Advanced Distributed Learning WG (ADL) meeting in Kiev, Ukraine, May 2009
PfP Consortium's ADL WG members attended the first meeting this year, in Kiev, Ukraine at the Military Academy. The meeting started with two workshops: ILIAS LMS and ILIAS SCORM Editor and continued with CDT status updates, new courses and project developments, future of ADL.
Proceedings from this event will be posted on ISN Wiki site. Currently the proceedings of the previous ADL WG meetings are posted on the quoted site.
The vision of PfP Consortium ADL WG is to establish and maintain a collaborative network that facilitates the development of Advanced Distributed Learning (ADL) methods of best practice, free open-source courses, and technology.
The ADL WG’s mission is to strengthen defense, military and security policy education through international and institutional cooperation by enhancing the training and education of armed forces and other personnel within the EAPC countries (Partnership for Peace and NATO). The ADL working group focuses on the use of e-learning and fosters military training transformation, interoperability and education for reform with internationally shared education and training solutions.
The mission comprises:
- Creation and exchange of common education and training content;
- Establishment of common education and training methods;
- Use of common Internet technology.
The ADL WG is tasked with producing free and open source software and content, both of which must be ready for use in different nations with inherently different copyright laws.
The ADL WG operates under the umbrella of the PfP Consortium. It receives special support from both the US and Switzerland as a result of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed between the two.
The MOU addresses the use of internet tools for education and training purposes.
The ADL WG:
- Unites national and international bodies under a common umbrella in order to share resources;
- Is a working group within the framework of the PfP Consortium of Defense Academies and Security Studies Institutes, which offers guidance and provides funding;
- Fosters the use of the internet for education and training purposes with emphasis on subjects including ADL and e-learning, with the goal to reach tangible educational outcomes, such as the ADL WG courseware used by EAPC officers within their regular school curricula;
- Is not an international body with own resources (resources come from voluntary national contributions, such as the contributions from the US and Switzerland invested to reach the MOU goals);
- Is not placed under the NATO command structure: The contributing nations and the PfP Consortium decide to what extent the ADL WG will cooperate with NATO, and in which subject matter areas this cooperation will happen. Collaboration serves for reaching specific goals shared by both the ADL WG and NATO.
The ADL WG meets in a semi-annual conference cycle.
The internal organization of the ADL WG foresees the following roles:
- Chair: The ADL WG chair is the director and moderator of the group. In accordance with the stakeholder guidelines, the chair decides on the ADL WG focus and organizes the corresponding activities such as the conference program. The chair usually represents one of the MOU partners, among whom potential candidates are first selected, then confirmed by the ADL WG in an open election.
- Co-Chair or Vice-Chair: A co-chair or vice-chair works together with the chair and is a possible replacement in case of an emergency.
- Member: Anyone associated with the use of e-learning for education and training purposes, preferably in the field of security policy or defense, can become a member of the ADL WG. All members are invited to become involved in the realization of common ADL WG projects.
- Cooperative Development Teams (CDTs): Cooperative Development Teams are provided by nations or institutions and work on the realization of common ADL WG projects, for example, authoring courseware. A CDT is comprised of several collaborators, some of whom usually are ADL WG members.
- Host: A host is an ADL WG member who invites the ADL WG to have a meeting in his or her resident country, providing the meeting logistics such as the organization of meeting rooms, transportation and hotels. Hosts work together with the ADL WG chair.
- Funded participants: Funded participants are ADL WG members whose travels are being paid by the PfP Consortium. There are very tight restrictions on funded memberships – active collaboration in ADL WG issues is required. A funded participant must also come from a country which is eligible for the US government program providing the travel budget (WIF).
The working group is currently developing ADL content, an open-source Partnership for Peace Learning Management System (PfP-LMS) and a web-based Knowledge Portal for use by the Consortium and its partners. This technology intends to meet the requirements of Partner nations and strives for compliance with emerging international standards such the SCORM.
The working group co-operates consists of education and training specialists, both civilian and military institutes in the EAPC region.
To register to the PfP Consortium site go to https://consortium.pims.org/request-access-form.
References:
1. PfP Consortiun of Defense Academies and Security Studies Institutes http://consortium.pims.org
2. ELBA - E-learning BAUKASTEN http://www.elba.ethz.ch/index_EN
3. International Relations and Security Network http://isn.ethz.ch
4. PIMS Members Site https://members.pims.org