Work & Learning Partners

After the Velenje workshop - and in particular after the interim meetings in March - my main concern as a project coordinator has been the issue how to develop the concept of WLP Web. As our discussions in Velenje pointed out, the partners could have a fairly good understanding on the situation of each other as long as we were working with the background analyses. Yet, when we reached the point of drafting piloting agendas the icture started to become much more differentiated. In some countries the work with a web-based facility could appear as a sideline activity. In some others the shaping of a working concept to be brought into piloting phase was crucial for the whole excercise.

At this point I do not want to draw more attention on the differences. My conclusion at Velenje was that there is a need for differentiated piloting agendas. This will be reflected in the subsequent work with the WLP Web. However, now (after some milestones and some ideas that have been put to discussion) I would prefer to take a fresh look at the country studies and the related ideas how to use them.

I have used the expression "country studies" for all the country-specific materials that have been produced by different partners. I have in mind that the original idea was to proceed from "national maps" to publication-ready national reports. Equally, I have in mind that there was an agreement t produce selected 'case stories' to illustrate the forthcoming WLP Manual. However,  I now see it necessaty to link the processing of the country studies  to the shaping of the WLP Web.

As I have indicated in my proposals for the framework of the WLP Web, I consider that the "Resource areas" should give a picture on
a) country-specific boundary conditions for developing workplace partnerships and
b) local, regional or sectoral examples of partnership-oriented learning designs.
Also, if the case stories are used as inputs for web-based resource areas, it would be better to have more than one 'case story' pro country.

For this purpose I have developed templates for presenting 'case stories' as inputs for the resource areas. Considering the fact that the cases have different characteristics, I have made a distinction between
1) the stories that focus on the boundary conditions for partnership cooperation and
2) the stories that focus on the development of learnin designs.

At the moment the templates are just Power Point slides that present spaces to be filled with content. Yet, the  instructions that I have prepared should give a clue how to compose the case stories of different items and how link comments to the narrative spaces. I have also introduced hyperlinks that help the readers to navigate their way (forward and backward) through the document.

I have also given some thoughts on the reworking of the more extensive country studies towards more coherent and comparable "national reports". At this point I find it appropriate to present the attached overview that presents a reporting scheme for summarising the country studies. My aim is to develop it towards a reporting tool that can be used in the preparation of the reports.

I think this is enough for the moment. I am looking forward to your reactions and on your views how to develop this part  of the project further.

Pekka Kämäräinen