification / recognition for CPD;
▪ Clear objectives and demonstrable applications to my work;
▪ Technology and software used should be easily accessible by all (including for thosewith slow internet connections and low specification technologies);
▪ Technological support – especially if something goes wrong during the training session.
2.6 Dissemination / Use of social media
Potential users identified Grundtvig National Agencies as well as other national bodies, such
as government ministries or adult education agencies, as their key sources of information
and engagement with other adult education providers and the sector more widely. Some are
felt to be good sources of information and also have good ways to promote the availability of
new information.
Most stakeholders felt that the Commission would have to invest in dissemination at the
outset because “ people working in AE don’t feel a connection with things going on at theEuropean level. To address this, the platform will have to work very hard to promote the
website”. This could perhaps mean advertising and requiring proactive promotion by National
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Agencies (such as through creating local content, summarising policy developments and
providing training and support to potential users of the platform).
Most organisations and staff in the adult education sector rely on e-newsletters for keeping
up to date with news and updates (Table 2.7). Many told us that they believe that well-
targeted focused newsletters are also the best way to communicate with the sector becausethey “remind users that the platform exists”. Furthermore, well-written newsletters provide
summaries of news items and allow people to access further information on the platform
itself through a hyperlink. They suggested that newsletters on different topics should be
produced (for example, on developments in adult literacy and numeracy or on migrant
education) on a regular basis.
Social media are not so widely used though Facebook and Linkedin are used by over a third
of the survey respondents. Some stakeholders explained that their organisations are trying
to use social media to advertise events and for post-event sharing of learning between
participants, but that it is usually younger colleagues that use them.
Some respondents and interviewees expressed very strong opinions against the use of
“commercially closed platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+” because
they believe that a public platform should only use open source or open code tools. Others
did not wish to “mix their personal lives with the work lives” by using Facebook for work.
Facebook is seen by some to distract users from the main platform, rather than attract more
users to it.
Beyond newsletters, there appears to be more potential to use RSS feeds to disseminate
news and updates. Guidance and/or training for adult education providers on how to
effectively use social media for the purpose of promoting their work and/or engaging learners
was identified as being a useful service that EPALE could potentially provide, however.
Table 2.7 Answers to Question on tools for dissemination used and preferred
Social Media Tool
Tick the box if youcurrently use any of
the following toreceive news orupdates
Tick the box if you
would use any of the following to
receive news andupdates from aEuropean Adult
Learning Platform I don't know
Email newsletter 79% 33% 4%
Facebook 43% 18% 24%
LinkedIn 34% 16% 29%
RSS feed (news andblog aggregator) 22% 27% 32%
Twitter 19% 16% 36%
Calendar Synchronisation tool(such as Ical) 13% 23% 35%
Other 5% 5% 42%
Delicious 5% 9% 50%
Stumbleupon 2% 7% 53%
Source: GHK Online Survey
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2.7 Need and rationale for a platform
As the responses to the survey show, the majority of respondents are generally positive
about the concept of a pan-European platform for the adult learning sector. This is supportedby the stakeholders in the main. This is because:
▪ Perceived low visibility of the adult education sector: it could help to raise the profile of
the sector within government at all levels;
▪ Large diversity of providers in the sector: it could provide an opportunity to bring the
many different providers and other stakeholders together in one place;
▪ Many organisations across Europe do not currently participate in or benefit from
European-funded initiatives: it could provide a means of engaging them and supporting
them “beyond formal project funding” structures;
▪ Capacity building required for the sector to contribute more to up-skilling adults: it could
improve knowledge and skills of educators and other staff including the use of ICT and e-
learning as well as sharing teaching practices;▪ Information about adult education and for the sector is available but is not found in one
place: it could become a “one stop shop for finding everything, or a springboard for
finding out more”.
A few have some reservations about its development. This includes:
▪ The availability of some content on another platform: some respondents and
interviewees mentioned other websites (such as Adam, Eve, European Shared
Treasure, Infonet, KSLLL and Facebook) which they believed provided some of the
needs proposed for EPALE;
▪ Too general: there is no need for a website that offers everything but specialises in
nothing; instead smaller websites that gathered resources and offered support to
educators in specific fields (such as consumer education, environmental education etc)or for particular target groups (such as disabled people, migrants, prisoners etc) would
be a better solution;
▪ Too EU-centric: some respondents fear that a Commission product would only reflect
EU priorities, funding opportunities and funded activities;
▪ Lack of capacity in the sector: some respondents, especially from Southern and Eastern
European countries, suggest that adult education providers would not be able to access
such a platform because they lack technical skills and knowledge, including language
skills. One interviewee stated “some providers I know in my country don’t know how to
switch on a computer”.
It was emphasised by many interviewees that with a multitude of information sources
currently available on the internet, there must be a clear rationale for the platform.
Interviewees told us that an answer as to “why should I visit this website?” needs to beimmediately obvious to anyone who accesses the front page.
2.8 Key messages emerging
The survey findings suggest that:
▪ Many stakeholders hope that EPALE could raise the profile of the sector and be a one
stop shop or springboard to the sector’s information resources but it needs a clear
reason to be a tool that the potential users would use;
▪ While a substantial majority of respondents are generally positive about the suggested
content of EPALE, a smaller proportion (around 15-20%) suggest that they would not
use it because other sources are available. A few stakeholders have cautioned that it
runs the risk of “being all things to all men” unless it has clear functions and being too
focused on EU funded activities;
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▪ About three quarters of respondents indicate that they would use each of the features
suggested but many cautioned that the content would need to be identifiable (well-
tagged) and searchable and linked to other platforms;
▪ Respondents have more varied views on the functions suggested with much higher
proportions indicating that a calendar of events, resources for staff training, and a tool tofind partners in other countries would be more useful than a members’ community and a
discussion forum, for example;
▪ A function to enable event attendees to share material with other participants before and
after was suggested by quite a few respondents which could be part of a calendar of
events function;
▪ Adult education providers are slightly less interested in adult education policy and more
interested in calendars of events and staff training resources;
▪ The National Agencies and government bodies are more likely to have information from
other sources and need links and some resources less than adult education providers;
▪ National Agencies are significantly less interested in epartnership shared space andlearning space than adult education providers;
▪ Respondents would be much more willing to undertake participative activities that
required less time commitments, such as uploading event information and joining a
partner finding tool (over 80%) than translating content (under 40%) or uploading lesson
plans and other learning tools (under 60%) from which they would not personally gain;
▪ There are mixed views about the extent of content available in EU languages. Some
strongly believe that English would be adequate especially if plain English guidance were
applied; others that all EU languages are needed if the platform is to engage adult
education providers in Eastern and Southern Europe. This appears to depend on the
content and functions; with perhaps greater need for multi-lingual provision for good
practice information and for partner finding tools than for discussion forums andinformation for policy makers;
▪ There is considerable interest in on-line events and training even if they are only in
English; though this is a lower proportion than for most of the suggested functions that
respondents would find useful/very useful (under 60%);
▪ As with other content and functions, this would have to be delivered in a way to attract
users;
▪ Email newsletters are used by three-quarters of respondents and many would prefer this
for keeping up to date with the platform’s content and functions. Some have suggested
targeted newsletters as well for specific areas of adult learning;
▪ There are very mixed views on other social media tools but less contention over RSSfeeds than Facebook for example.
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3 Learning from the experience of other websites
In this chapter what has been learnt from the experience of other websites is described and
assessed. It draws on the critical review of 11 established websites with platform
functionalities and some similar aims to EPALE and the interviews of website owners andmanaging agents about their development, management and impact, including the costs and
challenges. It also draws on the interviews of potential users where they made comments on
the development and implementation of platforms from their experience.
3.1 Other platforms
Most of the websites reviewed did not start life as web entities. They are the on-line faces of
organisations or projects so they are one of the activities that facilitate and enable the
dissemination of knowledge, understanding and skills. These cannot always be disentangled
in relation to costs and resourcing. In this section there is a brief overview of each of the
platforms. The standard information collected on these platforms is summarised in a table in
Annex 4.
3.1.1 eTwinning.net
eTwinning.net began as an action within the eLearning programme following a request of the
EU Council in Barcelona in 2002 for EU resources to be directed to facilitating networking
between schools. Initially, the website focused on enabling schools to find a partner to carry
out an “eTwinning project” online and to communicate information arising from these
projects. With the emergence of the social internet, the eTwinning action and website has
evolved to place greater emphasis on other networking opportunities beyond projects.
Teachers create a profile on the eTwinning portal to become members of the eTwinning
community. Once they are members they can access the eTwinning desktop which allows
the member to search for partners and participate in groups of teachers with similar interests
and share resources. If teachers choose to set-up a project then they are allocated a
TwinSpace and a Project Diary. These tools help the managers of the projects with the set-
up of the project, with sharing documents and learning resources and with communicating
through chat or messages. TwinSpace also allows students to participate through a “pupil’s
corner” where pupils can post messages to students in other schools (the post boards are
viewable by teachers). Projects have the option of becoming public which makes their work
viewable on the internet to anyone. Projects have to be approved by the eTwinning National
Support Service (NSS) and receive a “label” of recognition if they have received approval.
Projects can also apply to their NSS for quality marks and prizes. The best, prize winning
projects from across Europe participate in an annual eTwinning camp.
In addition to the above functions, members can download and rate resources (such as kits
and modules) developed by the eTwinning team which provide pedagogical tools to enable
eTwinning projects. Members can also upload and share learning resources from eTwinningto the Learning Resource Exchange website via a widget and participate in Learning Events
which are short, intensive training events on a variety of topics. They usually require 4-5
days of intensive online activity followed by 4-5 days of reflection and personal work which
are completed in the learners’ own time. Members can apply for events, participate in the on-
line activities and download resources through a function called LearningLab.
The development of the central eTwinning.net website was undertaken by a contractor,
European Schoolnet, chosen through an open call for tender. The first contract ran between
2004 and 2007. It was renewed, with the same contractor, in 2007. The annual cost of the
contract is €1 million per year, of which the cost of maintaining the website is approximately
€250,000. The Commission has formal meetings with the contractor five times a year,
although ad hoc communication is more frequent than that. The work programme for the
contractor is determined annually. However there is enough flexibility within the contract toallow work to respond to needs/requirements of the Commission, the NSS network and
users themselves.
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This contract does not just involve the further development and maintenance of the website
but also the provision of a range of services to support the implementation of the eTwinning
action. The range of services includes: coordinating the NSS network, developing
pedagogical content (such as kits and modules for projects), offering a helpdesk service to
teachers participating in eTwinning, organising and designing teacher training (including on-
line learning events but also professional development workshops), communication andpromotions (such as organising conferences, camps and prizes) and undertaking monitoring
activities (such as selecting and identifying good practice). The other activities create content
to showcase on the website and bring users to the website.
In addition to the central support contract, the Commission also part-funds the NSS network.
The NSS network members help teachers and schools in their countries to participate in
eTwinning and deliver activities such as training, help and support, and communications and
engagement. NSS also approves members’ and projects’ applications – to ensure that they
are real teachers in real schools. Some NSS members maintain their own websites and
produce their own pedagogical and other material and reports. NSSs actively encourage and
train (hand hold) teachers to participate in eTwinning and, according to the Commission, are
key elements in the success of the action. The overall budget for NSS is €9 million a year –
of which approximately 80% is EU-funding, with national ministries providing 20% of costs.
The website owner explained that the success of eTwinning was unexpected. When the
action was first conceived in 2002, many believed that teachers/schools would not
participate in activities that did not involve receiving a grant or funding. In reality, the
opposite has been achieved with the eTwinning website receiving between 20,000 and
30,000 hits a day and the number of registered users multiplying by 1.7 every year. From the
website owner’s experience, teachers are willing to participate because they can see both
pedagogical benefits (language, ICT, geography, subject-specific skills) and benefits from
participating in a transnational initiative adding to the “status” of the school. Teachers are
more likely to participate in countries where the NSS is particularly active, where there is
enthusiasm for European projects, where the teacher population is young (and therefore
willing to engage with ICT) and where the school system allows teachers the time and
flexibility to participate in initiatives beyond delivering a core curriculum through traditional
lessons.
Based on the experience of eTwinning, the website owner believed that an electronic
platform for the adult education sector could also become popular. However, key differences
between the target groups may make the EPALE venture more challenging: school teachers
are a well-defined group compared to adult educators. It is relatively easy for NSS to verify
the identities of prospective members in their countries whereas it may be more difficult for
adult education. Similarly, schools understand what other schools in a different country do –
the differences in structures of adult learning may be too great for networking to work.
Finally, the website owners were surprised at how much school teachers have responded to
non-monetary award systems of prizes and quality marks.
3.1.2 SALTO-YOUTH
SALTO-YOUTH is a network of eight Resource Centres (RCs) supporting the youth work
funded by the Commission’s Youth in Action programme. SALTO stands for Support,
Advanced Learning and Training Opportunities. There are four thematic SALTO RCs (on
cultural diversity, training and cooperation, inclusion, and participation) which produce
resources (reports, documents) and undertake activities to build capacity in the youth sector
and raise the quality of learning. There are three regional SALTO RCs whose role is to run
activities (such as training), promote participation in these activities and enable organisations
and individuals in the sector to participate and gain access to European support. The eighth
SALTO RC (called “Information”) works behind the scenes to support the network by
maintaining the SALTO intranet and facilitating sharing of internal information.
While the SALTO-YOUTH network started life in 2000, a website for the entire network(rather than individual SALTOs) was launched in 2004 to be the online presence for
SALTOs. It initially served as a depository of the documents, reports, tools and good practice
produced by the SALTOs as well as a medium for advertising events, training opportunities
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and disseminating news and funding opportunity information. It has recently (in 2011)
evolved to offer more dynamic functions because it was felt that the previous website did not
offer the users sufficient opportunities for interaction. Now, as described below, a personal
dashboard and a partner finding tool has been added to allow users to participate, network
and showcase their projects, tools and skills.
The website was developed and is led by the SALTO Training and Cooperation RC, which is
provided by the German NA for the Youth in Action programme. The German NA
commissioned a web development company to undertake initial development of the website
and to host it on a secure server. There is a specified staff member at SALTO Training and
Cooperation who is responsible for taking decisions about technical issues at the set-up and
maintenance phase – he is advised by a working group of staff from other SALTO RCs.
Each Salto RC is responsible for developing and uploading content for the website for their
own sections. For example, SALTO Inclusion RC is responsible for developing content for
the Inclusion section of the website. Responsibilities for specific features are split between
the RCs; for example SALTO Information RC is responsible for the Otlas partner finding tool
while the SALTO South and Eastern Europe RC is responsible for the good practice
database. Up to 25 staff across the network have a licence to upload content to the website.It is estimated that 2 or 3 full-time equivalent staff work on the website. The yearly cost of
hosting the website is approximately €2,160 and the cost of the CMS for 25 staff is €9,600.
Additional costs (such as development of databases, design, new / more secure programme
coding) are decided on a yearly basis; web engineers are contracted by the hour for these
tasks.
The Commission works closely with the SALTOs and provides suggestions and feedback
about the website; however the relationship is informal rather than contractual. As such, very
few resources are needed from the Commission’s side to manage the website. For the
Commission, the SALTO website represents “an example of what can be achieved with little
money”.
Functions currently available on the SALTO website are:
▪ SALTO Publications: repository of documents produced by the eight SALTOS, SALTO
network reports and evaluation reports;
▪ European Training Calendar: users can search for a training event and registered users
can “offer” a training event;
▪ Toolbox for Training: repository of training tools, registered users can upload their own
tools, rate other tools and make comments ;
▪ Good Practice Projects Database: users can search for projects by priority theme,
keyword, partner country (including a map) and project type;
▪ Otlas Partner Finding Tool: users can search for potential partners by location,
programme action or keyword; organisations can also register and share their own
profile;
▪ Trainers Online for Youth (TOY): online community for youth trainers; trainers upload aprofile which includes a description of what services they can offer.
All the above are supported by MySALTO, a personal dashboard for registered users. Once
a user becomes a member they can use MySALTO to upload a profile on Otlas, upload
tools, make training offers and upload a profile on TOY. While these tools are very new12
,
they are already proving popular amongst users: there are 1665 organisations registered on
Otlas and 150 trainers registered on TOY. The website as whole receives over 1,000,000
hits a year.
3.1.3 ELearningEuropa.info
ElearningEuropa.info aims to increase and improve the use of IT in the classroom and
especially of e-learning. It is owned by the Commission as part of DG EAC’s, Skills and
12Otlas was developed and launched last year by SALTO Information RC through a contract with a website
development company. It is still being tested. It is estimated that the cost of development was under €10,000.
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Qualifications Unit. The website was launched in 2003 and was developed by PAU
Education, after winning an open call for tender. The initial contract ran from 2003 to 2008
and included development of the website, its content and its features and management and
maintenance for five years. In 2008, the contract was retendered for another five years and
was again won by PAU. The second contract required updating the website to include up-to-
date dynamic functions such as an on-line community. The reason for this development wasto make the website more user-centred by providing tools for participation, sharing and
discussion.
Functions currently available on ElearningEuropa.info are:
▪ Repositories of articles, news and resources; ranging from academic to practical
summaries, users can browse, filter by area of interest or search by tag word, they can
also provide a rating;
▪ Database of projects: users can filter by country, programme and area of interest or
search by tag word, they can also provide a rating – it is not a depository of best or good
practice;
▪ European event agenda: users can filter by country, city and area of interest, search by
tag word and provide a rating;▪ TV Channel: Collection of videos about ICT and education provided through links to
video hosting sites (such as YouTube and vimeo);
▪ Communities (Discussion Forum): Internet forum with discussions around themes, areas
of interest projects, events etc;
▪ People tool: Users can upload a profile which includes a short description, country,
profession and personal website. Members are awarded “kudos” points according to
their activities in contributing to discussion forums, suggesting new materials and rating
content. The aim of this tool is serve as a “professional network” rather than a formal
partner finding tool;
▪ Blogs: Registered users can write a short “blog” post for uploading onto this section of
the website;
▪ Elearning Papers13: digital journal on ICT in education across Europe.
Elearning papers is an on-line journal published five times a year. It is the most popular
feature of the website. It includes an editorial, articles, interviews and/or reviews. Quality
assurance for elearning papers is organised in the same way as other academic journals:
there is an editorial board made up of experts in the field and the EC project officer. All are
volunteers and are appointed for a year. Existing members of the editorial board may
suggest new members, usually well-known experts in the field and with a view to providing a
balance of expertise on the topics covered. The EC project officer has a final say in
approving the composition of the board. The editorial board chooses topics for each issue,
issues a call for papers on that issue and then selects the best articles for inclusion based on
a peer review assessment (peer reviewers may be members of the editorial board or
external peer-reviewers). The review criteria are:
▪ Innovation level: Does the article offer a landmark contribution to the field
▪ Connection with call for papers: Does the article reflect the topic expressed in the call?
▪ Content: Is the article an excellent, significant piece of research?
▪ Presentation: Is the article prepared for publication according to academic standards?
Registered users can shape the content of the website by “proposing” a new article, news
item, resource, project, event, video or blog post through submitting a short online form. The
editorial board has established some guidelines on selection of content: that is to focus on
the material covering the range of topics of interest to elearningeuropa.info. The database of
projects is not a selection of “best” or even “good” practice but aims to give users access to a
wide selection of what is available regarding ICT education in Europe.
13www.elearningpapers.eu
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The overall value of PAU’s current contract is €300,000 a year, which includes the cost of
developing new features. In terms of staff, the PAU team has 9 some of whom are part time.
The Commission estimates that one officer spends about 3% of their time managing this
contract though this would be significantly greater during re-tendering. PAU’s contract
includes not only website-related development and maintenance costs but also includes
producing e-learning reports and papers (estimated 40% of time) and undertaking on-lineand off-line dissemination and communication activities (estimated 60% of time).
Elearningeuropa.info features a particularly strong discussion forum “community” tool with
many subgroups and discussion threads which are very well used. The largest online group
has 800 members. Both the owner and manager of the website believed that the level of
activity in these groups is related to the strong “off-line” relationships that individuals in these
communities have developed. The most actively supported communities have grown out of
EU-funded initiatives which continue their lives on the internet. The owner explained “It is not
the technology or the technicalities of the portal that make it work but the communities
behind it. And that requires communities that are engaged and interested and that it is not
easy...it has taken years to build up”. The website manager further explained that the
dissemination team spend considerable time in making people engaged and interested. For
example, they actively promote the on-line community at events so that participants make
the connection between the on-line and off-line activity. They also make personal contact
with users who make suggestions about content to encourage them to further contribute to
the website and to the community forums.
3.1.4 European Infonet
European Infonet AE was a Grundtvig network which aimed to provide information about
current developments in adult education from European countries and at the EU level. It is
managed by Akademie Klausenhof and maintains a network of around 25 correspondents
who contribute articles, news items, interviews and other content. Funding for Infonet ended
in September 2011, since when it has only maintained a basic information service.
The initial perceived target audience for the website was editors of educational publications.The idea was to allow people with an interest in education, as well as journalism and editing,
to share information and to keep updated with what was happening in other countries. The
target group changed over time because people with a general interest in adult education
visited the website. As such, both the layout and the content of the website were redesigned
to make it more friendly and readable by the general public.
The original website was coded by an external contractor in 2005. The cost for this was
about €25,000. Initial set-up also required the work of two people from an in-house team,
both spending approximately a third of their time on this. Tasks completed in house included
developing content and undertaking some of the technical set-up. The owner/manager
investigated commissioning all the hosting to an external contractor but decided against this
because the cost (€500 per month for the duration of the project) was too high for the
project’s budget.
Maintenance of the website is now done in-house by Akademie Klausenhof: one employee
devotes about a third of their time to editing and adding content, managing the network of
experts/authors, responding to queries and tweaking basic aspects of the website design.
The exception to this is security for which the coordinator pays an external contractor €30 a
month. Content is developed by a network of authors/experts: the cost of author fees is
about €10,000 a year.
Other than the website content described above, the only other features provided by Infonet
are a downloadable newsletter and a (static) database of European journals on adult
education. A discussion forum was initially trialled but it was discontinued because there was
very low usage.
Website statistics show that the website attracts around 4,000 unique visitors a month, themajority of which come through search engines. Around 10% of these are “extensive users”
who are experts in the field. There are 4,500 subscribers to the newsletter and each
newsletter is downloaded around 30,000 times a year. Infonet was well known among the
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stakeholders interviewed and was mentioned by respondents to the online survey. Users told
us that European Infonet fulfilled its aims well; namely providing news and information about
policy developments in Europe and at a European level.
3.1.5 Learning Resource Exchange
Learning Resource Exchange (LRE) is, according to the website coordinator, “not a portal
but infrastructure for the repository of content” . The aim of the website is to showcase the
digital learning resources created by Ministries of Education and other content
providers/developers (regions, municipalities and other educational content and tools’
providers from both the public and private sectors) and share these with users in different
countries.
The LRE website is controlled by EUN Partnership aisbl, the legal name for European
Schoolnet. European Schoolnet is a network of 30 Ministries of Education in Europe and
beyond. LRE was developed by European Schoolnet and its supporting Ministries of
Education as a result of work in a number of Commission-funded projects (particularly
CELEBRATE, CALIBRATE and MELT). This resulted in the launch of the LRE as a publicly
available service in December 2008. Parts of the service, for example the activity arounddetermining the characteristics of digital learning tools which can “travel well”, are now
funded through Commission-funded projects eQNET and ASPECT.
The content has changed over time as different providers have come on board or left the
initiative – whether providers participate is largely driven by the requirements of the funding
streams secured. There are currently ten paying members who provide content.
LRE was initially managed by the European Schoolnet Steering Committee, where the
Ministries-Members are represented. Since 2010, a LRE Subcommittee was set-up to define
the strategy and operational rules of the LRE and to manage its ongoing development. The
Subcommittee allows content providers other than Ministries to have a say. The LRE
Subcommittee has a agreed a set of regulations14
which guide the responsibilities of both
European Schoolnet and the content providers.
The initial website design was undertaken by an external contractor and cost €12,000. LRE
also invested €100,000 upfront in reusable website architecture and €10,000 for translation
software.
The ongoing maintenance costs are low: each month a total of 6 to 9 working days are spent
on the website (divided between three team members). This includes security, moderation
and maintenance. Due to the initial investment in reusable architecture, the team can use
their in-house skills to make any changes to the website that are required without returning
to the external contractor.
LRE also invested in automated tr anslation software at the point of website design. This is
discussed in more detail in section 3.2.7. LRE does not create or host its own digital
resources. Instead, it provides links to resources hosted on developers’ and content
providers’ websites. It is up to the content providers to ensure that the content meets the
needs of schools and school teachers – the LRE’s role is to ensure that users can easily
access this content. A key task for the maintenance team is to test that the links to the
providers’ content work. This task is part of the responsibility of the software engineer (who
works part-time for LRE).
The main functions/features offered by LRE are:
▪ Depository of digital learning resources: these include both downloadable resources and
online resources; some of the resources are hosted on LRE but the majority are linked to
providers’ websites. It can be searched by keyword, country, subject area and content
provided. There is also a tag cloud. Users can make comments about learning resources
(although very few choose to do so);
▪
Discussion forum: where users can have discussions (it only has 27 posts and istherefore not well used);
14 http://lreforschools.eun.org/c/document_library/get_file?p_l_id=10970&folderId=12073&name=DLFE-201.pdf
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▪ Member profile: Users who register can tag, rate and social bookmark resources. They
can also create a public profile which allows other members to “follow” them and get an
update on their preferences. The member profile section could theoretically be used as a
partnership finding tool (although it was not created for this purpose).
Because the website is to showcase content created by different providers the success of the website is not judged by the content of the resources (this is out of the platform’s control)
but by the use of downloaded material. The extent of this is not currently measured. Most
traffic to the website comes from Google and the origin of users is related to the languages
in which the content is provided. For example, there was an increase in visits from Brazilian
users when the Portuguese ministry joined the initiative and Portuguese content was made
available. LRE does not undertake any dissemination or advertising activities. It also does
not have a strategy to increase visits or numbers of downloads.
3.1.6 Scientix
Scientix.eu aims to share good practice and know-how in science education across the
European Union. It collects teaching materials and research reports from European science
education projects financed by the European Union under the 6th and 7th FrameworkProgrammes for Research and Technological Development (DG RTD), DG EAC and various
national initiatives. The target audience is teachers, researchers, parents and anyone with
an interest in science education.
The Scientix project started in 2009 and the website was launched later that year. DG RTD
is the owner of the website. It is managed by European Schoolnet who won the open call for
tender to deliver the service, develop the website, maintain and manage it. An external sub-
contractor was commissioned to undertake the initial design and set-up of the website itself.
The one-off cost for this was between €30,000 and €40,000. Usability of the website was
tested by a teacher panel. They were paid to review content material and help with local
dissemination. Testing usability with teachers showed that teachers are “not very used to
websites” : this led to website design that is straight-forward and simple to understand by the
user and for guidance to be provided for every function available.
The budget for the project overall is €1.6million over 3 years which includes managing and
maintaining the website, organising conferences, workshops, presentations and online
courses, undertaking dissemination activities and liaising with the translators and the teacher
panel. Estimated break-down of the costs over the 3 years are: just under €1million for staff
(a team of 3 full-time staff, others on ad-hoc basis and the fee for the teachers’ panel),
approximately €300,000 for conferences, approximately €350,000 for translation and around
€30,000 for advertising, communication and dissemination.
Functions/features currently available on Scientix.net are:
▪ Depository of projects: can be filtered by country, topic, target groups, programme, start
year and end year;
▪
Depository of resources: Divided into teaching materials, reports library, and trainingcourses. These can be filtered by subject, language and age range. It is also possible to
perform a keyword search. Users can also request a translation of the resource in their
own language (this is discussed further in 3.2.7);
▪ News: contains the Scientix newsletter, as well as other news such as on World
Teachers’ Day; EU contest for Young Scientists; Space Scoop Camp 2011;
▪ Conference: summary of and photos from the latest Scientix European Conference;
▪ Calendar of events listed by date. There is also a list where one can also filter by
country, topic, type of event, target groups and language;
▪ Community: users can fill in their profiles as well as contact information. Users can add
other users as “friends” who can then see when they are online and “chat” to (instant
messenger function). There are currently 1099 users;
▪ Discussion forum: registered users can discuss science education topics (currently 109posts across 35 categories);
▪ Moodle (Virtual Learning Environment): registered users can participate in on-line
training courses and add their own training course.
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Scientix collects and distributes information about past and present science education
projects carried out in Europe. Priority is given to projects funded by the European
Commission but other publicly funded projects are also accepted. Projects must provide
accurate information about project goals, research and results. Preferably they also provide
links to public reports; any resources are displayed in the “resources” section.
The website managers recognise that the discussion forums are not as popular as they
would like. It requires active animation / engagement from the team, for which they do not
have the resources. Similarly, the instant message function is not widely used; the current
user group will not engage with online chat unless they have met in real life.
A user survey and feedback from the teacher panel has shown that users want more teacher
generated content. The website manager appreciates that the current website is top down,
rather than “community led”. The current contract does not enable teacher-led content.
However, there are thoughts to include this in the new contract to be commissioned in 2012.
3.1.7 CORDIS
The Community Research and Development Information Service (CORDIS) aims to facilitate
transfer of knowledge and information between European researchers and among theEuropean research community. It is owned and managed by DG RTD. CORDIS principally
aims to:
▪ Facilitate participation in European research and take-up activities; and
▪ Improve exploitation of research results with an emphasis on sectors crucial to Europe's
competitiveness.
The website has been operational since 1990 and has recently undergone an upgrade to
include a partners’ space.
Features and functions currently available on CORDIS are:
▪ Information about news, events and funding;
▪ Depository of projects: results, reports and stories about projects funded by DG RTD (allprojects funded by the latest research frameworks and previous research programmes
since 1990 are included in this depository);
▪ Partner finding: allows registered members to browse a database and search for
research partners. Following a recent upgrade, users can now add researchers as
“friends” and write comments on their public profile;
▪ Go local: filters the site to show news, projects and researchers active in your country.
The recent upgrade to the partner finding tool has increased the popularity of the tool: there
are now 6,000 users compared to 3,000 before the change. CORDIS receives about
150,000 unique visitors a month, measured by IP address. At the time of interview they had
received 2.9million visits in 2011 and expected 3million by the end of the year. The figure for
pages consulted was 21million.The website is managed and monitored by the DG RTD publication unit who employ an
internal team of 16 staff. They also commission five separate sub-contractors to deliver
services related to the website. The overall budget for CORDIS is €7.9million per year which
covers all five contracts. Keeping the website up-to-date is outsourced to a contractor who
executes the core team’s editorial decisions. Assessment and moderation of dynamic
content is handled by both the internal team and a sub-contractor. In practice, the internal
team quality assure and sub-edit dynamic content to ensure that there is no commercial
activity and then pass on the content to the sub-contractor for uploading. The website owner
estimated that the budget is broken down as follows:
▪ 40% on developing editorial content, which includes translation costs of €500,000 per
year;
▪ 25% on project management, overheads and intrusion testing;
▪ 35% on software (ongoing license fees) and hosting charges.
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The development of the “partners” social networking platform is estimated to have cost
approximately €500,000. This included €300,000 for start-up costs which went directly to a
sub-contractor and the costs of initial and ongoing testing.
There are other costs which are absorbed by the DG RTD budget, such as for dissemination
and events.In the past, the website was managed and updated by a single contractor (rather than the
five contractors used presently). The website owner’s moved to this arrangement of multiple
contractors because they felt that the single-contractor arrangement suffered from lack of
transparency and concerns about quality. As everything was included in the single-contract,
the owners were not able to ensure that every aspect required by the contract was taking
place and that the contractor was not cutting corners. The present arrangement allows the
owners to parcel out different aspects in distinct, smaller contracts. This has eliminated
reliance on a single-contractor. It also enables the owners to terminate or not renew
contracts with particular providers if there are concerns about quality – this was not as easy
with a single-contractor. It has also made monitoring of each contract easier for the owners;
although managing and coordinating the five different contractors requires more time from
the central team. Similarly, while not renewing a contract (or the threat of not renewing) withan established contractor helps in driving up quality, it also requires additional resources
from the central team in planning for the handover between contractors to ensure that there
is no delay in resumption of service as usual.
The website owners describe public procurement pressures as one of the biggest constraints
they face. There is pressure to award contracts to the lowest price bid, even though they
would often prefer paying more for a better service. They advise reducing costs and reliance
on contractors by hosting EPALE on Commission servers (which allows drawing on internal
support) and by developing IT expertise in house if possible.
3.1.8 iNet
iNET (International Networking for Educational Transformation) aims to support schools to
transform education through the sharing of best practice and innovation. It is owned andmanaged by The School Network, the Specialists Schools and Academies Trust which is an
independent, not-for-profit organisation based in the UK.
iNET was launched in 2004 and is a membership organisation with over 5,600 members in
35 countries, including most secondary schools in England. Member schools have to pay a
joining fee to access the content of the website, as well as other features of the service. The
membership fee depends on which country the school is based in and the school size. The
standard fee for a school in 2010/11 was €175 although this is higher for secondary schools
in England (as they can access a greater range of materials and support).
Functions available on the iNet website are:
▪
Partner finding tool: allows users to find and communicate with other schools in the
network and organise a variety of educational activities for their students;
▪ Calendar of events: information about real world events such as one day workshops and
seminars delivering training to teachers and international conferences on particular
themes;
▪ Educator online conferences: Teachers, school leaders and academics are invited to
submit presentations and case studies – these may be written papers, audio or video
presentations. Subjects have included practical case studies, such as describing the
development of a drop-in health facility, and more theoretical subjects such as ‘students
as agents of democratic renewal in Chile.’15
;
▪ Student online conferences: Like the educator conferences, these centre on materials
submitted in advance by participants – in this case written pieces, pictures,
presentations, videos or audio recordings to explain their point of view about teaching
and learning and their “role as a global citizen.” Subjects have included digital literacy,
15A full list of past conferences can be found here: http://www.ssat-inet.net/en-gb/resources/pages/olc.aspx
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students as global entrepreneurs and climate change as well as more informal topics
such as ‘what do you do for fun?’16
▪ Depository of publications: reports on education themes;
▪ Snapshots of projects: highlighting innovative education projects around the world;
▪
Case study archives: highlighting good practice in schools around the world, users areable to submit their own case studies;
▪ Opportunities for student collaboration: iNET organise worldwide competitions and online
conferences to allow students to develop an understanding of other cultures and
contexts. These include online debates about global citizenship and the role of ICT in
education and life, a digital art competition and virtual gallery, a website building
competition and a student voice (how can students have a say in their education).
In addition to the services available on the website, iNET produce a range of publication
reports, deliver online and offline conferences for teachers and students, training activities
for teachers and organise study tours to learn from educational practices in other countries.
There are additional charges for participating in these activities.
It was not possible to interview the owners and/or managers of iNET. As a result no
information was collected about the costs and the relative usage of the features offered bythe website.
3.1.9 TES
TES.co.uk is the website of the Times Education Supplement (TES). TES is a weekly
magazine published in the UK since 1910. It was initially published by The Times
newspaper, however the magazine, website and brand is now owned by a private equity
company. TES is a trusted brand among teachers in the UK and has a readership of about
400,000. It advertises itself as “the largest network of teachers in the world”.
The website was established in 1997 and was re-launched in 2007 to take its current form.
Material on the website is organised under four headings: jobs, teaching resources, forums
and TES magazine. The TES forums are a very active feature of the website. There are over 1.7 million registered users worldwide with around 1,500 made in the last 24 hours at the
time of writing. Forums are organised by subject area, education stage, role (such as
teacher, library, finance administrator) and include dedicated areas on careers and lifestyle
(topics include cookery, sport, health, pregnancy). There is also a special area of the forum
which allows users to “ask an expert” on topics such as job seeking, managing behaviour
and teacher training.
The Teaching Resources section currently includes over 130,000 learning materials
including lesson plans, games, teaching ideas and worksheets. These are aimed at school
level and are divided into early years, primary school, secondary school, whole school and
special educational needs. There is no material for adult learning. They are free for any
registered user. Registered users can also upload their own resource material. TES also has
agreements with 140 content partners, ranging from Unicef to Google. Partners agree toprovide links to their content on the TES resource database. Teacher TV videos are also
included in these resources. These are a selection of TV programmes commissioned by the
UK Department for Education to raise educational standards in schools.
Users can browse resources by educational stage, subject area and type of resource. They
can also search for resources, save their searches, save their favourite resources, adapt
resources and follow education providers that interest them. TES Resources also applies a
“popular” tag to those resources that have been accessed many times.
Some users become members of TES social panels. Social Panels are made up of users/
teachers from the online community who volunteer their time to undertake social panel
activities. Each social panel focuses on a specific subject and school phase; for example
Secondary School History or Primary School Maths. Larger Social Panels such as TES
16A full list of past conferences can be found here: http://www.ssat-inet.net/en-
gb/onlineconferences/studentonlineconferences/Pages/Past-student-conferences.aspx
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Secondary English17
have around 20 members. Other social panels, such as Secondary
Citizenship, only have about 5-10 members. Members to the social panel are recruited
informally through posts in the relevant community discussion forums. A particularly active
member of the forum may be asked by the TES Content Manager (a professional staff
member) to head a group and seek volunteers. The Social Panel members then review
teaching and learning material shared by teachers on TES Resources and apply a”recommend” label to those which they decide are the best Essentially this is a form of peer-
review. Additionally, members of the panel have the opportunity to provide feedback and
suggestions on the structure and content of the TES website, the magazine and newsletter.
TES refused to participate in our research and it was not possible to capture information
about the website’s development and management processes and costs.
3.1.10 Adult Learning Australia
Ala.asn.au is the online presence of Adult Learning Australia (ALA), a not-for-profit
organisation that represents and serves the adult and community education sector in
Australia. ALA is funded by the Australian Ministry of Education, through membership feed
and revenues from projects and subscriptions. The target audience of the website iseveryone involved in adult learning including learners, teachers, community providers and
learning organisations throughout Australia.
The current website was developed in 2005 to replace a previous website which was felt to
be too static. The aim of the re-design was to create a website which allowed user
participation and quicker dissemination of information. OSKY, a computer consultancy
company based in Canberra, was commissioned to undertake the redesign. OSKY has
continued to be employed on a monthly retainer to maintain the technical aspects of the
website and improve the design (so that it remains up to date) since then. Day-to-day
maintenance of the content is undertaken by ALA staff members: there is a simple and
straight-forward content management system (CMS) which allows any ALA staff member
(even those without any technical knowledge) to upload or change material to the
appropriate section of the website.The process of developing the website took about six months. At this point, OSKY worked
closely with ALA to ensure that the final product fitted the needs and expectations of ALA.
OSKY held focus groups and workshops with ALA staff and potential users to explore what
features/functions were really needed and, once the website was developed, to test the
website’s usability among users.
The website offers four entry points for each type of user: learner, community education
provider, adult learning professional and learning organisation and communities. The
learners section allows users to search for courses and to download learning resources.
The other two entry points offer an introductory text which is tailored to each group and then
links to sections of the website. These links are the same for both groups (although the order
in which they are presented differs slightly). The linked sections are: Australian Journal of
Adult Learning, Quest magazine (quarterly magazine on lifelong learning), policy and
representation (information about), learning tools and resources and professional
development (providing links to three other websites rather than a repository).
Fee-paying members of ALA can participate in webinars. The webinars are popular and
allow members to ask questions and discuss issues with the trainer and other participants
through a chat bar. To develop and deliver the webinars ALA uses external (paid)
contractors or volunteers. Often academics, students and policy makers are keen to promote
their activities so deliver content voluntarily without charge to ALA. Additionally, they have
also purchased webinars from a US-based company called LERN18
. LERN arranges the
delivery at a time to suit Australian-based learners. Two staff members are involved in the
management of webinars: one person offers technical support for one day a week while
17 www.tes.co.uk/tesenglishteaching
18 http://lern.org/edctr/upcoming_online/upcoming_online.cfm
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another person spends about a day every two weeks on administrative tasks such as
arranging bookings.
In addition to webinars aimed at learning providers and staff, ALA provides webinars directly
targeted to adult learners. These include the Broadband for Seniors projects which trains
older people in ICT skills through a network of 2000 kiosks across Australia. Two individualsare employed on this project: one person spends half a week delivering webinars while
another person is employed for half a week to put the webinars together.
The webinars are delivered through a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) using software
called Elluminate. The website manager commented that the software “seems very robust to
us and user friendly”, but also added that they understand that other software has been
developed recently that may offer similar advantages.
In addition to the main website, a micro-site was created to allow members to use a forum,
create a blog, share information and post questions. The micro-site is moderated by ALA. It
is not heavily used – the website contractor explained that there does not seem to be any
appetite for these functions.
ALA and OSKY were not able to provide information about the costs of developing andmaintaining the website.
3.1.11 British Council Schools Online
The British Council Schools Online website aims to enhance and support partnerships
between schools and teachers in the UK and in developing countries. It is owned and
managed by the British Council, the UK’s international organisation for cultural relations and
educational opportunities.
The British Council project manager explained that the website is intended to enhance and
support a range of training activities which are delivered on-the-ground in the UK and in
developing countries. Staff delivering these activities encourage participants to continue the
relationships they have developed on-line through the interactive components of the website
(forum, project space). They believe that personal contact encourages people to use theinteractive tools: they invested considerable time and effort to build a critical mass of active
users at the outset of the project. The initiative is still in its early stages: they do not yet know
whether the initial work invested will be enough to sustain the on-line activity or whether they
will need to continue engaging and animating users through “real world contact”. The
website was launched in its current format at the beginning of 2011 and combines functions
from three previous websites. The website was designed with users in developing countries
in mind. As such, they ensure that the website loads quickly and that downloadable material
is “as light as possible” so that users with slow internet connections are not prohibited from
accessing these. They plan to develop a low bandwidth version of the website in the future.
Features and functions provided by the current website are:
▪ Information and guidance: this is mainly aimed at UK teachers, it includes “how-to”guides on setting up an international project, a template partnership agreement and
advice on forming a partnership safely; information about international school awards
and funding is also provided;
▪ Partnership finding tool: registered schools can search for other schools on the
database; schools need to apply to register and the website manager contacts the
applicant to check that the school exists before accepting the registration;
▪ Project space: where partner schools can share messages, discussions, documents,
videos, photos and other materials; all the material is kept in one location so that any
teacher from the partnership schools can access it;
▪ Discussion forum: both UK and non-UK teachers who are registered with the website
can participate in discussions.
The website has 60,000 registered users in total. In October 2011 it had 52,000 visits,
36,000 of which were unique and 300,000 page views. The majority of users are from the UK
(28%); 8.3% from the US (which is slightly surprising because the site is not geared towards
the US), then (in order) India, Turkey and Bangladesh. They observe little correlation
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between website usage and content provided in other languages: translated content is
provided for those countries which tend to have poor internet access, or are not part of
communities for which there is a culture of online engagement and therefore use of
translated content is limited.
Interviewees from British Council Schools Online were not able to provide information aboutcosts and resources expended for the development of the website or required for its
maintenance.
3.2 General platform characteristics
In this section some of the considerations about basic issues for platform development are
discussed.
3.2.1 System architecture
Most website owners did not have in-depth knowledge or preference for a particular type of
website architecture. However, some lessons can be learned from their experiences about
the considerations for selecting a content management system (CMS):
▪ Ease of use of CMS: for websites, such as Infonet, where a small in-house team is
responsible for maintaining the website it is important to have a CMS that is easy and
straightforward to use. LRE have recently adopted Life Ray, after difficulties with using
other systems (ColdFusion and JSF). They have found that they can now easily edit
content and create new web pages while keeping the same menus, images and colour
schemes. This allows the website to be updated more frequently without confusing users
as the interface looks the same.
▪ Open source software: Several interviewees mentioned the benefits of choosing a CMS
that is open source (such as Life Ray or Drupal). Open source software allows
developers from all over the world to use and improve the code. As such, they are more
likely to stay up to date with the latest changes in technology and are cheaper or free to
use. Furthermore, it allows the owner of the website more flexibility as it does not tie thewebsite to one software provider and makes retendering to new contractors easier.
However, finding experienced developers for open source software may be more difficult
and/or costly than with a licensed product.
▪ Fit for purpose: Some CMSs are better suited than others to support multilingualism and
dynamic content and applications. CORDIS, for example, uses open source software
Life Ray which allows a website to support a suite of applications, such as blogs, instant
messaging and message boards. Similarly, Elearningeuropa.info use Drupal because of
its ability to support content in many languages.
Our website-development experts have identified five CMSs which can offer strong support
to multilingualism. We present the pros and cons of each in Annex 5.
3.2.2 Interoperability
Most websites examined try to ensure that information is accessible to those using the most
popular browsers in the marketplace. As a consequence, some do not work with older
browsers, such as older versions of Internet Explorer, and some owners/managers admitted
that they had not fully tested their platforms for non-Microsoft operating systems, such as
Macintosh and Linux. Few, such as CORDIS, have developed versions for mobile users,
although not all functions are available on these versions.
Websites will now need to take into account the various types of devices that users may use
to access them. Below is a list of factors that should be taken into account when developing
for various devices:
▪ Desktop PC’s – Monitor sizes may vary from 15 to 23 inches. Depending on monitor capabilities screen resolutions can vary from 800 x 600 to 2048 x 1536. The life span of
a PC can be several years which may mean that some users are using older browsers.
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▪ Smart Phones – Screen sizes can often vary from 2 to 5 inches. Web browsers on
these devices tend to be fairly modern due to the products having a shorter life span of 1
to 2 years. Common browsers used on these devices include Internet Explorer, Opera,
Safari and FireFox. The use of Macromedia Flash is not recommended as support for
this technology is varying. The speed of web pages should be taken into consideration
as these devices are often used in low bandwidth environments.
▪ Tablet Devices – Screen sizes vary from 7 to 11 inches, usually to a fixed resolution.
The use of Macromedia Flash is not recommended as support for this technology is
varying. Websites should be designed to allow for touch sensitivity. and take into
account the dynamic keyboard layout. Due to their practicality these devices are
becoming popular learning aids.
▪ Laptops, Net-books, Ultra-books - These devices can vary in screen size from 8 to 17
inches with varying resolutions. Ultra-books may also have very similar characteristics
as Tablet devices.
▪ TV – Internet TV is an emerging technology and is currently going through a phase of
convergence. The current use of this method will be limited and is somewhat unknown,
however such factors should not be ignored when developing a new platform.
The website architecture and coding can help improve the array of devices and platforms a
modern website has to support. This includes the use of W3C compliant code and using
modern HTML5 coding standards. However, the Europa Information Provider Guide (IPG)
does not mention the use of HTML5 as its preferred coding standard. As such it is
recommended that DG EAC communicates with Europa before launching a procurement
process.
3.2.3 Accessibility
The Web Accessibility Initiatives (WAI) encourages the use of the AAA grading scale to
measure the accessibility of a website. Triple ‘A’ compliance is the highest compliance
grade. Complying with each level (A, AA, AAA) is based on meeting various coding criteria,
ranging from page layout, use of colours, to input devices used by the end user. Ultimately awebsite should aim to adhere to the highest WAI standard of AAA, particularly if the website
is offering a public service. However, achieving this may result in higher costs. Examples of
where added costs may occur are:
▪ The design of the website requires greater attention, encouraging the use of Cascading
Style Sheets (CSS) for presentation;
▪ Complying to higher levels of accessibility can sometimes make a website less visually
appealing. Designer can sometimes find it challenging to keep a website ‘text’ based
and can opt to use more aesthetically pleasing methods of presentation;
▪ The use of less accessible programming techniques such as JavaScript can give a
website a less ‘polished’ feel;
▪ Websites can often be populated by Content Management Systems (CMS) by content
providers that do not have a technical understanding of accessibility. Often the code
generated by CMS’s can find it difficult to adhere to AAA levels. Thus the design of the
website may comply to AAA standards but when populated with content it does not.
A website should aim to build in Accessibility from its conception rather than trying to ‘bolt it
on’ once the website has been built. Taking this approach can reduce the development
overhead and costs.
Only the British Council Schools website reported testing for compatibility with screen-
readers for the visually impaired. They are currently considering installing a “browse aloud”
function to help users with visual impairments.
Compliance with the Web Accessibility Initiatives (WAI) guidelines to Level A was a
requirement for elearningeuropa.info and eTwinning.net in their calls for tender. The
specification for elearningeuropa.info required the creation of a text-only version of the
website. However, this does not seem to have materialised. The British Council Schools
website is currently developing a text only version to enable users with low internet
connections (such as those in developing countries) to access content more easily.
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3.2.4 Search
Many website owners and managers identified search to be a challenging aspect of their
websites. Website owners report that “searching is the key problem reported by users. Users
don’t know what stuff we have and this partly emerges from the difficulty in classifying
content”. Users become frustrated when their searches yield too few or too many results or when the results are not what they are looking for. This may be because the search function
available is not “deep” enough: it only searches names of documents rather than their
content. It may also only search particular sections of the website; such as only the
repository of documents rather than the news section. A key problem of current websites
used by the Commission to showcase good practice (such as European Shared Treasure or
Eve) is that search functions work best when the user already knows the name of the project
they are looking for. It works less well when they are interested in a topic, for example
migrant education, but do not have prior knowledge of what European projects have been
funded in that area.
Many have had to improve the tools they have to make content searchable. For example,
CORDIS offers a comprehensive search facility (by filter, by category and a professional
search) which allows use of Boolean operators (AND/OR) in a user-friendly way. Thesoftware used for the search function is Autonomy Enterprise (which offers the option of
indexing multi-media such as video and audio files).
Examples of good practice for search include:
▪ Tag based search: Elearningeuropa.info recently redesigned their website and included
a search function that uses a system of key word tags. This allows users to collectively
view different types of information under the same tag category rather than browsing
through different sections of the website to access it. The website’s tag cloud, as
demonstrated in Figure 3.1, gives an indication to users of what the most popular
searches are and therefore what other material is available on the website that may be of
interest to them.
Figure 3.1 Image of Elearningeuropa.info’s Tag Cloud
▪ Map-based search: eTwinnings and CORDIS19
allow search for partners, projects and
results and by country and/or by region using a map. These give users a more “visual”
representation of ongoing activities.
19CORDIS is currently offering this function in a beta “test” version.
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▪ Saved searches: CORDIS allows users to “save” their search and automatically receive
email notifications when the website has been updated with information which would be
relevant to their search. LRE plan to offer this function soon.
3.2.5 Personal data and privacy
Stakeholders expressed concerns about having an open access process for registering on
an on-line community or partner finding tool. The following issues were identified:
▪ Commercial organisations may register on the portal in order to spam forums and other
members;
▪ Commercial organisations may put themselves forward as partners in order to gain
financially from participating in projects even though they are not providers of adult
education;
▪ The diverse nature of the adult learning sector means that there are difficulties verifying
whether an organisation is an adult education provider when funding applications are
received by Grundtvig National Agencies. It would be difficult for a platform contractor to
verify organisations.
Making members of a community feel secure about their privacy when participating in an on-
line platform was identified as a key factor in the success of eTwinning.net. In order to
register on the platform, interested teachers/schools must submit a registration application
which is then vetted by the national eTwinning support service team. This ensures that the
only members of eTwinning are other schools / other school teachers. Similarly, British
Council Schools verifies every registration by contacting the education institution to check
that they exist. Until the registration is approved, the registree can access content on the site
(such as downloadable material) but cannot participate on the forums or contact partners.
Other platforms have adopted more open approaches to registration. There is no verification
on SALTO Youth, either on the Otlas partner-finding tool or on the Trainers Online for Youth
tool. This is also true for elearningeuropa.info and Scientix. While Salto and
elearningeuropa.info allow visitors to browse the directories of members without the need tobecome members, Scientix requires registration first. All these websites have said that their
communities have high numbers of registered users and continue to receive registrations
every month. For example, elearningeuropa.info has 38,000 registered users with 50 new
users registering every month.
Other elements of good practice in protecting data and privacy include:
▪ Guidance notices on Privacy and Use and Collection of Data and identifying a data
controller. For example, within the CORDIS platform there are different notices for the
platform itself 20
, the Participant Portal21
and the Electronic Proposal Submission
Service22
;
▪ CAPTCHA tests (which tests whether the response comes from a human or a computer)
in registration forms and comment forms;
▪ Spam filter and catcher tools for forums, blog posts and news stories (which analysetexts to block spammers)
23;
▪ Monitoring forums by platform management staff because spam tools cannot capture
everything;
▪ Encoding of email addresses so that they cannot be captured by spam bots.
20 http://cordis.europa.eu/guidance/legal-notices_en.html
21 http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/portal/appmanager/participants/portal
22 https://www.epss-fp7.org/epss/download2s;jsessionid=5cf9e423bf110a9bb74776f6dd115a26ebc7b2df289ae0dbffe69c15caa3475f.e38Qbx8Mbh0PbO0Lay0?downType=helpF&fileType=SSPS 23
Such as the Mollom module, http://mollom.com/
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3.2.6 Security
For most platforms reviewed, website security and testing is included as part of the
maintenance contract. Practice around this varies; some undertake proactive intrusion
testing by trying to hack into the website while for others this is limited to ensuring firewalls
are in place. The content of these websites is not considered to attract threats from hackers – and interviewees suggested that this would also be the case for EPALE.
There are no direct security threats that should affect an Adult Education website. However
common web threats such as SQL injections, cross site scripting, denial of service and brute
force attacks should be tested for.
It is also advised to keep the use of unnecessary cookies to a minimum, and only use
cookies that are deemed strictly necessary by the website. The European Cookie Directive
introduced in May 2011 requires a website to prompt users when non vital cookies are used,
this includes Google Analytics or equivalent statistics packages that might use cookies.
3.2.7 Languages
All EU languagesETwinning.net offers the most comprehensive multilingual service. The website architecture
and (most) of the website content is available in 25 languages (all LLP participating
countries’ official languages including Maltese). Owners of the platform considered this
decision carefully – mainly because they feared that it would be very expensive. However,
they decided to invest in this languages-max option because they believed that their target
group (school teachers) would not be confident in participating in “anything serious in a
language other than their mother tongue” . The most popular languages in which the website
is accessed are ES and PL, closely followed by RO and TR. These results partly reflect how
active national support points are in each country and partly how much interest there is from
teachers in seeking on-line partnerships. Website owners believe that these statistics justify
their decision to invest in a multi-lingual platform because they can serve the needs of their
user groups.eTwinning.net has a contract with European Schoolnet for the cost of the central support
services function, which includes translation into 25 languages of all content produced
centrally (except reports) but not of material produced by national support services or
generated by users. The contractor employs or has sub-contracts with professional
translators. The cost for translation is €82,000 a year. Adding an additional language to the
service would cost €9,00024
.
Elearningeuropa.info offers its website architecture and web page information in 22
languages. However, news and uploaded material are predominantly available in the
language in which they were initially uploaded (mostly English, some in French and some in
other languages). The contractor, PAU Education, makes video content available in several
languages. However, this was not the case for the videos we tested. The decision to offer
these languages was made by the Commission on the basis that “ the website is not for
experts. It must be translated”. The cost for translations is €60,000 a year.
Key EU languages
The CORDIS website is available in six languages (DE, EN, ES, FR, IT, PL). This includes
the architecture, news items and information on most web pages. However, research reports
available in their depositories are almost exclusively in English because “English has
become the international language of the research community”. CORDIS decided to use the
six most commonly used languages in the EU because beyond these there are diminishing
returns in additional coverage.
24 The call for tender (Reference No EACEA/2007/2012 required a quotation for the cost of adding an additional
language to the portal.
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Similarly, Scientix also offers website architecture and webpage in the same six languages.
Dynamic content, such as comments in the forums are not translated. Downloadable
resources, such as education tools, are available initially in the language in which they have
been uploaded. However, the user can “request” that the tool is translated in any of the 22
EU official languages, as shown in Figure 3.2 below. Scientix has a list of freelance
translators, in addition to limited in-house translation capacity (used to quickly translate shorttexts to the six languages). Translation by freelancers usually takes a week. The budget for
translations is €350,000 for a 3 year period, or €116,667 a year.
Figure 3.2 Screenshot from Scientix.eu
Machine translations
An alternative to paying for a formal translation and proofreading service is to use a Machine
Translator, such as the Google Translate and Microsoft Translator 25
widgets. These tools
automatically translate text into several world languages.
Learning Resource Exchange (LRE) uses the SYSTRAN machine translator software to offer
content in eleven languages (EN, DE, ES, FR, IT, NL, PT, CS, FI, LT and NO). The choice of
languages is largely related to what languages the software can support as not all 22 EU
languages are available through SYSTRAN. Translation includes all architecture, web pages
and tags. News feeds and downloadable tools (such as videos and learning tools) remain in
the language in which they are uploaded. LRE’s licence for SYSTRAN costs €10,000 for
eight languages.
The benefit of using Machine Translation tools is that the translation is not costly and is
automatic. However, the translation produced does not result in perfect translations;
sentences are often not grammatically correct and/or the meaning is not always what was
intended by the original author. This is particularly true for long pieces of text. This may
make the website look unprofessional and may annoy users reading badly-written text intheir mother tongue. LRE explain that they do not pretend that the translation is perfect,
users accept inaccuracies as they are able to comprehend the meaning of machine-
translated text.
One stakeholder with experience of using Machine Translation tools, explained that these
tools work best when the original text is written in short sentences and in plain English, with
jargon avoided. It was suggested that any professional contributors to the platform should
receive training in writing for websites in plain English26
. If appropriate, guidance on how to
write effectively in plain English/other language should be provided to “lay” contributors.
English only
25 http://www.microsofttranslator.com/
26For example, such as courses provided by the Plain English Campaign http://www.plainenglish.co.uk/
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The other websites examined provided content only in English. For some, there was no
obvious rationale to provide translations as their target group is an English speaking
audience (e.g. Adult Learning Australia and TES).
Content on Infonet-ae.eu is only available in English. This decision was made after a trial
offering 10 languages. During the trial, the website owners found that the translation was toocostly, the quality of translation was variable and it was difficult for the editorial board to
quality control content in many languages. They decided to opt for a high quality product in
one language.
3.3 Usage and value of features and functionalities
Interviews and desk reviews of the platforms revealed the following issues and lessons
about features and functions:
Partner finding tool: SALTO-YOUTH.net has recently introduced a partner finding tool
which appears to be well used to date. Each user/organisation can create a short profile to
showcase their interests: it provides more information than a simple “directory” and is seen
to promote partnership by allowing potential partners to select more effectively. However,
managers and owners of other platforms advised that EPALE should provide simple and
clearly written guidance to users such as a step-by-step “how to” guide in order to encourage
usage. For example, the eTwinning General Guidance document27
includes step-by-step
guidance on “creating a profile”. For most websites reviewed, the partner finding tool is
integrated with the online community (and therefore further learning on this function is
discussed below).
Online community: The experiences of CORDIS, LRE and SALTO-YOUTH suggest that
users are generally willing to create profiles and share information about themselves and
their organisations. Interviewees suggested that the growing popularity of social networking
websites such as Facebook means that the general population is now increasingly familiar
and comfortable with using such tools. However, as with discussion forums, online
communities are strongest were they are a continuation of offline / real life events such astraining events (eTwinning, British Councils Schools), conferences (Scientix, CORDIS) and
other events (such as eTwinning camps). Many websites have considerable offline networks,
based in member states which engage with beneficiaries locally by organising offline events,
delivering face-to-face training and producing locally-relevant content (such as the SALTO
regional centres and the eTwinning national support network). Nonetheless, some websites
take active measures to promote participation in their on-line community by offering rewards
(Elearningeuropa.info offers kudos points) or by organising prize competitions (such as
eTwinning.net).
Discussion forum: eLearningeuropa.info has an active discussion forum (and
accompanying online community). However, the website’s owners were keen to point out
that the high level of activity is directly related to offline activities that are organised
elsewhere and from ongoing animation and dissemination activities from the website’s team.Infonet tried to provide a discussion forum but it was removed because of low usage.
Similarly, Scientix recognise that the use of their discussion forums is low because it is not
actively managed. Online discussions do not happen organically: they need human
resources behind them.
Downloadable Resources (good practice, funding and awards, resources for teachers
and managers, training materials): Some websites such as eTwinning, SALTO and British
Council Schools create and present their own resources. Producing these resources are part
of the core functions of the managing organisations – which in some cases preceded the
website. Other websites, such as LRE, Scientix and TES collect and aggregate links to
resources created by other organisations and in many cases are hosted elsewhere. Both
options require active management and categorisation of resources to ensure that a user
can easily find what is relevant to them (rather than be presented with too much irrelevantinformation). LRE allow users to comment about resources (although very few choose to do
27 http://resources.eun.org/etwinning/80/eTwinning_GENERAL_GUIDELINES_2010_EN.pdf
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so) while TES uses a select panel of teachers to rate resources and apply a “recommended”
tag to those highly rated.
E-partnership space: eTwinning provides this function (Twinspace) for its users. It appears
to be well-used; although partners do use other tools to share documents (such as email).
Twinspace provides a framework or template which partners can use to set-up their virtualpartnership; ensuring that all partners have access to the same information and creating a
visual presence or tangible (virtual) product. It allows different users (such as different
teachers in the same school) to access the partnership without relying on a lead teacher.
This improves the sustainability of the partnership: expertise is shared among different
teachers (not just the language teacher who usually tends to lead on such partnership) and
reduces the risk of the partnership ending if the lead teacher leaves the school. However,
some interviewees warned against creating a tool that already exists. As an alternative, one
interviewee suggested that EPALE could encourage users to collaborate in groups using
established tools (such a Yahoo or Google group) and provide guides and guidance on how
this could be done.
Online Training sessions / eLearning Space: eTwinning and Adult Learning Australia both
provide online e-training. These are seen to be effective ways of providing short andstructured sessions on specific topics of learning. Both websites use VLE software that
allows learners to ask questions to the trainer and to other learners.
Ask an Expert: Of the websites reviewed, only TES.co.uk offered an Ask an Expert function.
This function is integrated within the discussion forum section. TES refused to participate in
our research so we were not able to gather information about how this function is organised
and managed. However, GHK knows from experience of providing this function for other
websites (European Migration Network) that providing this function for an audience of
experts is relatively easy and straightforward to provide once a network of experts has been
identified.
3.4 Dissemination and communication
In this section the main ways to effectively increase use of different key features and
functions and how social media integration can bolster use (or not) are considered.
3.4.1 Increasing usage
The platforms reviewed have used different ways to successfully attract and retain users,
which could be considered for EPALE. These include:
▪ Information control: CORDIS has 2.9million visits a year, with 150,000 unique visitors
a month. This is partly because DG RTD has held until recently a monopoly on
information about calls for proposals from 1987 so every researcher interested in
European research funding had to visit CORDIS for this information. This information is
no longer provided by CORDIS; however many users continue to use the platform
because it has become established in the research community. Similarly, TES hascaptured the teacher market by establishing itself as the most complete database of
teacher-related job adverts.
▪ Contractual requirement: several stakeholders suggested that using EPALE should be
a contractual requirement for all organisations receiving or applying for European
funding. This could take many forms, such as requiring that membership of the
community is an eligibility requirement or requiring that final products or reports are
uploaded on to the platforms. Interviewees suggested that if EPALE becomes
compulsory then other requirements, such as using European Shared Treasure are
dropped to avoid duplication and reduce unnecessary burden on providers.
▪ Search engine optimisation (SEO): these are techniques used to improve the visibility
of a website in search engines28
. The aim is to improve the ranking of a website or
28SEO techniques aim to improve the rank of a website within a search engines’ search algorithm. This will result
in the website appearing earlier
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webpage in search results. Some platforms reviewed have used SEO because they
recognise the high percentage of traffic which originates from search engines.
▪ Networks and Partners: Elearning Europa has a series of media partners who promote
the website and host their logo on their websites. Scientix network could see scope for
collaboration with the new EPALE portal because they identified that the target audience
for the two websites may overlap.
▪ E-newsletters: these can disseminate content and draw users to the website by
providing information directly to a user’s inbox. They serve as a reminder to users that
the website exists (even if they have not visited in a while). Elearning Europa, for
example produces a monthly newsletter in 33 languages. The website owners
acknowledge that this is costly (although they were not able to identify the exact cost).
However they believe that it is important to have it as it disseminates information, even if
readers to the newsletter to do visit the website itself. Some websites, such as the
Cedefop website, produce several newsletters focusing on different aspects of their work
and allow users to select which ones they subscribe to, according to their interests.
▪ RSS feeds: like newsletters RSS feeds deliver news and the latest information from a
website directly to the user, without the user having to visit the site itself. RSS feeds
automatically create notifications as the new items are posted to the website. They donot, therefore, require any additional resources from the website team as (unlike
newsletters) do not require editing or designing.
▪ Real world activities: many of the websites reviewed draw users by undertaking face-
to-face activities in the real world. These range from ongoing training and events relating
to building the capacity of their target user group (such as by eTwinning, SALTO, British
Council Schools On-line) to annual conferences (such as the one organised by Scientix).
These are seen to be particular important for the interactive/social functions to work as
users do not seem to spontaneously engage in online/virtual relationships and
networking without a prior face-to-face meeting.
▪ Reward systems: eTwinning and elearningEuropa both employ reward systems to
encourage participation and improve quality of online user-generated products. For
eTwinning this takes the form of “quality marks” and competitions with prizes for the besteTwinning projects, which can be displayed on the project’s space. The very best
projects are rewarded by participation in a conference, however the website owners
have found that their user group (school teachers) do respond to non-financial rewards
as well (quality marks). ElearningEuropa use kudos points to reward active contributors.
It does not penalise non-active contributors (by restricting access to content if you have
not accumulated enough points for example). These systems appear to appeal to the
user group even though there are no financial benefits to be had from gaining kudos
points.
3.4.2 Social media
The platforms reviewed generally do not have a coherent social media strategy. As such,
use of social media appears to be opportunistic and its impact is not well understood. Theextent of social media engagement is set out in Table 3.1 below.
Table 3.1 Social media
Website Newsletter Facebook Twitter RSS Other
eTwinning Youtube –
“How to”
videos
CORDIS Yes Yes Yes Yes – “popular” Search
results
updates to
your inbox
LRE X X X
Scientix X Partly X X
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Website Newsletter Facebook Twitter RSS Other
SALTO X X X Social
Bookmarking
TES Social
bookmarking
iNET X
Infonet X X
Elearning
europa
X X Sharing
ALA X X Youtube
channel (not
used)
British
Council
X X X Vimeo
A key problem with the use of social media is replicating the content in alternative form andpotentially diverting users away from the platform, rather than drawing people in.
This may be particularly true of Facebook. One stakeholder interviewed believed this would
definitely be the case if EPALE created a Facebook page: information displayed on a
Facebook page would not add any value to the information already available on EPALE
itself. For example, any discussions / conversations that could take place on a Facebook
page discussion board could feasibly take place within a EPALE discussion forum. Platforms
such as Scientix and British Council Schools use Facebook selectively, for example to raise
awareness of events. However, the LRE owner believes that Facebook is a more effective
medium than advertising (the LRE Facebook page has 104 likes).
Twitter is seen as a quick and inexpensive way to communicate quickly to the user group. Its
short, text format ensures that content does not distract from the main portal. CORDIS hasbenefitted from its established large user group and has quickly gained 1,579 followers on
Twitter even though it had only made 87 tweets at the time (October 2011). A dedicated
staff member in the DG RTD marketing unit is tasked with managing the CORDIS Facebook
and twitter accounts – it was estimated that they spent 10% of their time on these activities.
Other websites use social bookmarking to enable users to share content on external social
media platforms, through incorporating sharing widgets. Social bookmarking boosts the
platforms’ visibility among a user’s online social network. For example, the SALTO Youth
Partners’ Finding Tool allows users to “like it” on Facebook. This action will then appear on
the users’ Facebook page and be visible to their friends and followers. These friends may in
turn, be inspired to find out more about this and visit the SALTO website themselves. TES
allows users to share its videos and other content via email, Twitter or Facebook using a
sharing widget from Addthis.com. This particular widget supports a large number of socialmedia platforms. This means that the host platform can integrate with almost all social media
platforms without committing to those that are currently popular (not picking a winner) and
not excluding those that are popular only in certain countries29
.
29For example, Xing is currently primary popular among business users in Germany, Austria and Switzerland
while Badoo is popular in Spain, Italy, France and Latin America.
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Figure 3.3 Examples of social bookmarking sharing widget style
3.5 Key messages
3.5.1 General approach
Useful learning for establishing EPALE appears to be:
▪ Having a clear set of purposes (expected outputs and outcomes linked to increasing
target users’ knowledge, skills and abilities) and a menu of content and functions toachieve these is more likely to focus attention and lead to successful development;
▪ Establishing ownership at the outset is critical for development and re-tendering; and
▪ Not duplicating resources and materials which are available on other websites which can
be signposted.
3.5.2 Initial and continuing developments
The experience of other platforms tells us a little about the costs for development as well as
development considerations in relation to contracting and the creation of specific features
and functionalities.
Useful learning for setting up EPALE appears to be:
▪ A few have had short set up contracts but most with wider ambitions have had initial
contracts for several years (3-5 years) to set up/launch within a year and continue
development with management activities; few have done this in-house;
▪ Costs of development range from €10-40,000 to €100K-1million but the scale is clearly
linked to the ambitions and when initial development merges with management and
maintenance;
▪ One has clearly been a bottom-up development which has ensured some more
immediate response to users. It has also meant that funding is not specifically allocated
to the platform but to a range of objectives; others have been closely steered by the
Commission and other government clients;
▪ Some have been incremental but many have been designed to service a potential fixed
range of purposes and functions linked to these (and re-designed periodically). Contracts
require flexibility to enable evolution of functions and content;
▪ Making the decision about whether the website should be multi-lingual early on is
important as it is difficult to add a language functionality at a later stage. Adding an
additional language on a website that is already multilingual is not as problematic; and
▪ The chosen CMS should be straightforward to use but the final choice should reflect the
uses of the platform including the languages available30
.
Other useful learning for the process of development appears to be:
30DG EAC should discuss website architecture with DG DIGIT as we understand that DG DIGIT has a strong
preference for using content management system “Documentum” for the set-up of their websites.
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▪ Potential users can test and provide feedback on the website as a whole, as well as for
each new feature;
▪ Testers should represent the demographic of the target group; this should include staff of
small adult education providers, older workers and staff with limited experience of online
portals;
▪ Build in means of monitoring, such as counting downloads of resources, at the outset so
that outputs can be measured and evaluated;
▪ A WAI Level A accessibility requirement should be met at the outset; and
▪ EPALE could potentially use the LRE resource hosting platform rather than create one
from scratch.
3.5.3 Maintenance and management
The experience of other platforms tells us a little about the costs for maintenance and
management as well as considerations in relation to contracting and specifying these
activities.Useful learning for EPALE appears to be:
▪ Most have included maintenance and management with continuing development and
have flexible contracts (3-6 years) to enable priorities to be agreed between client and
contractor on a regular basis;
▪ Costs of maintenance and management are not always distinguished from other related
activities (such as dissemination, organisation of events, developing content, editing/
reviewing new content, organisation of training activities and delivery of training) but it is
not generally believed to be necessary to separate them contractually;
▪ Functions tend to increase management costs more than features though both need
active management if they are to be useful to large numbers of target users. Activemanagement ranges from developing and commissioning new material to exploiting
content (editing and disseminating) and targeting potential users;
▪ Most have specified these additional activities partly to ensure that content is up to date
and functionality is enhanced and partly to make the content relevant and useful or to
increase and maintain take up;
▪ Costs range from €250K to several millions a year but these seem to be related to scale
and the extent of roles and responsibilities;
▪ Several have networks as well as a contractor with the network members (in Member
States) required to do local dissemination and to produce local material;
▪
Most have contracted out the work but a few have in-house teams undertaking some of the active dissemination and updating of content, for example, in addition to contract
management; one has several contractors with different responsibilities but
acknowledges that this requires coordination; and
▪ Some successfully use panels or groups of users to check new materials and propose
content.
3.5.4 Features and functions
The experience of other platforms tells us a little about the development and management of
specific features and functionalities.
Useful learning for EPALE’s potential features and functions appears to be:
▪ A critical mass of users is needed for some functions, such as partner tools and
discussion forums, to be viable. Discussion forums can generally only flourish when a
website has become established or has developed a community of users who have
established relationships at events or visits;
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▪ The various school partner finding tools support the creation of virtual professional
networks and exchanges by enabling the sharing of information and resources;
▪ Many functions enable a legacy from events, exchanges and visits to be built because
they will bring in other users of the knowledge and understanding gained;
▪ Content such as materials for teaching and ‘good practice’ need to have search functions
and ought to have editorial controls and quality standards if they are to be useful;
▪ Discussion forums, online communities and ask an expert functions need active
management too if they are to be used and provided resources for other users;
▪ Some features and functions are already available through other means (such as E-
partnership space) or existing websites (such as Infonet); and
▪ Some features are available on websites in some Member States and in some
languages. Examples of national websites offering resources for teachers are the
Norwegian Agency for Lifelong Learning http://www.vox.no and the Association of
Austrian Adult Education Centres http://www.vhs.or.at.
3.5.5 Dissemination
The experience of other platforms tells us a little about the effective means to inform and
engage users in a platform and in using specific functions. Useful learning for EPALE’s
potential features and functions appears to be:
▪ A ‘have to use’ or ‘must use’ feature can increase usage though neither necessarily bring
users to all other features and functions;
▪ This needs to be supplemented by SEO and active dissemination. Most of the platforms
demonstrate that active management and dissemination increase use and can
significantly increase take up of features/functions such as downloadable teaching
materials, partner finding tools and discussion forums;
▪ Some activities bring in users, such as regular e-newsletters and RSS feeds;
▪ Rewards and quality marks for active participation are appreciated and may support
active contributions from users; and
▪ There are mixed views about registering and restricting access and having open access;
some of the most successful have open access.
3.5.6 Languages
The experience of other platforms tells us that:
▪ The languages available for resources bring in new users but also restrict users to the
languages they can work in;▪ While the use of plain English will help (which then requires editorial control and
guidance), some features, such as resources, benefit considerably from being translated;
▪ The cost of translation depends on the scale of translation required; those providing
material in six or more languages only translate the material which is centrally generated
or for some features/functions; and
▪ This can be supplemented by translation on request and machine translation software
availability.
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4 Assessment of features and functionalities
In this chapter there is a systematic assessment of each of the potential features and
functionalities of the proposed platform and a consideration of languages.
The following guidance was used to rate each of the features/functions (High/Medium/Low):
Contribution: this is the extent they contribute to the likely future Commission’s programme
aims and targets through the knowledge, skills and abilities they would be expected to
increase.
Gap: this is the extent that there is not suitable electronic information available across the
Member States.
Target groups: this is the extent that all the target groups will make use of the information or
function; it should indicate if there is greater value to specific groups.
Achievement: this takes into consideration the ease of development (tried and tested) and
the ability to make it work effectively learning from others’ practice (HIGH is therefore the
easiest to achieve).
Cost of development: this should reflect difficulty to achieve an effective resource; if it can
be achieved by linkage to an existing function/feature then the costs will be lower. As a guide
LOW is under €100K euro; MEDIUM €100-€500K; HIGH over €500K.
Net cost of management and maintenance: this is the cost to achieve an effective
resource on an annual basis netted by any savings achievable elsewhere; costs should
include dissemination; LOW, MEDIUM AND HIGH as above.
Overall rating: a judgement of the average rating for columns 1-4/columns 5-6.
4.1 Assessment of features
Tables 4.1 has an assessment of each of the potential features. It is clear that some featurescould have a relatively bigger contribution to the aims and objectives of the Commission’s
future programme for adult learning and the achievement of EU2020 than others, such as
news and a library of documents. Good practice in the delivery of adult learning and
information about events and learning opportunities should increase the number of
beneficiaries by widening audiences and increasing the sharing of good practice that should
be expected to enhance the quality of teaching in adult learning.
By and large the features proposed can be found from other sources at least in some
Member States. Some though are more likely to fill a bigger gap in potential users’
knowledge than others because of what is currently available and how accessible it is.
Information on funding and awards is already available and accessible whereas some
information on good practice is available but not accessible. Other information, such as
about events, is only available in some countries.Some features could have a higher value to target groups than others. The highest in terms
of range of groups and size of groups would be good practice in the delivery of adult learning
and the calendar of events. There is a low rating for a library of documents and good
practice on adult education policy because it is less likely to be widely used.
Most of the features could be developed to meet needs with little risk though the ability of
several to work effectively would be dependent on the design and extent of management
support provided. These include good practice in the development of adult learning and the
news and calendar features.
Development costs are generally not high for features. The exception is probably the library
of documents. Management and maintenance would be relatively higher for some such as
good practice, because they need tagging, moderation and translation to be effectively used.
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Table 4.1 Assessment of Features
Feature Type Contributionto European Agenda for
AdultLearning and“Erasmus for
All”programme
Gap inelectronicinformation
being filled
Potential value totarget groups
of user
Likeliness of successfully achieving
value/fillinggap
Cost of development
Net cost formanagementand
maintenance
Good practice
on the delivery
of adult
education
High: potential
to improve the
quality and
efficiency of
adult education
and lifelong
learning
system and to
adopt new and
effective
practices and
systems
High: no other
comprehensive
and definitive
source of
information
(although
national bodies
provide for
some countries
but not all)
High: most
valuable to
learning
providers.
Medium:
collecting
examples of
practice is
straightforward;
assessing what
is “best”, what
can “travel well”
and
communicating
practice
effectively is
challenging.
Low: cost of
assembling a
network of
experts is low;
low technical
costs (requires
effective search
and tagging
function).
Medium: most
effective if
content is
provided
professionally
translated – this
is costly.
Good practice
on adult
education
policy
High: potential
to contribution
to policy
dialogue and
mutual learning
and support to
open method of
coordination ;
potential to
improve
knowledge
base and
monitoring in
the AE sector
Medium:
Infonet partly
provided this
service up to
September
2011; some
information also
available
through EPEA
and other
organisations.
High: most
useful to
policymakers,
representative
organisations
and
researchers/
academics.
Medium:
reporting
practice is
straightforward;
assessing what
is “best”, what
can “travel well”
and
communicating
practice
effectively is
challenging.
Low: Low set-
up and
technical costs
(requires
effective search
and tagging
function).
Low: Infonet’s
experience
suggests that
system of
reporters can
provide this at
low cost.
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Feature Type Contributionto European Agenda for
AdultLearning and
“Erasmus for All”programme
Gap inelectronicinformation
being filled
Potential value totarget groups
of user
Likeliness of successfully achieving
value/fillinggap
Cost of development
Net cost formanagementand
maintenance
Funding and
awards
information
Medium:
should enable
learning
providers (and
potentially
teaching staff
and learners) to
access
opportunities
Medium: NAs
currently
provide this
information
effectively to
existing
network of
contacts; gap
for AE may be
higher under
Erasmus for All
Medium: most
useful for
learning
providers.
Medium:
Information can
be easily
provided and
communicated;
requires
collection of
information
from EC,
national and
other sources.
Low: Low start-
up and
technical costs.
RSS feed
should be
integrated (this
is not costly).
Low: collation
and
communication
of information is
easy to achieve
once the
information
sources have
been identified;
NAs currently
provideinformation in
home
languages.
Adult education
news
Low: Not
essential in
meeting
programme
aims but could
be useful in
raising profile of
AE.
Medium:
Infonet (until
September
2011) and
some national
websites
provide this
information.
Medium: useful
– to some
extent - for all
identified target
groups.
Medium:
identifying what
news is most
interesting to
the audience is
challenging.
Low: Low start-
up and
technical costs.
RSS feed
should be
integrated (this
is not costly).
Low: Infonet’s
experience
suggests that
system of
reporters can
provide this at
low cost.
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Feature Type Contributionto European Agenda for
AdultLearning and
“Erasmus for All”programme
Gap inelectronicinformation
being filled
Potential value totarget groups
of user
Likeliness of successfully achieving
value/fillinggap
Cost of development
Net cost formanagementand
maintenance
Calendar of
events
High: potential
to improve
quality and
efficiency of
education and
training through
facilitating
mobility of staff,
policy makers
and other
stakeholders.
Medium:
information
provided
through other
websites –
however it is
spread between
too many
locations.
High: useful to
all identified
target groups;
most useful
feature to
learning
providers in
survey.
Medium:
challenging to
overcome risk
of providing too
much or too
little
information.
Low: Low set-
up and
technical costs
(requires
effective
system of
search/tag; ical
facility
incorporated).
Medium: some
coordination
costs; some
moderation
costs required if
users are
allowed to
upload/suggest
own events.
Learning
opportunities
for staff in
European
countries
High: potential
improvement
quality and
capacity of
adult learning
sector
workforce
leading to
improvements
in quality and
efficiency.
Medium:
Comenius/Grun
dtvig Training
Database and
NAs provide
limited
information
already – this is
difficult to
navigate at the
moment.
High: most
useful to
learning
providers (as
identified in
survey).
Medium:
EPALE would
raise visibility /
awareness of
opportunities
(although some
information
already
presented
elsewhere)
Low: Low set-
up and
technical costs
(design needs
to improve on
current Training
Database)
Medium: Low
maintenance
costs; some
moderation
costs required if
users can
upload own
events; some
translation
costs.
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Feature Type Contributionto European Agenda for
AdultLearning and
“Erasmus for All”programme
Gap inelectronicinformation
being filled
Potential value totarget groups
of user
Likeliness of successfully achieving
value/fillinggap
Cost of development
Net cost formanagementand
maintenance
Library of
documents on
adult education
Low: no direct
contribution to
agenda or
programme;
possibility of
indirect
contribution e.g.
documents for
policymakers.
Medium: users
requiring this
information
most likely to
use internet
search engines
to identify exact
information; no
comprehensive
database
exists.
Low: of some
value but users
actively seeking
information
likely to find it
through internet
search engines.
Medium:
providing this
feature is not
challenging to
achieve.
Medium:
considerable
resources
required initially
to populate
library and
categorize, low
technical costs
(effective
search and tag
facilityrequired).
Low: some
maintenance
costs; some
management /
moderation
costs required if
users can
upload own
resources.
Catalogue of
useful links /
bookmarks on
adult education
Low: no direct
contribution to
agenda or
programme;
possibility of
indirect
contribution e.g.
documents for
policymakers.
Medium: no
comprehensive
database
currently exists;
users likely to
find required
information
through internet
search engines.
Medium:
potential value
to all target
groups.
Medium:
catalogue can
easily be
provided.
Low: some
initial start-up
costs; Low
technical costs.
Low: some
ongoing
maintenance of
links required.
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Feature Type Contributionto European Agenda for
AdultLearning and
“Erasmus for All”programme
Gap inelectronicinformation
being filled
Potential value totarget groups
of user
Likeliness of successfully achieving
value/fillinggap
Cost of development
Net cost formanagementand
maintenance
Feature Type Contributionto European Agenda for
AdultLearning and“Erasmus for
All”programme
Gap inelectronicinformation
being filled
Potential value totarget groups
of user
Likeliness of successfully achieving
value/fillinggap
Cost of development
Net cost formanagementand
maintenance
Good practice
on the deliveryof adult
education
High: potential
to improve thequality and
efficiency of
adult education
and lifelong
learning
system and to
adopt new and
effective
practices and
systems
High: no other
comprehensiveand definitive
source of
information
(although
national bodies
provide for
some countries
but not all)
High: most
valuable tolearning
providers.
Medium:
collectingexamples of
practice is
straightforward;
assessing what
is “best”, what
can “travel well”
and
communicating
practice
effectively is
challenging.
Low: cost of
assembling anetwork of
experts is low;
low technical
costs (requires
effective search
and tagging
function).
Medium: most
effective if content is
provided
professionally
translated – this
is costly.
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Feasibility of EPALE
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Feature Type Contributionto European Agenda for
AdultLearning and
“Erasmus for All”programme
Gap inelectronicinformation
being filled
Potential value totarget groups
of user
Likeliness of successfully achieving
value/fillinggap
Cost of development
Net cost formanagementand
maintenance
Good practice
on adult
education
policy
High: potential
to contribution
to policy
dialogue and
mutual learning
and support to
open method of
coordination ;
potential to
improve
knowledgebase and
monitoring in
the AE sector
Medium:
Infonet partly
provided this
service up to
September
2011; some
information also
available
through EPEA
and other
organisations.
High: most
useful to
policymakers,
representative
organisations
and
researchers/
academics.
Medium:
reporting
practice is
straightforward;
assessing what
is “best”, what
can “travel well”
and
communicating
practice
effectively ischallenging.
Low: Low set-
up and
technical costs
(requires
effective search
and tagging
function).
Low: Infonet’s
experience
suggests that
system of
reporters can
provide this at
low cost.
Funding and
awards
information
Medium:
should enable
learning
providers (and
potentially
teaching staff
and learners) to
access
opportunities
Medium: NAs
currently
provide this
information
effectively to
existing
network of
contacts; gap
for AE may be
higher under Erasmus for All
Medium: most
useful for
learning
providers.
Medium:
Information can
be easily
provided and
communicated;
requires
collection of
information
from EC,
national andother sources.
Low: Low start-
up and
technical costs.
RSS feed
should be
integrated (this
is not costly).
Low: collation
and
communication
of information is
easy to achieve
once the
information
sources have
been identified;
NAs currentlyprovide
information in
home
languages.
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Feasibility of EPALE
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Feature Type Contributionto European Agenda for
AdultLearning and
“Erasmus for All”programme
Gap inelectronicinformation
being filled
Potential value totarget groups
of user
Likeliness of successfully achieving
value/fillinggap
Cost of development
Net cost formanagementand
maintenance
Adult education
news
Low: Not
essential in
meeting
programme
aims but could
be useful in
raising profile of
AE.
Medium:
Infonet (until
September
2011) and
some national
websites
provide this
information.
Medium: useful
– to some
extent - for all
identified target
groups.
Medium:
identifying what
news is most
interesting to
the audience is
challenging.
Low: Low start-
up and
technical costs.
RSS feed
should be
integrated (this
is not costly).
Low: Infonet’s
experience
suggests that
system of
reporters can
provide this at
low cost.
Calendar of events
High: potentialto improve
quality and
efficiency of
education and
training through
facilitating
mobility of staff,
policy makers
and other
stakeholders.
Medium:information
provided
through other
websites –
however it is
spread between
too many
locations.
High: useful toall identified
target groups;
most useful
feature to
learning
providers in
survey.
Medium:challenging to
overcome risk
of providing too
much or too
little
information.
Low: Low set-up and
technical costs
(requires
effective
system of
search/tag; ical
facility
incorporated).
Medium: somecoordination
costs; some
moderation
costs required if
users are
allowed to
upload/suggest
own events.
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Feature Type Contributionto European Agenda for
AdultLearning and
“Erasmus for All”programme
Gap inelectronicinformation
being filled
Potential value totarget groups
of user
Likeliness of successfully achieving
value/fillinggap
Cost of development
Net cost formanagementand
maintenance
Learning
opportunities
for staff in
European
countries
High: potential
improvement
quality and
capacity of
adult learning
sector
workforce
leading to
improvements
in quality and
efficiency.
Medium:
Comenius/Grun
dtvig Training
Database and
NAs provide
limited
information
already – this is
difficult to
navigate at the
moment.
High: most
useful to
learning
providers (as
identified in
survey).
Medium:
EPALE would
raise visibility /
awareness of
opportunities
(although some
information
already
presented
elsewhere)
Low: Low set-
up and
technical costs
(design needs
to improve on
current Training
Database)
Medium: Low
maintenance
costs; some
moderation
costs required if
users can
upload own
events; some
translation
costs.
Library of
documents on
adult education
Low: no direct
contribution to
agenda or
programme;
possibility of
indirect
contribution e.g.
documents for
policymakers.
Medium: users
requiring this
information
most likely to
use internet
search engines
to identify exact
information; no
comprehensive
database
exists.
Low: of some
value but users
actively seeking
information
likely to find it
through internet
search engines.
Medium:
providing this
feature is not
challenging to
achieve.
Medium:
considerable
resources
required initially
to populate
library and
categorize, low
technical costs
(effective
search and tag
facility
required).
Low: some
maintenance
costs; some
management /
moderation
costs required if
users can
upload own
resources.
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Feature Type Contributionto European Agenda for
AdultLearning and
“Erasmus for All”programme
Gap inelectronicinformation
being filled
Potential value totarget groups
of user
Likeliness of successfully achieving
value/fillinggap
Cost of development
Net cost formanagementand
maintenance
Catalogue of
useful links /
bookmarks on
adult education
Low: no direct
contribution to
agenda or
programme;
possibility of
indirect
contribution e.g.
documents for
policymakers.
Medium: no
comprehensive
database
currently exists;
users likely to
find required
information
through internet
search engines.
Medium:
potential value
to all target
groups.
Medium:
catalogue can
easily be
provided.
Low: some
initial start-up
costs; Low
technical costs.
Low: some
ongoing
maintenance of
links required.
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68
As a consequence the assessment suggests that most of the features are low cost/low risk
except a library of documents. Most though would have a relatively low impact. The
exceptions are the calendar, learning opportunities for staff and the selection of goodpractice on policy and the delivery of adult education. This indicates that a website which is
not interactive will not have a significant impact though it would be easier and less costly to
develop and maintain. It also indicates that to have a greater impact the costs of maintaining
some of these features would be greater.
4.2 Assessment of functionalities
Table 4.2 below has an assessment of each of the potential functions.
It is clear that some functions could have a relatively bigger contribution to the Commission’s
future programme for adult learning. Resources for teaching and managing adult education
and on-line training should contribute to enhancing the quality of teaching and enlarging the
potential beneficiaries of resources to widen innovation in formal and non-formal learning. E-partnering tool should help to broaden the scope of partnerships and cooperation in
developing innovation and good practice if the experience of the schools tool is any guide to
inspire such activities. Functions like discussion forums and “Ask an Expert” are less likely to
have any such direct or widespread impact.
By and large none of the functions are widely available or accessible across Member States
for adult learning. But there are greater gaps in relation to some than others. For example,
there is no partner finding tool or resources for teaching and staff training except in a few
countries, nor an on-line members’ community.
Some functions could have a higher value to target groups than others. This is particularly
evident with the partner finding tool, resources and the on-line training sessions. A
discussion forum and on-line members’ community would have a low value because thebenefits are not so clear to adult learning providers and policy makers.
All of the functions can be developed to meet needs with little risk though the ability of
functions, such as the partner finding tool, resources and on-line training resources to have
an effective impact would be more challenging. These as the experience of other platforms
shows would require good design and management support to tag and moderate material,
provide translations and , in the case of the partner finding tool, a critical mass of users.
Development costs are higher than for features. Save for the discussion forum and ask an
expert they are each over €100K. Management and maintenance costs are also relatively
higher because teaching and training resources and a partner finding tool need to have
active management (moderation, dissemination and translation).
As a consequence, the assessment suggests that several of the low cost functions wouldhave lower impacts, such as the discussion forum and ask an expert. Those with the higher
impacts tend to have higher costs: partner finding tool, resources for teachers and staff
training, and training sessions/e-learning. In between are the e-partnership spaces,
resources for managers and the online members’ community which have relatively high
costs but lower impacts.
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Table 4.2 Assessment of Functions
Function
Type
Contribution to
European Agenda for
Adult Learningand “Erasmusfor All”programme
Gap in
electronicinformation
being filled
Potential
value totarget
groups of user
Likeliness of
successfully achieving
value/filling gap
Cost of
development
Net co
managand
mainte
Partner
finding tool
High: key to
encouraging
cooperation and
partnerships for
innovation and
good practices,
key in enabling the
adult education
sector to engage
and participate invirtual mobility.
High: some NAs
and other large
organisations
have their own
databases but
they are out of
date and not
comprehensive.
High: most
useful to
learning
providers; also
valued by NAs
because will
make their
current roles
easier.
Medium: requires
critical mass of
organisations
signing-up to
encourage
sustained use of
tool.
Medium:
CORDIS’s
experience
suggests technical
costs may be
around €300,000;
dissemination
commitment
required (to
encourage criticalmass of users to
create profile at
early stage);
SALTO estimates
under €10,000.
Medium
mainten
modera
dissem
(active
encoura
users to
profile)
require
consideresourc
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FunctionType
Contribution toEuropean Agenda for
Adult Learningand “Erasmus
for All”programme
Gap inelectronicinformation
being filled
Potential value totarget
groups of user
Likeliness of successfully achieving
value/filling gap
Cost of development
Net comanagand
mainte
Resources
for teaching /
teachers
High: very useful
in enabling
adopting of
innovation and
good practice to
improve the quality
and efficiency of
AE education and
training; resources
on particular topics
could aid
promoting of equity, social
cohesion and
active citizenship.
High: some
material available
through national
ministries and
other national
bodies in some
countries but
provision not
comprehensive;
some material
available on
OpenEducational
Resources but
hard to find.
High: most
useful to
learning
providers.
Medium: risk that
adult learning
teachers will not
take up resources
due to lack of
language skills,
technical capacity
or time
constraints.
Medium: initial
commitment of
resources required
to collect and
categorize existing
material; cost of
translation high;
cost of subtitling
technology for
videos may be
required.
Medium
cost of t
high; so
modera
users c
own ma
and/or c
some
dissem
costs if
to be en
to post materia
Resources
for managers
High: very useful
in enabling
adopting of
innovation and
good practice to
improve the quality
and efficiency of
AE education and
training;
Medium: some
material already
available
elsewhere
through
Grundtvig
networks and, in
some countries,
through national
bodies.
High: most
useful to
learning
providers.
Medium: need to
be pitched at
appropriate level;
language and
technical capacity
may be an issue.
Medium: initial
commitment of
resources required
to collect and
categorize existing
material; cost of
translation high.
Medium
cost of t
high; so
modera
users c
own ma
and/or c
some
dissem
costs if to be en
to post
materia
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FunctionType
Contribution toEuropean Agenda for
Adult Learningand “Erasmus
for All”programme
Gap inelectronicinformation
being filled
Potential value totarget
groups of user
Likeliness of successfully achieving
value/filling gap
Cost of development
Net comanagand
mainte
Resources
for staff
training
High: potential
improvement
quality and
capacity of adult
learning sector
workforce leading
to improvements in
quality and
efficiency.
High: some
provision by
national bodies
and through LLP
funded activities;
no definitive
and/or
comprehensive
source of this
material exists
currently.
High: most
useful to
learning
providers.
Medium: risk that
adult learning
teachers will not
take up resources
due to lack of
language skills,
technical capacity
or time
constraints.
Medium: initial
commitment of
resources required
to collect and
categorize existing
material; cost of
translation high.
Medium
cost of t
high; so
modera
users c
own ma
and/or c
some
dissem
costs if
to be en
to post materia
Discussion
forum
Low: may be
useful in
encouraging
cooperation about
learning providers;
unlikely to lead to
formation of new
sustainable or
strategic
partnerships.
Medium: some
opportunities
available
currently through
some LLP project
websites and
informal networks
such as
groups.
Low: survey
responses
gave the
lowest rating
least required
feature
according to e-
survey.
Low: other
platforms’
experiences
suggest that
forums require
resources for
animation and
prior face-to-face
contact to be
effective.
Low: low technical
costs; initial
dissemination
costs required but
these are likely to
be low.
Low: re
needed
encoura
to partic
some m
costs.
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FunctionType
Contribution toEuropean Agenda for
Adult Learningand “Erasmus
for All”programme
Gap inelectronicinformation
being filled
Potential value totarget
groups of user
Likeliness of successfully achieving
value/filling gap
Cost of development
Net comanagand
mainte
Online
members’
community
Medium: some
potential in
encouraging
cooperation and
partnerships for
innovation and
good practices,
potential to enable
AE sector to
engage in virtual
mobility
High: no
definitive online
community for
the sector (some
activity on
Facebook but
scattered).
Low: unclear
what benefits
participation
would bring to
users directly
(rather to the
community as
a whole).
Medium: Risk that
users will not
participate;
participation could
be promoted
through “events”,
prizes and
competitions.
Medium:
Dissemination
commitment
required (to
encourage critical
mass of users to
create profile at
early stage)
Medium
mainten
modera
dissem
(active
encoura
particip
to requi
conside
resourc
Ask an
Expert
Low: some
potential to
encourage take up
of innovative and
best practice and
improve the quality
and efficiency of
the sector.
Medium: some
advice on
available in some
countries through
national bodies
and on various
internet sites.
Medium:
potential value
to all user
groups
(however,
experts should
be targeted to
specific user
group needs)
Low: providing
this information is
not challenging to
achieve, risk that
users will not
engage with the
feature.
Low: some initial
costs to establish
network of experts;
low technical
costs.
Medium
mainten
manage
costs; s
translat
dissem
required
is to be
used.
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FunctionType
Contribution toEuropean Agenda for
Adult Learningand “Erasmus
for All”programme
Gap inelectronicinformation
being filled
Potential value totarget
groups of user
Likeliness of successfully achieving
value/filling gap
Cost of development
Net comanagand
mainte
EPartnership
Space
High: key in
encouraging
cooperation and
partnerships for
innovation and
good practices,
key in enabling the
adult education
sector to engage
and participate in
virtual mobility.
Medium:
function itself
already provided
through other
sources (e.g.
Yahoo / Google
groups and or
email) – however
not tailored for
use of adult
learning
providers.
Medium: most
valuable to
learning
providers who
participate in
LLP funded
activities in the
first instance;
potential value
to learning
providers if
virtualpartnerships
are enabled.
Low: works in
schools through
eTwinning (but
dependent on
extensive network
of offline resource
such as national
support network)
however lower
technical capacity
and opportunities
in AE; will notwork
spontaneously.
Medium:
considerable
resources required
creating user-
friendly shared
space, testing it
and providing
guidance to users;
incorporating
translation
technology may
increase cost.
Medium
support
likely to
required
dissem
costs w
needed
encoura
up.
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FunctionType
Contribution toEuropean Agenda for
Adult Learningand “Erasmus
for All”programme
Gap inelectronicinformation
being filled
Potential value totarget
groups of user
Likeliness of successfully achieving
value/filling gap
Cost of development
Net comanagand
mainte
Online
Training
sessions /
Elearning
Space /
Virtual
Classroom
High: potential to
encourage take up
of innovative and
best practice and
improve the quality
and efficiency of
the sector,
potential to
improve
knowledge base in
AE, useful in
enabling AE sector to participate in
virtual mobility.
Medium: some
e-training
available through
other sources
such as existing
and old
Grundtvig
projects, national
initiatives and
private providers
of CPD for adult
learning staff.
High: high
potential value
to all target
groups
(especially for
staff who
cannot commit
time and funds
to face-to-face
training).
Medium: risk of
low take-up
because of lack of
technical capacity
in the AE sector.
Medium: cost of
technical set-up
high, testing
required to ensure
e-training session
“works” for users;
investment in
automating
translation should
be considered.
Medium
costs of
develop
deliverin
training
costs of
and diss
of traini
conside
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4.3 Assessment of languages
Table 4.3 and Table 4.4 below have an assessment of the options for language provision.
Each of the features and functions is considered against the impact on reaching the target
group intended to arrive at a rating. Generally the costs and impacts rise for each feature or
function as the number of languages increases.
It is clear that some features have a significantly lower impact if they are only available in
English than if they are available in the six major languages or 25 languages. This includes
good practice in the delivery of adult learning and information on funding and awards.
For some features there are fewer significant gains with the availability of other languages,
such as the calendar of events and for some there are fewer significant gains in having the
25 languages professionally translated, such as adult education news, because this would
introduce delays and short pieces of information would not bring large benefits if translated.
With the functions too, it is clear that the availability of information in more languages will
increase impacts because it will enable resources to be shared and used across language
barriers. This is clear from the survey and the experience of other platforms; but it will be
costly.
With functions such as a discussion forum or ask an expert, English would be more practical.
Table 4.3 Assessment of Language Options - Features
Feature English only Six MajorLanguages (EN,FR, DE, ES, PL,
IT)
25 Languages: AutomatedMachine
Translation
25 Languages:ProfessionalTranslation
Good practice
on the delivery
of adult
education
Low: target audience
(learning providers)
unlikely to benefit
because of nature of content (complex,
nuanced, lengthy
text).
Medium: large
share of learning
providers able to use
feature – likely tomiss many who only
speak smaller
languages.
Medium: content
meaning may be lost
by machine translation
reducing usefulness.
High: identified to be
the most important
feature to have in own
language in the survey;relatively easy to
arrange translation of
coherent sections of
text.
Good practice
on adult
education
policy
Medium: target
audience (policy
makers, academics,
researchers) likely to
be able to use feature.
High: likely to be
effectively used by
large majority of
target audience.
Medium: content
meaning may be lost
by machine translation
reducing potential use
of feature.
High: complete
coverage of potential
audience; relatively
easy to arrange
translation of coherent
sections of text.
Funding and
awards
information
Low: majority of target
audience (learning
providers) unlikely tobenefit because of
nature of content
(complex, nuanced,
detail text).
Medium: target
audiences in smaller
countries (learningproviders) unlikely to
benefit; translations
already likely to be
provided by NAs.
Medium: content
meaning (complexity,
details) may be lost bymachine translation
reducing usefulness.
High: information in
own language rated
highly in survey;translations already
available through NAs.
Adult education
news
Medium: short,
ephemeral information
in English likely to be
adequate for majority
of target audience.
Medium: greater
coverage of target
audience; added
complexity of
arranging
translations.
High: short,
ephemeral information
– meaning likely to be
adequately translated
for the purpose.
Medium: complete
coverage for user
group; length of time
required to arrange
translations may mean
that news becomes old
news.
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Calendar of
events
Medium: short,
ephemeral information
– target audience
likely to be able to
understand broad
meaning and useinformation.
High: greater
coverage of target
audience; may be
complicated and
cumbersome to
arrange and managetranslation of very
short pieces of text.
High: short,
ephemeral information
– meaning likely to be
adequately translated
for the purpose; needs
to be incorporated inthe design of feature.
Medium: complete
coverage; may be
complicated and
cumbersome to
arrange and manage
translation of very shortpieces of text.
Learning
opportunities
for staff in
European
countries
Medium: most
opportunities likely to
require knowledge of
other language,
usually EN.
High: most
opportunities likely
to require knowledge
of other language;
likely to meet needs
of target audience.
High: automated
translation likely to
enhance usage by
target group.
High: complete
coverage; complexity of
management system
depends on format of
information.
Library of
documents on
adult education
Medium: Documents
provided in English or
original language in
which they are written – complex content
may not be useful to
target audience.
Medium: majority of
users likely to use
feature – high costs
of translating alldocuments).
Medium: content
meaning (complexity,
details) may be lost by
machine translationreducing usefulness –
although mother
tongue readers should
be able to ascertain
key points of text.
Medium: complete
coverage; cost and
complexity of
translating alldocuments likely to be
very costly.
Summary of
document and
link to
document in
original
language
(Library of
documents)
Medium: Although
summary will be more
accessible than full-
document it is likely
that many users will
not be able to access
complex content.
Requires resources toproduce summary.
High: Majority of
users likely to use
feature – requires
resource to read
document and
produce summary.
Medium: content
meaning (complexity,
details) may be lost by
machine translation
reducing usefulness –
although mother
tongue readers should
be able to ascertainkey points of text. Still
requires resources to
produce summary.
High: lower cost than
providing translation of
entire document, likely
to be sufficient for most
users. Requires
resource to produce
summary.
Catalogue of
useful links /
bookmarks on
adult education
Medium: majority of
users should be able
to access bookmarks
(which will not be
translated in all
languages).
High: Only website
infrastructure
requires translating,
this is easy to
achieve.
High: Only website
infrastructure requires
translating, this is
easy to achieve.
High: Only website
infrastructure requires
translating, this is easy
to achieve.
Table 4.4 Assessment of Language Options - Functions
Function English only Six MajorLanguages (EN,
FR, DE, ES, PL,IT)
25 Languages: Automated
MachineTranslation
25 Languages:Professional
Translation
Partner finding
tool
Medium: survey users
indicate that this is
function this most
useful in their own
language; however
nature of content
(short text) should
allow most users to
navigate and use tosome extent.
Low: greater
coverage; may be
complicated and
cumbersome to
arrange and manage
translation of very
short pieces of text /
dynamic content.
High: rated as most
important function to
be provided in own
language in survey,
automated translation
could render meaning
of short text useful for
the purpose of the
jobs; needs to beincorporated into
design of tool.
Medium: complete
coverage; may be
complicated and
cumbersome to
arrange and manage
translation of very short
pieces of text.
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Function English only Six MajorLanguages (EN,FR, DE, ES, PL,
IT)
25 Languages: AutomatedMachine
Translation
25 Languages:ProfessionalTranslation
Resources for teaching /
teachers
Medium: Resourcesprovided in English or
original language in
which they are written
– complex content
may not be useful to
target audience.
Medium: majority of users likely to use
feature – high costs
of translating all
resources.
High: Summary of
resources offered in
6 languages (Could
be further enhanced
with request for
translations as
offered by Scientix).
Medium: contentmeaning (complexity,
details) may be lost by
machine translation
reducing usefulness –
although mother
tongue readers should
be able to ascertain
key points of text.
Medium: completecoverage; cost and
complexity of
translating all
resources likely to be
very costly.
Medium: summary of
resources is provided
in all languages - lower
cost of translation but
requires someone to
produce summary.
(Could be further
enhanced with request
for translations asoffered by Scientix).
Resources for
managers
Medium: Resources
provided in English or
original language in
which they are written
– complex content
may not be useful to
target audience.
Medium: majority of
users likely to use
feature – high costs
of translating all
resources.
Medium: content
meaning (complexity,
details) may be lost by
machine translation
reducing usefulness –
although mother
tongue readers should
be able to ascertain
key points of text.
Medium: complete
coverage; cost and
complexity of
translating all
resources likely to be
very costly.
Resources for
staff training
Medium: Resources
provided in English or original language in
which they are written
– complex content
may not be useful to
target audience.
Medium: majority of
users likely to usefeature – high costs
of translating all
resources.
Medium: content
meaning (complexity,details) may be lost by
machine translation
reducing usefulness –
although mother
tongue readers should
be able to ascertain
key points of text.
Medium: complete
coverage; cost andcomplexity of
translating all
resources likely to be
very costly.
Discussion
forum
High: identified as
least helpful function
to be provided in own
language;
multilingualism on
forums may stiflediscussion rather than
promote it and create
“language” silos.
Low: greater
coverage; may be
complicated and
cumbersome to
arrange and manage
translation of veryshort pieces of text /
dynamic content.
Medium: this option
may enhance
experience for those
with weaker language
skills. Unclear
whether technologyfor this is available /
works.
Low: complete
coverage; may be
complicated and
cumbersome to
arrange and manage
translation of very shortpieces of text / dynamic
content.
Online
members’
community
High: multilingualism
may stifle interactions
rather than promote
them and create
“language” silos.
Low: greater
coverage; may be
complicated and
cumbersome to
arrange and manage
translation of very
short pieces of text /
dynamic content.
Medium: this option
may enhance
experience for those
with weaker language
skills. Unclear
whether technology
for this is available /
works.
Low: complete
coverage; may be
complicated and
cumbersome to
arrange and manage
translation of very short
pieces of text / dynamic
content.
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Function English only Six MajorLanguages (EN,FR, DE, ES, PL,
IT)
25 Languages: AutomatedMachine
Translation
25 Languages:ProfessionalTranslation
Ask an Expert Medium: not identifiedas a priority to be
provided in own
language in survey;
majority of users
should be able to
access information.
High: greater shareof users will be able
to access
information;
relatively easy to
arrange translation.
High: experienceenhanced by provision
of this option; allows
speakers of less
popular languages to
access information.
High: completecoverage; relatively
easy to arrange
translation.
EPartnership
Space and
Elearning
Space:
Website
architecture
only
Medium: majority of
potential
users/learners likely to
communicate in
English – should meet
needs of most users.
High: helpful to
encourage use of
tools and not difficult
to achieve.
Low: looks
unprofessional / cost
savings do not out
way benefits.
High: translation of
function architecture
only (one off rather
than ongoing cost):
helpful to encourage
use of tool and not
difficult to achieve.EPartnership
Space: partner-
generated
content only
Not applicable –
users generate own
content in language of
their choice
Low: translation of
all user generated
content is too
complex and
expensive.
Medium: capacity
within tool for
automated translation
may make e-
partnerships easier
and encourage use.
Low: translation of all
user generated content
is too complex and
expensive.
Online Training
sessions /
Elearning
Space / Virtual
Classroom:
Delivery of
Training only
Medium: only 14%
survey respondents
would participate in e-
training only in their
own language – 58%
would definitely
participate even if theyare only in English.
This option should
meet need of majority
of users.
Low: delivery of
training in six/many
languages
simultaneously: very
complex and
expensive to
achieve.
Medium: facility to
translate documents
and text (e.g.
questions by other
learners) in own
language may
enhance learningexperience for those
with weaker language
skills. Unclear
whether technology
for this is available /
works.
Low: delivery of
training in all languages
simultaneously: very
complex and expensive
to achieve.
As a consequence, the assessment suggests that for some functions to be used by their
intended users across Member States higher cost options need to be considered. This is
particularly the case with information on: good practice on adult education delivery and
policy; funding opportunities; and learning opportunities for staff. For some functions and
features, such as the library of documents and the selection of resources, there is a case for
investing in translation of the website architecture and in providing summaries of these in alllanguages. The usefulness of these could be further enhanced by offering a system of on-
demand translation (as offered by Scientix). Machine translation provides the best option for
other functions (such as the partner finding tool and the calendar).
4.4 Key messages
The assessment indicates that EPALE could significantly contribute to some of the key aims
of the adult learning agenda and the proposed Erasmus for All programme, especially to
improve the quality and extent of cooperation, widen the beneficiaries of resources produced
and to strengthen the sector by supporting innovative better quality teaching. It could also
drive transferring knowledge and expertise in the adult education field for both teaching and
raising participation and achievement both by enhancing and by expanding the opportunities
for exchanges and sharing for mutual learning and collaboration.
Principally because some of the features and functions could be expected to have a greater
impact than others and make a more significant contribution to the aims and targets of the
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adult learning agenda and the Commission’s future programme, the highest priorities should
be:
▪ Good practice on adult education policy;
▪ Partner finding tool;
▪ Resources for teaching / teachers;▪ Resources for staff training;
▪ Calendar of events;
▪ Learning opportunities for staff; and
▪ On-line training / e-learning space.
The following would only be secondary priorities:
▪ Good practice on delivering adult education;
▪ Resources for managers;
▪ Catalogue of useful links;
▪ Funding and awards information;
▪
On-line members community; and▪ E-partnership space.
And the following should not necessarily be considered for EPALE: adult education news,
library of documents, discussion forum, and Ask an Expert, unless they provided value to
any of the highest priority features and functions by increasing traffic to the platform or
providing resources to users.
The highest priority features and functions would benefit from the following arrangements for
languages:
▪ Professional translation in 25 languages:
– Good practice on adult education policy
– Learning opportunities for staff
– Summaries of resources for teaching and staff training▪ Machine translation:
– Partner finding tool
– Calendar of events
▪ English only:
– On-line training events / e-learning space.
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5 Assessment of approaches
In this chapter there is a systematic assessment of the approaches for development and
management and the choices about dissemination approaches for establishing an effective
EPALE drawing on the interviews of those responsible for other similar platforms.
5.1 Development and management
By and large platforms are developed and managed by third parties though a few have in
house staff who undertake more than contract management such as monitoring and
appraising contractors’ work. These include staff to undertake some promotion and
creation/updating of information.
Development and management activities generally fall into one of three groups. These are
described below though these would vary depending on the features and functions selected
for EPALE.
Development management and maintenance (DMM):
▪ Design of website layout (at set up stage);
▪ Establish and maintain navigation;
▪ Check usability and use; seek user feedback;
▪ Any registration service
▪ Create and upload website content;
▪ Update redundant content;
▪ Collation and categorisation of resources and uploading onto database with search
function;
▪ Manage partner-finding tool database;
▪ Manage delivery of webinars/online training (delivery likely to be provided by external
contractors);
▪ Maintain calendar of events and search function;
▪ Promotion of website through web advertising or links to similar websites;
▪ Production of newsletter;
▪ Manage social media presence (e.g. Facebook group or Twitter account);
▪ Manage and moderating forums and other user-generated content;
▪ Support users with technical problems remotely (though email or feedback forms) and
provide help desk;
▪ User training and guidance;
▪ Manage network of translators and uploading translated content (if multi-lingualism is
supported).
Resource support and development (RSD):
▪ In-house knowledge/expertise in education and adult education and/or virtual
partnerships;
▪ Production of publications and reports (e.g. research on a specific theme such as
prisoner education);
▪ Production of specialized newsletters (focusing on particular communities within adult
education, e.g. basic skills, prisons, environment etc)
▪ Identification and production of educational and partnership material (e.g. lesson plans,
teaching materials for virtual cooperation between adult education groups);
▪ Assessing good and best practice examples, producing case studies, assessing learning
tools;
▪ Organisation of European events (e.g. report launches, conferences) or other
dissemination and engagement activities (e.g European/worldwide competitions);▪ Organisation of training (both webinars and offline), including developing training
content;
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▪ Promotion of website through participation in stakeholders’ conferences and other
events; campaigns.
Network support (NS):
▪ Local presence (in each country or in regions) by establishing a physical office or
creating a National Agency (awarded through an open procurement process);
▪ Offer support to users through the provision of a helpline;
▪ Design and delivery of face-to-face training to potential users on how to access the
website;
▪ Production of locally-relevant publications (e.g. local newsletter, reports);
▪ Organise local events (e.g. conferences) or other dissemination/engagement activities
(e.g. competitions for the best shared space);
▪ Production of locally-relevant content for the website (e.g. policy update from
country/region, interviews with national stakeholders, case studies from local practice,
uploading of local events on central calendar, maintenance of local page on website);
▪ Promotion of website and its activities through participation in local events, press
releases and media engagement;▪ Promotion of website through engaging with local social media (e.g. posts on national
group Facebook page);
▪ Translation activities.
As a consequence the options are more about the scale of activity than the division of
activities between client and contractor and there are three broad options which are used by
platforms based on the groups of activities described above; though there are choices then
about the extent that single or several contractors are used. The broad options are:
Development, management and maintenance (DMM): this could be a single central
contractor with the expectation that the platform’s features and functions are operational and
effective. This would require administration, such as registering users, mediating discussion
forums and quality assuring downloadable materials, the scope and scale of which woulddepend on the features and functions selected and the extent of administration required.
DMM and resource support and development (RSD): this adds responsibility for
developing and organising activities outside the platform which would also contribute to the
platform’s broad objectives and provide material for the website’s users. This could include
organising events which would provide new materials for non-attendees or encourage new
users after the event, and/or organising competitions and searches for materials to be
available for downloading, for example. This can make up for the limited contribution which
users could be reasonably expected to make.
DMM, RSD and network support (NS): this adds responsibility for network support which
would supplement centralised DMM and RSD probably with a presence in each Member
State. This could be training in use, translation, delegated quality assurance, and obtaining
new materials. This could ensure wider participation across Member States and ensuredissemination and support was targeted to meet different Member States’ needs.
In all options dissemination activities can be included in the requirements; indeed NS is
mainly about dissemination activities.
A broad assessment of each option is set out in Table 5.1 below. Because the cost of the
options is plainly very different and the scope of each option depends on the choices of
content, functions and dissemination activities, the assessment focuses on how each option
would affect the effective development and delivery of these.
In broad terms:
▪ DMM would develop operational features and functions. Provided that development is
enhanced to cover a range of management and administration activities, it should ensurethat potential features and functions go some way to meet potential users’ needs (user
support, highlighting popular good practice downloads, coordination of forums and
calendars), the platform is promoted to attract users, and some material is translated.
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▪ RSD could significantly enhance the effectiveness and impact of many of the features
and functions as well as the extent of dissemination and support the language availability
needed by some functions. This is needed to:
– Review and moderate submitted material;
– Identify/classify material, such as resources and good practice;
– Produce newsletters, especially targeted and more sophisticated dissemination
tools;
– Provide e-training;
– Create material and encourage users with off-line activities; and
– Quality assure translated material
NS could provide a further enhancement with more focused dissemination and active
identification, collection and translation of resources.
As a consequence, the assessment suggests that most of the desired features and many of
the functions for EPALE can be delivered through the DMM option. An RSD allows for the
creation, moderation and production of new material and events so that the website can
evolve to offer a core “service” rather than function as a depository of material and
information created elsewhere. This has the potential of attracting new users to the site; aswell as generating return traffic from existing users. This is vital for many of the potential
functions. The addition of NS would allow EPALE to directly engage with the target audience
in their own country and in their own language and therefore increase the likelihood of
“community” functions being taken up. This would not be needed until the platform is
established.
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Broadoptions
Achievement of effectivefeatures
Achievement of effectivefunctions
Achievement of effective dissem
DMM,
RSD and
NS
Ability to provide “content” and
encourage users to provide
content for all features from themember state (e.g. production of
case studies, production of
summary of news and policy
developments, uploading of events
onto EPALE calendar).
Ability to tailor resources to local
needs.
Ability to organise and deliver on-lineand off-line events and training
activities.
Ability to animate, encourage and
support adult education
organisations on the ground to use
functions such as online member
community.
Enhanced dissemination activities (a
above) by enabling these to be spec
targeted to the requirements of the aeducation sectors in the member sta
Through NS, EPALE could raise awa
of its activities undertake local adver
participate in events organised in me
states and join localised Facebook g
More likely to achieve the engageme
EPALE of those adult education
organisations and staff that are not c
engaged in LLP-funded activities thro
NAs.
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5.2 Dissemination
Active management is as important as active dissemination in encouraging larger volumes of
users and active users who will participate in interactive functions. For EPALE, active
dissemination could include providing exclusive content or functionality, SEO and links to
other platforms, targeted paid advertising, targeted e-newsletters and RSS feeds, rewards
and quality marks, and social media links.
In Table 5.2 below each of these is considered against the potential scale of use by target
users and costs using a High/Medium/Low rating.
It shows that dissemination activities are necessary to increase traffic and use of potential
features and functions. Exclusive content would direct users to EPALE and potentially attract
users to other content and functions. E-newsletters can achieve similar effects though it
helps if they are targeted and have a known on-line market. SEO should not be neglected
because many people use a search engine not a site search.
Some activities would have lower impacts but could be significant supplementary
dissemination activities, such as RSS feeds, other social media and rewards. The costs of
rewards and quality marks would be relatively higher than other dissemination activities with
lower returns though they might be useful for specific functions such as teaching resources.
Table 5.2 Assessment of Dissemination Activities
Activity Scale of PotentialTraffic / Hits
Costs Overallassessment
(Scale andinverse of costs)
PotentialEPALE activity
Exclusive
content or
functionality
High: routing every
Grundtvig applicant
through EPALE would
create guaranteedaudience.
Low: requires simple
webpage to host
downloadable forms –
some additional costsin
High Application forms
(downloadable or
online)
Partner-finding tool
SEO High: many interviewees
and survey respondents
reported using search
engines to find what they
need. SEO would harness
search result clicks.
Low: has become
standard practice in
developing websites;
websites reviewed do
not report high costs.
High Whole website
Many languages
Link-ups
with other
websites /
activities
Medium: raises
awareness amongst
those already active in
European projects.
Low: requires
investment in initial
link-up; no technology
requirements.
Medium Whole website
Targeted
(paid)
advertising
Unknown: Effectivenessof Google AdWords or
other paid online
advertising for target
group not known.
Low: Google AdWords allows
setting of maximum
budget so costs can
be kept under control.
Unknown Whole websiteMany languages
Targeted e-
newsletters
High: potential users and
other websites report that
this is an effective way of
disseminating information
and generating returning
traffic.
Low: requires editor /
editorial teams.
High Whole website
Different
(thematic) sections
of the website
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Activity Scale of PotentialTraffic / Hits
Costs Overallassessment(Scale and
inverse of costs)
PotentialEPALE activity
RSS feeds Medium: used by some
potential users / some
websites report that it is
effective
Low: technology itself
is not costly – requires
uploading of
(interesting)
syndicated content.
Medium News and Articles
Funding and
Awards Updates
Reports
(potentially)
Blogs (potentially)
Rewards Medium: other websites
report that these are
effective in encouraging
participation among
similar target user groups.
Medium: partly
incorporated in
development cost of
online members’
community; requires
testing of reward
system
Low Online Members’
Community
Quality
marks
Medium: other websites
report that these provide
useful guidance to users
Medium: requires
either internal team or
panel of experts to
judge / assess
contributions.
Low Resources
uploaded by users
Virtual
Partnerships and
their products
Social media Medium: used by some
potential users; used by
similar websites with
mixed results; risk of
diverting hits away from
EPALE to other website.
Low: requires team
member to be
responsible for social
media strategy.
Medium Events
Online Training
News
Funding and
Awards updates
As a consequence this assessment suggests that creating a source of exclusive content,SEO and targeted newsletters are likely to be the most effective methods in terms of
potential to attract visitors to the site and low costs. Most dissemination activities suggested
do not carry high costs in themselves, however many rely on one or two staff members in a
RSD function contributing to this activity for a few days every month.
5.3 Key messages
The assessment suggests that most of the desired features and many of the functions for
EPALE can be delivered through the DMM option. An RSD allows for the creation,
moderation and production of new material and events so that the website can evolve to
offer a core “service” rather than function as a depository of material and information created
elsewhere. This has the potential of attracting new users to the site; as well as generating
return traffic from existing users which would be necessary for the platform to ensure acritical mass of users. The addition of NS would allow EPALE to directly engage with the
target audience in their own country and in their own language and therefore increase the
likelihood of “community” functions being taken up. Creating a source of exclusive content,
SEO and targeted e-newsletters are likely to be the most effective ways of attracting visitors
to the site at relatively low cost.
In relation to the priorities for EPALE and language provision suggested in the conclusions to
chapter 4 EPALE would require DMM and RSD in the first instance to create an adult
education learning community and ensure the functions were effectively used and met users’
needs. A RSD would also ensure that dissemination could include targeted e-newsletters
which should be one of the priorities for dissemination. NS would be a necessary
enhancement in some Member States to promote and enable use of resources and a partner
finding tool.
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6 Conclusions
The Commission expected the study to:
▪ Identify the most useful features and functionalities of EPALE;
▪ Identify the costs and benefits of such features and functionalities;
▪ Consider the models for providing EPALE and associated costs;
▪ Consider the approaches to disseminating information about EPALE; and
▪ Provide estimates of the potential costs to establish, promote and maintain EPALE.
The material set out in chapters 2 to 5 identify the most useful features and functions and the
cost benefits of each as well as the approaches to dissemination and management and
maintenance and the relative costs of these. In this final chapter the models for providing
EPALE are set out and considered.
In this chapter there is therefore a consideration of the key findings in chapters 2 and 3
against the Commission’s initial expectations of EPALE and the agenda for adult learning, as
well as the proposed programme of Erasmus for All. This is drawn together to make the case
for an EPALE. The findings of chapters 4 and 5 are then drawn on to set out some broad
options for EPALE with indications of costs over the next few years and the likely
contributions they can make to the Commission’s agenda for adult learning.
6.1 What is the case for EPALE
At the outset it was considered likely that EPALE could:
Support the process of building a European adult learning community by providing good
quality information about policy and practice and learning products from the range of
providers of non-vocational adult education;
Enhance and speed up the process of building closer cooperation, networking and
exchanges of information and people that currently largely take place through workshops
and events;
Capitalize on the results of Grundtvig projects, products and activities and those funded
by Member States by disseminating them more widely, in particular evidence of best
practice to address specific problems in adult learning; and
Support the process for developing as well as implementing European adult learning
policies.
It is clear that it could play a key role in transferring innovative and well tested practices in
teaching and training in adult learning to strengthen the adult learning sector across Europe
and create a wider learning community for mutual benefits. It could provide a sustainablenetwork for dissemination and the exploitation of knowledge and understanding to a much
wider range of beneficiaries. It would be feasible to establish the platform since the features
and functions have been developed elsewhere and it is evident that learning can be drawn
on to ensure they are developed to meet the adult learning community’s needs.
Table 6.1 below adapts a PEST analysis to summarise the findings which support the case.
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Table 6.1 The case for EPALE
Policy relevance Economically effective
The Agenda for Adult Learning includes raising
the quality of teaching and learning in adult
education; increasing the participation of adultsin learning
Erasmus for All could expect an IT support
platform to provide opportunities for peer learning
exchange, training and open resources, and
enlarging the group of beneficiaries of partner
activities and learning events
Opportunity to spread resources and practice to
less developed adult education providers to
increase availability of innovative teaching and
ways to increase participation in adult learning
especially for the low skilled and older people
Provides for open educational resources
Functions such as downloadable resources and
shared space for e-partners attract users who
would otherwise not participate in sharing andusing new materials because of the cost
New resources obtained by practitioners and
policy makers at less cost than developing them
themselves
Tools to enable cooperation and sharing provide
‘virtual mobility’ at low cost
Opportunity to exploit the legacy of resources
and materials from Grundtvig and other
programmes
Learning available about the development of
tools by other platforms with features and
functions planned for EPALE
Social benefits Technically feasible
Very high proportions of potential beneficiaries
believe they would use features and functions
Recognition by many potential beneficiaries that
it could address needs for training and better
teaching materials
Gaps in current electronic resources for adult
learning which it could fill, especially for teachingresources
Difficulties with current resources to retrieve
good practice and legacy materials
Similar platforms are operational and have
similar features and functions
Lessons can be learned from the experience of
other platforms about what works
Language translation can be carried out for
features and functions that would benefit from
being multi-lingual
As a consequence the development of a platform should be supported because it:
▪ Directly contributes to fulfilling many of the ambitions of the Agenda for Adult Learning;
▪ Fills a gap in what is generally available to increase the knowledge, understanding, skills
and competencies of adult learning providers;
▪ This is recognised by the majority of potential users;
▪ Provides cost effective means to increase sharing and use of information and resources;
▪ Could create a learning community across Europe for adult learning managers and
practitioners in particular with the remit to transfer and share resources which could
raise the quality of teaching, enhance participation, and encourage effective investment
in adult learning; and
▪ It is not a high risk in terms of technical requirements.
6.2 What are the broad options
The broad options are more about different scales of development than mutually exclusive
choices between different features and functions because the assessment points to features
and functions which should be a greater priority than others. The features and functions tobe developed in turn have implications for the management and maintenance arrangements
necessary as well as the dissemination and language requirements.
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Table 6.2 below therefore sets out the requirements and estimated costs for three scenarios.
The first focuses on the highest priority features and functions, the second a wider range of
higher priority features and functions; the third brings in some which are a lesser priority.
In grouping the package of features and functions in each option, key considerations have
been: Providing content which will provide potential users a reason to visit the website;
Reflecting on the need to provide resources and partnering opportunities when the
Grundtvig programme comes to an end in 2014;
Reflecting on the assessments in chapter 4 which highlighted the features and functions
that were the highest priority;
Considering the views of beneficiaries and other platform owners about the features and
functions most likely to make a difference, contribute to the agenda for adult learning,
and fill a gap in what is available; and
Building a critical mass of users to enable a partner finding tool to be useful.
As a consequence the first scenario groups the features and functions most likely to
contribute to the planned programme for adult learning and have an impact on its key aims.
The associated management and maintenance, dissemination and languages proposals for
each option reflect:
The degree of need for active management and dissemination;
The limited extent users are likely to be active participants and the wish to exploit
resources and materials that already exist;
The indication that multi-lingualism (25 languages) will encourage the use of shared
resources for teaching and training; and
The criticality of raising awareness and generating traffic if the e-partner finding tool is to
draw in users across the Member States.
Additionally, we assumed that the website would:
▪ Be built using a CMS which can support content in many languages;
▪ Comply with at least the A level WAI accessibility standard but aim for Triple “A”
compliance;
▪ Be suitably coded so that it can be accessible on a range of devices;
▪ Have effective security and personal data safety provisions in place; and
▪ Include a “how to” section which would offer step-by-step guidance to users on how they
can participate in the various tools.There are opportunities for collaboration with existing websites and their functions which we
have not included in our assumptions. For example, instead of creating a new database of
learning resources EPALE may wish to engage in a partnership with LRE or with Open
Education Resources31
so that adult education material is uploaded onto their existing
database. This may result in cost savings and offer the possibility of a larger, worldwide
audience for the material. However, it might also mean that adult education material is “lost”
on these larger databases among the large number of other resources that are available32
.
As a consequence the estimated costs are based around the costs of other platforms with
adjustments to take account of the scale of EPALE proposed compared to these. This is not
31 http://www.oercommons.org
32For example, Open Education Resources filters material in its database by post-secondary grade which covers
more than adult learning.
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an exact approach to costing but should indicate the relative scale of different scenarios and
their components.
It should also be noted that:
▪ Some of the annual costs (2014 onwards) could start before the launch of the platform;
for example the National Support network should be established before the website is
launched;
▪ There will be contract management costs falling on the Commission as well as a
considerable cost to lead and support development in the first two years. The former
have not been estimated; and
▪ Staffing estimates for RSD and NS have led the costing.
In considering the scenarios the Commission should balance costs against budget and what
package of features and functions will achieve its ambitions from 2014 onwards. The highest
priority scenario includes features and functions which should have the biggest impact on the
aims of the Agenda for Adult Learning. Other platforms suggest that the creation of EPALE
can be achieved by 2014.
6.3 Way ahead
Once the Commission has considered the business case made for EPALE and the features
and functions for development in the first stage if it is to go ahead, the Commission should
consider drawing on the lessons of other platforms particularly their experience in developing
and delivering similar features and functions and the challenges that have arisen in making
them effective some of which are drawn out in section 3.1. It should also make decisions
about the related packages of management and maintenance, dissemination and languages
as set out in the scenarios above and whether any opportunities for collaboration should be
explored.
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Table 6.2 Scenarios for Development
Package of features andfunctions
Languagerequirements
Disseminationrequirements
Management andsupportrequirements
Costs 1 July 2012to 31 December2013
Aa
Highest priority Good practice on
AE delivery
Good practice on
AE policy
Learning
Opportunities for
staff
Partner-finding
tool / Online
Member
Community
(integrated)
Resources for
teachers/teaching
Resources for
staff training
Calendar
25 languages for
website
architecture
(including
architecture
functions)
25 languages
professional
translation for
good practice on
delivery and
resources for
teaching / staff
training
At least 6
languages for
good practice on
policy
Newsletter
Social
bookmarking
SEO
RSS feed
(calendar +
learning
opportunities)
Networks and
partners
Reward systems
through online
member
community
DMM + RSD + NS
is the most
effective option
DMM only could
provide these
activities but
probably could not
provide
assessment of
good practice
Network of
translators in 25
languages a
necessity
Website
architecture:
€150k to €500k
depending on cost
of partner tool /
community (team
of 3-10 staff)
Development of
content:
€50k (basic
upload of material
collected) to
€200k
(categorisation
and assessment)
(team of 1-4 staff)
Testing: panel of
potential users
(est. €10-20k for
arranging
managing
feedback process)
(staff included in
above + potentialuser time)
Significant
Commission staff
team at set-up
stage,
W
(D
€
s
li
S
p
o
€
N
p
o
C
re
m
s
s
w
d
m
in
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Package of features andfunctions
Languagerequirements
Disseminationrequirements
Management andsupportrequirements
Costs 1 July 2012to 31 December2013
Aa
procurement,
deciding onlayout, content etc
(team of 2-3 part-
time staff)
High and highest
priority
As above plus:
Funding and
Awards
Resources for
Managers
Online training
As above plus:
At least 6
languages for
resources for
managers
English-only for
training (plus
automatedtranslation with
virtual classroom
environment if
possible)
As above plus:
RSS feed (funding
& new training)
(Real life
dissemination
events if NS is
established)
DMM + NS +
more substantial
RSD would be the
most effective
option to deliver
online training
As above plus:
Cost of Online
Training / VLE /
Moodle licence
Cost of
developing initial
training offer
(team of 2 staff)
W
(D
€
s
li
L
p
o
€
N
p
o
C
re
m
s
s
w
d
m
in
Medium, high and
highest priority
As above plus:
AE News
As above plus:
Summary of items
in library in 25
Real-life training
on “how to use”
partnership space
(as offered by
DMM + RSD +
NS: would be the
most effective
option in order to
Cost of
developing
epartnership
space (team of 1
C
to
€
n
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Package of features andfunctions
Languagerequirements
Disseminationrequirements
Management andsupportrequirements
Costs 1 July 2012to 31 December2013
Aa
Catalogue of links
Library of
documents
Epartnership
Space
languages
Automated
translation (if
possible) for
Epartnership
space
eTwinning.net) improve
participation ininteractive
features across
countries
– 2 staff)
Cost of coding
additional
database for
library of
documents (team
of two staff)
m
pe
s
tr
b
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Annex 1 Glossary of Technical Terms
Accessibility: Accessibility in the context of a Web site is the degree to which that Web site is usable
by people with disabilities.
Blog: short for web log, a personal journal published on the web consisting of discrete entries (called“posts) typically displayed in reverse chronological order so that the most recent post appears first.
Brute force attack: also known as exhaustive key search, is the strategy of systematically checking
all possible keys until the correct key is found to enter an encryption system.
CAPTCHA: part of a web form that attempts to ensure that the person filling out the form is indeed a
person, and not a computer. The goal of a CAPTCHA is to reduce the amount of spam received. The
term CAPTCHA is trademarked by Carnegie Mellon University and stands for Completely Automated
Public Turing test to Tell Computers and Humans Apart.
Chat bar: tool bar where web users can engage in instant text-based communication.
ColdFusion: a website application for rapid development and maintenance most often used for data
driven sites; can handle SMS and instant messaging.
Content Management System (CMS): A tool for managing content, usually on a Web site, that
separates the design, interactivity, and content from one another to make it easier for content authors
to provide content.
Cookies: A cookie on the web is a line of text that is saved to a computer's hard drive that can be
accessed and written by websites.
Cross-site scripting (XSS): A type of computer security vulnerability typically found in Web
applications that enables attackers to inject client-side script into Web pages viewed by other users.
CPD: Continuing professional development, learning by which people maintain their knowledge and
skills related to their professional lives.
Denial of service attack: An attempt to make a computer or network resource unavailable to itsintended users.
Documentum: is content management system, which allows a virtually endless repository of
documents to be build. It can be used to create a website. It is used by large companies and
organisations as content can be shared across the organisation easily.
Drupal: a free software package that allows easy organisation, management and publication of web
content. It is maintained and developed by a community of users and requires no programming skills;
some user concerns about usability and backward compatibility.
eLearning Space: page and functions on a website that allows user to participate in eLearning.
Google Adwords: words specified on the Google Advertising service which lead to the generation of
targeted advertisements on a wide range of websitesInstant message: real time direct text-based chatting communication between two or more people on
personal computers or other devices.
Intrusion testing: Also know as penetration or pen testing, a method of evaluating the security of a
computer system or network by simulating an attack from malicious outsiders (who do not have an
authorized means of accessing the organization's systems) and malicious insiders (who have some
level of authorized access).
IP address: The numerical designation of a computer attached to the Internet.
Java Server Faces (JSF): a web development application designed to simplify the development and
integration of web-based user interfaces.
Liferay: a free and open source portal written in Java to power websites; the portal enables users toset up website features.
Microsite: individual web page or a small cluster (around 1 to 7) of pages which are meant to function
as a discreet entity within an existing website or to complement an offline activity.
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Moodle: a type of VLE (see below).
Open source software: is computer software that is available in source code form, the source code
and certain other rights normally reserved for copyright holders are provided under a free software
license that permits users to study, change, improve and at times also to distribute the software.
Personal Dashboard: Web page that displays key information about every function of the websitewhere the user has participated;
RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feed: Content from one website produced on another website, It
allows readers of the website to stay informed easily about changes on that website because the
information is collected in a standard format and is readable by many different types of RSS tools and
RSS readers.
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO): the process of improving the visibility of a website or a web
page in search engines via the "natural" or un- search results.
Social bookmarking: A method for Internet users to organize, store, manage and search for
bookmarks of resources online.
Spam bot: An automated computer program designed to assist in the sending of spam. Spam botsusually create fake accounts and send spam using them, although it would be obvious that a spam bot
is sending it. Some spam bots, however, can crack passwords and send spam using other people's
accounts.
SQL injections: a form of attack to the security of a website by inputting code in a web form to get a
badly designed website to perform operations on the database (often to dump the database content to
the attacker) other than the usual operations as intended by the designer.
Tag cloud: Also known as word cloud or weighted list is a visual representation for text data, typically
used to depict keyword metadata (tags) on websites, or to visualize free form text.
Virtual Learning Environment (VLE): an education system based on the Web that models
conventional real-world education by integrating a set of equivalent virtual concepts for tests,
homework, classes, classrooms, and the like, and perhaps even museums and other externalacademic resources.
Web 2.0: a term associated with web applications that facilitate participatory information sharing, user-
centric design and collaboration.
Webinars: seminars or conferences that occur online to allow events to be shared with remote
locations.
Widget: a generic type of software application comprising portable code intended for one or more
different software platforms.
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Annex 2 Online Survey
An Electronic Platform for Adult Education inEurope
This survey is about your views on an Electronic Platform for Adult Education in Europe.
The European Commission - DG Education and Culture has asked GHK Consulting Ltd, a researchorganisation, to undertake this survey and other work to find out whether an Electronic Platformwould be feasible and what features are most needed.
This survey has 15 questions and should take no longer than 15 minutes to complete.
For any questions or if you have any technical problems, please contact GHK Consulting [email protected] or contact Stephanie Charalambous at +44 20 7611 1106.
We are happy to receive responses to open questions in your own language.
Thank you for your time. Your contribution is greatly valued.
1.
Please let us know:
Your Name: ____________________________________________________________
_______________________________________ Name of your Organisation:
____________________________________________________________
_______________________________________
Job role: ____________________________________________________________
_______________________________________
2. Your Country (select one):
Austria
Belgium
Bulgaria
Croatia
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Denmark
Estonia
Finland
France
FYROM
Germany
Greece
Hungary
Iceland
Ireland
Italy
Latvia
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Liechtenstein
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Malta
Netherlands
Norway
Poland
Portugal
Romania
Slovakia
Slovenia
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
Turkey
United Kingdom
Other
2 If other please state:
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________
3. How would you describe your organisation's role (select all that apply):
Provider of Adult Education
National or Local Authority responsible for Adult Education Policy
LLP National Agency
Body providing Guidance about learning and/or careers
Higher Education Institution (Research in the field of Adult Education)
Media / Press
Other
3.aIf you clicked 'provider of adult education' please indicate which type:
School Workers Education Organisation
Further Education College Provider of Vocational Education and Training
University / Higher Education Institution Private or independent training provider
Community or voluntary group
Other
Municipal / Local Authority Adult Education
3.b
If you clicked 'National or Local Authority responsible for Adult Education Policy', pleaseindicate which type:
National Ministry
Municipal / Local Authority
Regional / Federal Ministry
Other
3.c
If other please describe:
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________
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Useful Features
4. Would your organisation use a European Electronic Platform to find information on thefollowing? (select one answer per row)
Yes - I can't find thisinformation
anywhere else
No - I don't need thisinformation / it is not of
interest to me
I don't think so - I canfind the information I
need somewhere else Good practice and casestudies on the delivery of adult education in Europeancountries
Good practice and casestudies on adult educationpolicy in European countries
Information on fundingavailable and awards
News on adult education inEuropean countries
Calendar of Events in the fieldof adult education
Learning opportunities for staff in European countries
Library of documents on adulteducation
Catalogue of useful links /bookmarks on adult education
5. How useful would this feature be to your organisation? (select one answer per row)
Very useful - Iwould use it a
lot, it would
help me do my job better
Useful - I woulduse it regularly, it
would be a
benefit to mywork
Not very useful - Imight use it
occasionally but it is
not critical to mywork
Not useful -I will never
use this
feature
I don'tknow how
useful
this willbe
Tool to find Partners inother countries
DownloadableResources for Teachers (such aslesson plans, coursematerial, videos etc)
DownloadableResources for Managers (such as onrecruiting learners,bidding for funding etc)
Resources for staff training
Discussion Forum
Online Member'scommunity
"Ask an Expert" featurewith user commentsand searchable lists of previous responses
eLearning Space /Virtual Classroom
ePartnership SharedOnline Space (for sharing resources with
partners)
Calendar of events inthe field of adulteducation
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Useful Features (continued)
6.Please rank from 1 (most useful) to 10 (least useful) which of the following features would bemost helpful if provided in your own language? You can only use each number once.
1 - Mostuseful
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 - Leastuseful
Downloadable Resources for Teachers (such as lessonplans, course material, videos etc)
Downloadable Resources for Managers (such as onrecruiting learners, bidding for funding etc)
Resources for staff training
Good practice and case studies on the delivery of
adult education in European countries
Good practice and case studies on adult educationpolicy in European countries
Information on funding available and awards
News on adult education in European countries
Discussion Forum
"Ask an Expert" feature with user comments andsearchable lists of previous responses
Calendar of events in the field of Adult Education
Online Events
7. Would your organisation be interested in participating in online events and trainingorganised through a European Electronic Platform for Adult Education? (select one)
Yes, even if they are only available in English
Yes, but only if they are available in my language
No
I don't know
7.aIf your answer is no, please explain why not (select all that apply)
Lack of time
Lack of agreement from my manager / hierarchy
I do not need it
Other
7.b
If other, please specify
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________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
___________________
8. What would be key factors in making these events attractive to you? (select all thatapply)
Free / low cost
Length and timing of event
A topic that interested me
To learn from other participants
To network with other participants
9.
Please list any other factors which would make these events attractive to you in the boxbelow:
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
Your contribution
In this section we want to find out whether you have the time and resources toactively contribute to an Electronic Platform
10.Please tell us whether you would be willing to do any of the following:
YesNo
Become a member of a secure community and create a profile
Make comments and submit feedback on news, articles, tools etc
Upload information about events you are organising
Ask a question on a discussion forum
Answer a question on a discussion forum
Upload a profile of your organisation in a partner-finding tool
Use virtual classrooms / eLearning Space
Upload and share lesson plans and other learning tools
Upload photos and videos from your activities
Create content such as news articles or case studies of your activities or policy developments inyour country
Translate content to your own language (from English or another language)
11. Is there anything else you would like to be able to do with an Electronic Platform?
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________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
_________________________
News and Updates about Adult Education
12. Tick the box if you currently
use any of the following toreceive news or updates
Tick the box if you would use any of
the following to receive news andupdates from a European AdultLearning Platform
I don't
know
Email newsletter
RSS feed (news andblog aggregator)
Calendar Synchronisation tool(such as Ical)
Delicious
Stumbleupon
Other
12.1
If other, please specify:
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________
Your Comments
13. Are there any other comments you would like to make?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
_________________________
DG Education and Culture and GHK Consulting may wish to contact you againby email or telephone to find out more about your views on adult education. If you are happy for us to contact you please complete the following (optional):
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14. Email:
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________
15. Telephone number (including country code and area code):
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________
Thank you for your time. Please click 'submit' to send your answers to GHK.
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Annex 3 Survey: Detailed Analysis Tables
A3.1 Breakdown of Responses to Question “Would your organisation use aEuropean Electronic Platform to find information on the following?”
Table A3.1 Responses by Provider type for option: Good practice and case studies on thedelivery of adult education in European countries
Response HigherEducation
Institution
LLPNational
Agency
Media /Press
National orLocal
Authority Responsiblefor Adult
Education
Provider of Adult
Education
NoResponse
Total (Allresponses)
Yes 79% 73% 100% 78% 80% 77% 79%
No 0% 0% 0% 4% 5% 3% 4%
I don’t thinkso 19% 18% 0% 10% 13% 18% 14%
No
response 2% 9% 0% 8% 2% 2% 2%
Total 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100%
Table A3.2 Responses by Provider type for option: Good practice and case studies on adulteducation policy in European countries
Response HigherEducation
Institution
LLPNational
Agency
Media /Press
National orLocal
Authority Responsiblefor Adult
Education
Provider of Adult
Education
NoResponse
Total (Allresponses)
Yes 86% 82% 100% 78% 76% 71% 76%
No 0% 0% 0% 2% 9% 11% 8%
I don’t think
so 14% 18% 0% 12% 14% 17% 14%
No
response 0% 0% 0% 8% 1% 1% 2%
Total 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100%
Table A3.3 Responses by Provider type for option: Information on funding available andawards
Response HigherEducation
Institution
LLPNational
Agency
Media /Press
National orLocal
Authority Responsiblefor Adult
Education
Provider of Adult
Education
NoResponse
Total (Allresponses)
Yes 76% 36% 100% 64% 75% 69% 73%
No 7% 0% 0% 10% 4% 2% 4%
I don’t think
so 17% 45% 0% 16% 18% 25% 20%
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Response HigherEducationInstitution
LLPNational
Agency
Media /Press
National orLocal
Authority
Responsiblefor Adult
Education
Provider of AdultEducation
NoResponse
Total (Allresponses)
No
response 0% 18% 0% 10% 2% 4% 3%
Total 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100%
Table A3.4 Responses by Provider type for option: News on adult education in Europeancountries
Response HigherEducation
Institution
LLPNational
Agency
Media /Press
National orLocal
Authority
Responsiblefor Adult
Education
Provider of Adult
Education
NoResponse
Total (Allresponses)
Yes 76% 64% 100% 64% 78% 76% 76%
No 5% 0% 0% 2% 6% 6% 5%
I don’t think
so 17% 27% 0% 22% 12% 17% 14%
No
response 2% 9% 0% 12% 4% 1% 4%
Total 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100%
Table A3.5 Responses by Provider type for option: Calendar of Events in the field of adulteducation
Response HigherEducationInstitution
LLPNational
Agency
Media /Press
National orLocal
Authority
Responsiblefor Adult
Education
Provider of AdultEducation
NoResponse
Total (Allresponses)
Yes 76% 73% 0% 64% 78% 73% 75%
No 7% 0% 100% 4% 7% 8% 7%
I don’t think
so 14% 18% 0% 20% 11% 17% 13%
No
response 2% 9% 0% 12% 4% 2% 4%
Total 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100%
Table A3.6 Responses by Provider type for option: Learning opportunities for staff inEuropean countries
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Response HigherEducationInstitution
LLPNational
Agency
Media /Press
National orLocal
Authority
Responsiblefor Adult
Education
Provider of AdultEducation
NoResponse
Total (Allresponses)
Yes 69% 64% 0% 62% 76% 66% 72%
No 10% 0% 100% 14% 7% 12% 8%
I don’t think
so 17% 27% 0% 14% 14% 18% 15%
No
response 5% 9% 0% 10% 4% 4% 4%
Total 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100%
Table A3.7 Responses by Provider type for option: Library of documents on adulteducation
Response HigherEducationInstitution
LLPNational
Agency
Media /Press
National orLocal
Authority
Responsiblefor AdultEducation
Provider of AdultEducation
NoResponse
Total (Allresponses)
Yes 76% 91% 100% 62% 77% 74% 75%
No 7% 0% 0% 6% 6% 5% 6%
I don’t think
so 17% 0% 0% 24% 16% 19% 17%
No
response 0% 9% 0% 8% 1% 2% 2%
Total 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100%
Table A3.8 Responses by Provider type for option: Catalogue of useful links / bookmarkson adult education
Response Higher
EducationInstitution
LLP
National Agency
Media /
Press
National or
Local Authority
Responsiblefor AdultEducation
Provider of
AdultEducation
No
Response
Total (All
responses)
Yes 79% 91% 100% 64% 82% 77% 79%
No 0% 0% 0% 4% 4% 8% 4%
I don’t think
so 19% 0% 0% 22% 13% 14% 14%
No
response 2% 9% 0% 10% 2% 1% 3%
Total 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100%
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Annex 4 Summary of Information about Other Platforms
N a m e
Status Key Dates /Developmen
t
Contractual Arrangements
Set-up Maintenance
Cost Staff Cost Per Year Staff
E t w
i n n i n g . n e t
Owner: DG EAC
Contractor: EuropeanSchoolsnet
Firstconceived in2002
First contract:2004 – 2007
Secondcontract:2007 – 2013
EuropeanSchoolnet is thesole contractor for set-up,management anddevelopment.
Set-upcosts notavailable
Set-up staff requirementsnot available
Cost of website isapproximately: €250,000
Overall cost of contract: €1m for centralservices and €9m for national supportcentres
EuropeanSchoolsnetTeam.
Commissionimpact tomonitor workcontractors aprovide stratdirection.
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N a m e
Status Key Dates /Development
Contractual Arrangements
Set-up Maintenance
Cost Staff Cost Per Year Staff
S a l t o - y o u t h . n e t
Owner: DG EAC
SALTO Training andCooperationResource Centre(RC) takes lead onmanaging website
Each SALTOresponsible for developing anduploading content totheir own sections.
SALTOs shareresponsibility for specific functions:e.g. SALTOInformation RC isresponsible for developing andmaintaining OTLASwebsite.
Programmestarted life in2000
Websitelaunched in2004
Dynamicfunctionsadded in 2011
The German NAis the contractholder for SALTOTraining andCooperation RCwhich is theSALTO that leadson the website.
The German NAholds hold acontract with aweb company for
server (which onlyhosts German NA,SALTO andYouthpasswebsites) and for CMS license andweb development.
No figurefor initialset-upavailable
Estimatefor development of OTLASdatabase: under €10,000
SALTOTraining andCooperationstaff member led ondevelopment; took mostof decisionsabouttechnicalaspects withadvice fromworking
group of colleaguesfrom allSALTOs.
Server costs €2,160approx per year (secure hosting)
Content ManagementLicense for 25 staff costs €9,600
Additional ad-hoccosts based on year plan (e.g. design,coding) paid by thehour
Estimated ab2 or 3 full-timstaff across aSALTOS todevelop contadminister network,managedatabases et
Commissionusually involvat all in
developmen
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N a m e
Status Key Dates /Development
Contractual Arrangements
Set-up Maintenance
Cost Staff Cost Per Year Staff
E u r o p e a n I n f o n e t
Grundtvig Network
Owner/ Manager: Akademie Klausenhof
Set up in 2005
Funding endedin 2011
AkademieKlausenhof issolely responsiblefor the set-up andmanagement of the website. Hepays a contractor for security, andcontracted anexpert for thecoding wheninitially setting upthe website
Other than thestaffingcosts(nextcell)therewas aone off cost of €20,000to €25,000
for coding
1/3 FTE for projectmanager,1/3 FTE for acolleaguewith goodtechnicalknowledgeof setting upa website
Security - €30 / month
Translation - €10,000
/ year (roughly €100
per document)
Writing authors fees -
€10,000 / year
1/3 FTE for project mana
C O R D I S
Owner/manager: DG RTD
Contractors: 5different contractors
Websiteoperationalsince 1990
‘Partners’socialnetworking
programme arecentdevelopment
Five contractors,handling: editorialpolicy, enforcingmoderation of dynamic content,maintenance of website
Launched 1990so“impossible” toestimate
Set upcost of “Partners” socialnetworking = €300,000
Launched1990 so“impossible”to estimate
€7.9million per year including all fivecontracts
16 staff on thinternal DGRTD team pl5 contractors(about 50 stain these teamin total)
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N a m e
Status Key Dates /Development
Contractual Arrangements
Set-up Maintenance
Cost Staff Cost Per Year Staff
B r i t
i s h C o u n c i l S c h o o l s
Owner/manager:British Council
Launched init’s currentform in 2011:taken over from threelegacywebsites.
British CouncilSchools teamowns website anddevelops content.
Noinformationprovided.
Informationnotavailable.
No informationprovided.
Information navailable.
S c i e n t i x
Owner. DG RTD
Managed byEuropean Schoolnet
Project startedin 2009 andwebsitelaunched later same year
Subcontractor commissioned for initial design andset-up of website
€30-40,000
Subcontractor
€1.6m over 3 years.No estimate for website
3 full-time,others on adhoc basis pluteachers’ pa
i N E T
Owner / Mgr: TheSchool Network
Launched in2004
Not able to findthis information
Information not
available.
Informationnot
available.
Information notavailable.
Information navailable.
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N a m e
Status Key Dates /Development
Contractual Arrangements
Set-up Maintenance
Cost Staff Cost Per Year Staff
e l e a r n i n g e u r o p a
Owner: DG EACManager: PAUEducation
Launched in2003.New contractin 2008:introduction of new dynamicfunctions suchas the onlinecommunity.
PAU won firstcontract for 2003 – 2008.PAU won secondcontract for 2008 – 2013.
Developmentcosts notavailable – costsfor newfeatures(post2008)includedin themaintenance cost.
Informationnotavailable.
€300,000 per year,includingmanagement,developing of newfeatures, e-learningreports and papersand organisation of online and offlineevents anddisseminationactivities.
PAU employstaff on thiscontract – sopart time.
60% of timespent oncontent(papers/repoand 40% ondisseminatiovents
EU Commissproject manaestimates thashe spends 3of her time omanaging.
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N a m e
Status Key Dates /Development
Contractual Arrangements
Set-up Maintenance
Cost Staff Cost Per Year Staff
L e a r n i n g R e
s o u r c e E x c h a n g e
Website is controlledby EUN Partnershipaisbl, the legal namefor EuropeanSchoolnet. EuropeanSchoolnet isEuropean Schoolnetis a network of 30Ministries of Education.
Some “research-type”activities, such as
identifying contentthat “travels-well”funded through EUfunded projects, e.g.eQNet and ASPECT.
Public websiteset-up in 2008.
Website waslegacy of EU-fundedprojects insharing digitalcontent(particularlyCELEBRATE,CALIBRATEand MELT).
LRESubcommittee of the EuropeanSchoolnetresponsible for managingwebsite.
Content providersprovide content –LRE Regulationsdefine copyrightand technical
issues aroundsharing of content.
Sub-contractors for websitedesign - €12,000Sub-contractor for implementation of website - €100,000
(this isbecausebuyingreusablecontent ismoreexpensive upfront).Translation:Systransoftware €10,000
for translation intoeightlanguages.
The websiteset-up wassub-contracted(seepreviouscell)
All websitemaintenance costsare staffing costs (seenext cell).
2-3 daysworking time3 staff membper month(webmaster,content contand systeminfrastructureThis includessecurity,moderation amaintenancethe website
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N a m e
Status Key Dates /Development
Contractual Arrangements
Set-up Maintenance
Cost Staff Cost Per Year Staff
A d u l t L e a r n i n g A u s
t r a l i a
Adult Learning Australia (ALA) – aGovernment fundedorganisation.
OSKY (privatewebsite developers)were contracted torebuild the websiteand offer technicalsupport.
2005 – OSKYasked to buildon previous ALA site.Updatedwebsite andadded webbasedpaymentsystem for members andautomatedtracking
system.
OSKY havebeen offeringconstantsupport sincethen.
ALA owns thewebsite and isresponsible for thecontent.
OSKY rebuilt thewebsite, andprovides technicalsupport to ALA.OSKY do notprovide day to daymanagementservices, or
moderationservices for thewebsite.
Notavailable.
A team of 4 – 5, notworking fulltime on thewebsite, for around 6months.
Not available. OSKY suppois decided onannual basisand varies, bthe bestestimate is acouple of daysupport / moThe value ofworker (feesdepends on type of supporequired.
ALA staff areresponsible fdevelopingcontent andmaintaining /moderatingwebsite throua CMS.
T E S
Web interface of Times EducationSupplement (TES), aweekly magazine.
TES magazinehas beenpublished inthe UK since1909.
Private company. Notavailable.
Notavailable.
Not available. Not available
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Feasibility of EPALE
114
Annex 5 Pros and Cons of 5 Content Management Systems(CMS)
Pros Cons
Drupal – www.drupal.org
Open Source
PHP-Based
▪ No software licensing cost
▪ Adding features is as easy as plugging
in one of over 10k community provided
modules.
▪ Drupal's “placeless” content architecture
lets you reuse content freely without
worrying about synchronization or
content duplication.
▪ Multi-Lingual Capabilities with strong
developer/multi-lingual support
community
▪ The administrative and delivery screens
are fully theme-able to allow for a user-
friendly experience for both end-users,
content contributors, and administrators.
▪ Due to nature of open source products,
finding experienced developers can be
more difficult and/or costly than with a
licensed product
▪ Major version upgrades do not provide
backwards compatibility
Umbraco – www.umbraco.com
Open Source
.NET-based
▪ No software licensing cost
▪ Large European network of certified
integration partners
▪ Multi-Lingual Capabilities
▪ Simple, customizable content editing
tools
▪ Due to nature of open source products,
finding experienced developers can be
more difficult and/or costly than with a
licensed product
Ektron- www.ektron.com
Licensed
.Net-based
▪ Robust Multi-Lingual Capabilities
▪ Easy and intuitive user interface for
non-technical content authors
▪ Rich Social Networking and CommunityBuilding tool set
▪ Provider model for integration with other
platforms (Omniture, Web Trends,
Google Analytics, SalesForce, etc)
▪ Additional functionality licensed by
module, increasing costs
▪ Some customers report frequent
updates, as well as some challengeswith customer support
Adobe – www.adobe.com
Licensed
Java-based
▪ Easy to use, web-based contributor
interface with in-context page editing
with a large number of pre-build
contribution components
▪ Integration with Adobe Test & Target
and Site Catalyst for managing visitors'
web experience through targeting, multi-
variant testing, and analytics reporting.
▪ Additional functionality licensed by
module, increasing costs
▪ Java Resources required for extending
the platform (More expensive than .Net
or PHP resources)
▪ Designed to run in a multi-tier
environment (Additional hardware and
licensing costs required)
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▪ Includes several extensible workflows
out-of-the-box (including translation)
with visual workflow editor interface
▪ Multi-Site Manager (MSM) and
Language Manager options available for
managing translated and localized
versions of websites
Sitecore – www.sitecore.net
Licensed
.NET-based
▪ Integrated Analytics platform for
tracking visitor behaviour
▪ Robust Multi-Channel Customer
Engagement Platform
▪ Additional functionality licensed by
module, increasing costs
▪ It has been suggested that the user
interface is not as user friendly as other
competitive systems