WLP Project Development

As has been the case with the WLP Manual (see my previous blog entry), the role of the WLP Course has been reconsidered in the light of the experiences of the WLP project. In the original plans the WLP Course was given the task
1) to disseminate the use of WLP tools (notably the Learning Potential Analysis)
2) to facilitate the use of the analyses in partnership-building,
3) to disseminate examples of good practice.

As the experiences of the project have pointed out, the WLP project had to encounter a more complex Europan landscape regarding the creation and further development of partnership cooperation. In this respect neither the "Groundwork tools" nor the web-based support  facilities can be seen as universal keys to successive partnership cooperation.

From this perspective the concept of the WLP Course has been developed with a relatively open architecture that enables local adjustment to the needs of users and to their action contexts. In a similar way the concept makes it possible to use the "WLP Course" either as a basis for an ordinary training course or as a suppot framework for self-directed explorations.

The WLP Course is based on four Learning Areas:
Learning Area 1: Partnership Creation and use of basic analyses,
Learning Area 2: Planning of partnership-based learning arrangements,
Learning Area 3: Support for partnership-based learning activities,
Learning Area 4: Making use of web services and web platforms.

The WLP Course concept is presented and explained with the following documents (see the attachments to this blog entry):
The Introduction document (2 pages, presents nutshell information)
The Framework document (5 pages, outlines the structure and presents the learning tasks for the ),
The Planning tool document (5 pages, presents the underlying pedagogic principles),
The Customisation tool document (5 pages, presents questions and remarks concerning the adjustment of the course),
The Tutorial tools (short documents, to be presented with a later blog entry, support the work on specific Learning Areas).

The general aim of the WLP Course is to promote continuing professional development of teachers, trainers and other interested professionals in the related learning areas. The  learning tasks start with issues that have been discussed in the WLP project, offer a perspective to deepen one's knowledge and open prospects for further learning. In this respect the course links the results of the WLP project to some parallel developments.

I have submitted this blog entry to make the preparation of the WLP Course more transparent (and open for feedback). In the course of the week I try to submit the above mentioned documents as attachments. I hope that the process of giving shape for the WLP Course is completed very soon.

Pekka Kämäräinen

In the original plans the idea of a "WLP Manual" was closely linked to the assumption that the use of the WLP tools and to certain organisational models for partnership cooperation between training providers and and partter enterprises. However, the work of the WLP project has brought into picture a more complex European landscape regarding partnership creation and needs for support. Therefore, the role of the WLP Manual has been reconsidered in the London workshop and I have prepared a draft version on the basis of the London conclusions.

In the light of the above the current version of the WLP Manual is not an extensive guide to the WLP tools (with many examples on the uses of tools). Instead, the revisited concept provides a "brief guide" to the knowledge resources, working instruments and support facilities theat have been developed by the WLP project.

In five pages the WLP Manual covers the following themes:

a) Value of workplace learning and partnership cooperation in different countries,
b) Use of the results of the WLP project in the development of partnership cooperation,
c) Understanding the diversity of partnership concepts and different evolutionary stages,
d) Identifying different patterns for promoting networked learning,
e) Changing role of web-based support for workplace learning and for related piloting,
f)  Use of case stories and multimedia products as means to promote nowledge sharing,
g) Making targeted use of the WLP Course and of related tools and facilities,
h) Conclusions and recommendations for further activities.

The sixth page should contain a list of web links - both to WLP pages and to external resources. This page can be finalised when the necessary changes have been made in the architecture of the WLP website.

In this context it is essential to note that the WLP Manual should be translated into all national languages. Therefore, it is important that the final text will be agreed jointly and that the partners can produce the national language versions.

Pekka Kämäräinen

 

The discussion of the website was opened with my proposal on reshaping the website on the basis of four Product Areas and five Resource Ereas. The four Product Ereas (WLP Manual, WLP Course, WLP Web and WLP Reports) would provide different starting points for examining the work of the WLP project. The joint Resource Areas would present preparatory tools, tutorial tools, case stories and multimedia resources. The fifth Resource Area would contain the Partners' Areas (Piloting forums or Dissemination forums that would serve the partners' purposes).
(See the attached document Website-revision 1)

The subsequent disussion was highly critical led to fundamentally different direction:

• Firstly, the WLP partners apreciated the proposal and considered that it linked in a coherent way to each other the materials and resources that had been produced in the project.
  
• Secondly, the partners pointed out that this overview could only be based on insiders' experience or  evaluators' analysis on the process and the outcomes.
• Thirdly, the partners' emphasised the necessity to address users' perspective to the producs and resources as the starting point. This would have implications for the opening page, for the architecture and for the navigation.

Therefore, the partners started to construct the proposal for the new architecture from the perspective of users in different national contexts. The main entry to the website should be given via thenational  Partners' Areas. The Partners' Areas should then give further links to resources in national language or to joint resources in English language.

Based on this reasoning, the products and resources should be presented with the help of a box on the left-and side. The tabs of the box should give drop-down menus for exploring the resources under the main heading. This idea for revision was developed together and it reached a high degree of consensuality.
(See the attached document Website-revision 2)

However, when having returned to Bremen I had to work with the texts for the  final product that had not been thoroughly discussed by the project (WLP Course). It struck me that the Learning Areas of the course will integrate some of the resources that had been to some extent disconnected to others. This gave rise to a slight modification to the joint result that was achieved in the Strasbourg workshop.
(See the attached document Website-revision 3)

With this posting I have tried to summarise the progress with this issue and give the starting point for the final steps for transforming the WLP website from a project-internal construction site into a users' website.

Pekka Kämäräinen

The third note discusses the development of the project website and the related idea of the role of web-based tools/platforms and knowledge resources for the piloting approach of the project. In this repect the project has undergone some changes that need to be reflected. Moreover, in the later phase of the project some developmental ideas have been brought to discussion but not yet worked to final conclusions.

In the light of the above the attached working note brings the discussion further in the following way:
The first main section raises the key questions for discussing the website development and the role of web resources.
The first sub-section analyses the early stages of the website development and the related ideas how to work with web tools. The second sub-section presents a critical interim assessment that relates the London conclusions to working and learning with web resources.
The second main section presents a propoal for restructuring the WLP website in the basis of the current view on "Product Areas" and "Resource Areas" hat will present the mature stage of the project.
The first sub-section presents the central "Product Areas" based on the ideas that were laid down in the funding application.
The second sub-section presents an overview of "Resource Areas" under which the main results of the work can be grouped.
The third sub-section discusses synergy, overlaps and remaining gaps between the said areas.

The working note provides a background for the related proposal on restructuring the website. These proposals are linked to recent progress with "workshop facilitators' tools", "Planning tools", case stories and with WLP Multimedia resources. Finally, the proposed new architecture seeks to provide the WLP partners country-specific areas for piloting or for dissemination purposes. These last mentioned ideas are to be presented on the "WLP Piloting Forum" blog.

Pekka Kämäräinen

At this phase of the WLP project it is necessary to work out a 'big picture' on the diverse developmental activities that have been launched at the European and in the participating countries. On the one hand it is essential to look back what changes have occurred in the course of the project work and what new elements have come into picture. On the other hand it is necessary to take a closer look at the achievements so far and what can be done in the remaining time. Regarding the last item, it is necessary to consider how the work of the WLP project can be linked to the achievements of parallel projects. ("We don't need to re-invent the wheel if it has been invented elsewhere.")

From this perspective the attached note examines thoroughly the project history of WLP from the perspective of developmental processes, construction of tools and platforms and setting the piloting agendas:
The first section outlines the key questions that the 'big picture' has to answer (in order to specify what the WLP project has achieved as a pilot project).
The second section examines the underlying ideas that were highlighted in the application and analyses the obstacles for piloting with the original ideas 'as such'.
The third section links the work of the project to an ongoing conceptual change that has overshadowed the current discussion and developmental work on 'e-learning' or 'working and learning with web-resources'.
The fourth section examines the key ideas that the WLP project has put forward regarding 'WLP web' and regarding web-based support for country-specific piloting activities.
The fifth section relates the work of the WLP project to parallel progress in other projects and initiatives.
The sixth section summarises the analyses and links the conclusions to the remaining tasks of the project.

This note is a more extensive (and yet compressed) analysis on what has been happening in the project and how the current  'construction sites' can be brought into mature results. This analysis is closely related to the third note on presenting the web-base knowledge resources that the project has brought together.

Pekka Kämäräinen

In my previous postings I have presentemy interpretation on the conclusions of the workshop of the WLP project in London. Then I outlined a framework for bringing different activities together and for presenting them on the website. However, as these views were quick notes, I knew that there is a need to present a proper backgrroun reasoning. Therefore, I have drafted prepared three linked working notes with the common heading "Getting the act together".

In the first note (see the attached document) I discuss the finalisation of the country studies, the role of the 'case stories' and the work with other country-specific materials. The note draws attention to the remaining tasks of the WLP partners and to the need to develop country-specific 'Dissemination Forums' for the national partners. The short note is self-explanatory but it has implications for the other issues that are discussed in the two following notes.

Pekka Kämäräinen

So far the WLP project has been working its way forward and the website has been a developmental website. After the London conclusions there has been a need to to consider how the results of the WLP project can be presented as products and services for users of knowledge. Equally, there has been a need to consider how the work in different working areas can be brought to a final stage within the WLP project. Finally, in the light of progress in some parallel projects, there has been a need to consider how the work of the WLP can be linked to their achievements.

From this perspective I would suggest that the image of the WLP project should be based on the following products and services:

• The WLP Manual
• The WLP Course
• The WLP Web
• The WLP Reports.

These should be presented as the main headings (link buttons) on the top bar of the website. Each link would lead to a specific page or to an index folder (The WLP Reports).

However, the WLP project should be identified as a gallery of resource areas (or working areas). As such I would define the following ones:

1. The WLP tools for basic analyses: The LPA tool, the LAR tool and the workshop facilitators' tools (under construction);
2. The WLP knowledge bases: This area should make available the knowledge resources pooled together with del.icio.us;
3. The KLearn support instruments: This area should present checklists, planning tools and reporting tools that support the development of networked learning arrangements;
4. The WLP case stories: This area should present a gallery of case stories that reflect upon the progress with the WLP project and specific developments related to the project.
5. The WLP multimedia resources: This area should present edited videos and podcasts (presenting the work of the WLP project) and additional video material (provided by individual partners).
6. The WLP piloting area This area should provide access to the native language piloting forums and dissemination forums for Italian, Estonian and Slovenian partners.

These resource areas could be presented as a next layer of headings (link buttons) under the top bar. Each link would lead to a one-layer index folder.

The above presented framework (see the visualisation as the attached document) relates the content areas to each other. In addition, the website needs an information box that refers to the basic infornation pages, to the interim documents and to the blogs.

I am aware that the proposal needs to be explained more thoroughly. In particular this is the case with some areas that are yet under construction (tools for basic analyses, KLearn) and with which it is difficult to see what brings them together. I will get back to this with my next postings to this blog. However, at the same time there is a need to discuss how to support the ongoing efforts at the national level. This discussion will be continued with postings to the blog "WLP Piloting Forum".

Pekka Kämäräinen

The London workshop of the WLP project provided a clear evidence that the project could concetrate on its work at the eve of the summer holidays. The workshop took note of the developmental phase that had been carried out with the help of blogging and related exchanges of information (the exchanges of ideas on the WLP web and on the national piloting agendas). Equally, the workshop made decisions concerning the work to be carried out during the Autumn months.

In this context I try to draw attention to some points in which the London workshop made clear progress and became a collective learning experience:

1) The original project plans had created an impression of relatively uniform piloting phase with similar partnership arrangements. The experience during the project implementation had brought into picture the different possibilities for actual piloting, for preparatory measures and for transfer-promoting measures after earlier pilot phases.
2) The demonstration of the newer tools for social bookmarking and social networking (with the help of del.icio.us) opened new prospects for linking work with knowledge resources to development of work-related learning arrangements and to respective design of learning contents.
3) The WLP partners could contribute (to a greater extent than expected) to the production of WLP Multimedia resources and the editing of such materials could be linked closer to the project development.
4) The WLP Manual would be more useful as a brief (electronic and printable) introductory document that points to the WLP knowledge resources that are made available on the web.
5) The WLP Web can be used as an umbrella concept for diferent web resources and services provided by the WLP project.
6) The WLP Course could best be developed as a tutorial service area that supports the use of the resources and services of the WLP project. However, the WLP course should provide support for implementing such learning arrangements as courses.
7) The final efforts of the WLP partners should concentrate on supporting the whole development of the WLP project in such areas of work in which they can best contribute. However, the final activities of the partners should be seen as part of a (national or trans-national) piloting agenda.

Regarding the above mentioned points the project team could reach common conclusions and take some decisions how ro organise the work with multimedia resources. Yet, in some respects the outcome of the London discussion left open questions to be responded in the next phase:
a) How can the steps towards a project-specific light-weight Learning Management System (in the meantime called as "KLearn") be linked to the conclusions that were drawn in London?
b) How can some partners' efforts to develop networked learning arrangements in a regional context be best supported and documented ?
c) How can the partners' efforts to disseminate each others' work best be supported by the project?

These questions could not be directly answered on the basis of the London conclusions. To some extent these have been  processed further with bilateral tals  and related exchanges. At the moment it seems that it is possible to take some further measures that help the project to link different activities together.

I believe that this is enough at the moment. In the next posting I will present some proposals that respond to these open questions and complete the London conclusions.

Pekka Kämäräinen

 

Just struggling a bit today trying to define what is it exactly that I'm trying to do!  Not as some profound existentialist study (though can it be true George dubya B has been reading Camus at his ranch) but in relation to the online module I'm trying to develop on using Labour Market Information Effectively in Guidance.

I feel strongly that the module will comprise a series of suggested activities/learning objects through multiple entry points.  To facilitate the learner led progression through the various resources what is needed is some sort of personalised learning space but I felt quite strongly yesterday that this would be something quite distinct from a portfolio, and said as much in my blog about the developmental process.  I feel this personalised learning space isn't a blog either, it's something else, but today, I am not sure that distinction is quite so clear....

On balance, I think of 'portfolios' as being about amassing evidence for external scrutiny as a means of demonstrating externally set learning outcomes.  However, that may not be entirely fair - i've had a sprint through some of the literature on the WLP site and it would be ludicrous to claim there isnt going to be common ground between what the online module's 'personal learning space' and what many eportfolios set out to do.  Sure  I want to include space for reflection, potential for storing project 'work' and resources and it may be that this could be used to demonstrate learning to a third party if desired.  I suppose then the difference for me is attitudinal - the driver for keeping the 'personal learning space' active is the desire of the learner to learn and document their progress as a way of consolidating and building on that learning voyage.  So, the impetus to use the 'personalised learning space' (oh how I wish we could come up with a better term than that) is the user thinking 'wow, that's a really handy tool to use to help me to organise my thoughts on this topic', rather than, 'oh no, here we go, more death by the futile act of evidence creation and demonstration this time on line ...'

As for blogs, that maybe closer to what is envisaged in terms of ownership, except that:

the user is more likely to keep this area as private (though they wouldnt have to)

there would be more functionality than the average blog

the link between the module and 'personal learning space' is strong and streamlined, i.e. automatic importing of relevant exercises into the 'appropriate' place in the PLS by giving a prompt feature on completion /abandonment of any exercise 'i have finished with this for now, please save to my PLS' click here for auto- shift to new wonderful PLS!

so i think that's the difference, the learner drives the space, and it is a useful tool rather than a tedious organisational requirement.

Does anyone else see a distinction to be made, or is it an artifical and perhaps unhelpful divide?

I'm posting this to give some examples of the kind of process we;ll be using to make it as easy as possible to build up a project resource-base using del.icio.us.

One thing which I'd like to get clear is the difference between a del.icio.us USER and a del.icio.us TAG. A user is a login name registered with del.icio.us - an account with the service. A tag is a wortd or words added in the 'tags' field when bookmarking an item - it is just used to organise bookmarks, not to log in to the del.icio.us system and create them.

To add bookmarks to del.icio.us you need to be able to log into an account. The reasons why I suggest that we all get our own accounts, instead of sharing the username and password for the one account are:

We will all likely end up using del.icio.us for other work as well as for this project. If you opt to stay logged into your own del.iicio.us account all the time, it makes it very quick to add new bookmarks whenever you feel like it It's dangerous to let too many people have login rights to the one account - too easy to accidentally delete other people's posts etc. It is not necessary to post all our items directly into the WLp account in order for them to arrice there. We here at KnowNet have written scripts and utilities for pulling bookmarks in from multiple accounts.

It is hard to show you what I mean within the current WLP site because we do not yet have very many resources. BUT we have several examples of other projects which have already built up substantial del.icio.us resources by individual usrs tagging over a period of time. In each of these cases, the project del.icio.us accounts not the direct repositories for the original bookmarking our users did - they added the links in the del.icio.us accounts they are usually logged in as, and we later "sucked" some of their tags from that account to the project account.

So far, we have implemented two main kinds of interface for displaying del.icio.us resource bases within project sites:

Tag Clouds these are displays of all the tags used to categorise the bookmarks in a del.icio.us account. In most of our tag cloud displays, you can browse the tags dynamically: click a tag to instantly show the top 100 items with that tag as well as the 'related tags' ( tags that have appeared on at least one item alongside the tag being displayed). Clicking a related tag changes the display so that the links listed are those with both tags. This is a quick and powerful way to look for patterns Live embedded links-lists these are RSS-feeds for the most recent items with particular tags applied to them. They can be displayed easily within site content or as weblog sidebars. We can even show you how to embed these within a single piece of prose.

For examples of Tag Clouds see the following

EGCRF's del.icio.us bookmarks

These are all from the NGRF del.icio.us account, which is shared directly by several close colleagues at the IER. It is updated nightly from the for:egcrf tag in the NGRF delicious bookmarks.

NGRF's bookmarks at del.icio.us

Unlike the other project accounts, these have all been entered directly by a few closely-knit co-workers who trust each other with the same login details :o) It has become a hefty resource.

Vidensdatabase "Tag Cloud"

This is an experimental, smaller resource-base, for the Danish focus group in the EGCRF project. The focus group weblog "has its own" del.icio.us account, so all the members of the blog can indoirectly post the the del.icio.us account without needing access to any login details at all

Opendock Project Tag Cloud

This is not ready for public viewing yet, but is a serious resource in the making for a project using the Learning Design standard for sharing learning activities. It is updated nightly from particular tags in my own and Al Harris' bookmarking, and is already probably the best resource on the subject to be found anywhere.

www.mc-dip.net

Again, this is not ready for public viewing (scroll down for the tag cloud). It is updated nightly from Al Harris, my own, and Glenn Hardaker's bookmarking.

For examples of Live Resource Lists see the following:

See the UK Country Area in the EGCRF Project site for examples of live listing - within content - of links that have been given particular tags.

The main UK page 'pulls in' the most recent items from the whole egcrf del.icio.us account (remember - these will be coming from several other accounts - no-one actually logs in *as* cgcrf)). Most of the sections within the UK country area have their own live linkslists displaying items tagged with one particular tag which is related to the content of that section. See the links below for examples.

Gender

This area of the site is under development. The case for highlighting gender as an issue that continues to be pivotal in overcoming injustice is as strong as ever. Whilst men undoubtedly experience discrimination, it is women who continue to suffer most disadvantage on the basis of their gender.

Race and Ethnicity

This area of the site is under development, it is intended to be used in conjunction with the section on 'asylum seekers, immigrants and refugees' below. .

Asylum seekers, immigrants and refugees

This area of the site is under development, it is intended to be used in conjunction with the 'race and ethnicity' section above.

Disability

This section will grow into a brief overview of definitions, legislation, models, relevant statistics and barriers to employment faced by people with disabilities across Europe.

Age

This section of the site is under development. As more people choose or are compelled to work beyond what was once a statutory retirement age, there is growing interest in their guidance needs and entitlements.

Sexual orientation

This section of the site is currently under development... Discrimination against lesbians, gay men and bisexuals is increasingly acknowledged as a problem in the labour market.

Socio-Economic Context

This area of the site is under development. Socio-economic background has an acknowledged impact on career trajectories.

During the work of the WLP project it has become very clear that the national partners ohave different preconditions to promote partnership-based cooperation in their national contexts. This has become manifest with the analyses based on the LPA instrument and with the related conclusions. This has also become manifest with the discussion on the possibilities to link the development and piloting with WLP Web to the working agenda of different partners. At this stage of development I would draw emphasise  that the work programme of the WLP project does require some degree of piloting. However, this does not mean that the WLP project should adopt a "one size fits all" or "one format fits all" approach. Neither should the work that has been done for preparation of the KLearn and WLP Web bseen as something that is exclusively related to work with web applications. My view is that we should not put anyone into a position to choose between "All" (full-scale piloting with web) and  "Nothing" (complete separation from the developmental work that is paving the way to WLP Web).

To me the challenge for the WLP project is to work on several fronts in order to find specfic answers to the following common questions:
1) How can we improve the general readiness of training providers and partner enterprises to develop partnership-based cooperation arrangements and construct related learning designs and support measures?
2) How can the we develop practical support facilities for individual learners (and groups of learners) and their supervisors that make transparent the learning gains in such collaborative learning (and the role of the supporting tools)?
3) How can we link the development of web-based facilities to ongoing sectoral or regional partnership-creation processes that open new opportunities for piloting with web-supported learning designs?

To me it appears that some of the national partners need to concetrate primarily on the first question. Therefore, the measures to be taken can be characterised as "pre-piloting agenda". From the operational point of view these partners can provide deeper analyses on the societal, sectoral and regional boundary conditions that either promote or reduce the readiness to partnership cooperation. Parallel to this they can try to present newer impulses (that emerge from the work of the other partners) as tentative inputs to discussion and examine whether it is possible to improve the readiness towards partnership-based cooperation with insights into parallel cases.

As specific cases for "pre-piloting agendas" I would see the cases of Estonia and France. As specific measures that could be taken I would suggest the following ones:
a) In Estonia the main activity is the designed workshop that has been postponed to Autumn. In the preparatory phase it is possible to prepare demonstration material based on the work in other countries (and based on complementary inputs to the WLP Web resource ares). With the support of this preparatory material it is possible to construct facilitation tools that would link the examples to questions that can be proposed for the regional training providers and partner enterprises.
b) In France the main activity could be a working visit to the Endress & Hauser company (including interviews and possible group discussions). The main aim of these interviews would be to get a deeper understanding on the working patterns in the partnership-based training and learning programme.  The corollary aim could be to get situated video-shots or podcasts that demostrate the partnership cooperation in action. (The latter aspect would require additional resources and involvement of supporting people).

I hope that these few lines give some ideas how the work in the next phase. I will try to attach a draft for a "facilitation tool" for a pre-pilotin workshop in the next possible moment.

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

Pekka Kämäräinen

In the light of the recent postings it is worthwhile to emphasise that the WLP project is not primarily a project for piloting with virtual learning environments. Instead, the main thrust for the project is to find ways to promote partnership-based cooperation in different country contexts. In some countries the hurdles are related to organisational and pedagogic boundaries. Therefore, it would seem unlikely that the Web-based facility would solve the key problems. However, in other countries the availability of appropriate web-based resources may be crucial to kick off the process towards a workable partnership cooperation.

In this respect I have drawn the conclusion that in the next phase of the project the WLP partners are working with somewhat different agendas (see also the attached diagram):
1) The partners who do not have immediate possibilities to pilot with active partnership arrangements (with or without web-based support) are invited to work with a pre-piloting agenda.
2) The partners who have possibilities to work with active partnership-based cooperation are invited to use certain elements of the WLP web as part of their piloting agenda.

For the partners that are following a pre-piloting agenda the key point is to organise and/or to report on workshops that discuss/have discussed on the preconditions for partnership-based cooperation. I take note of the fact that some partners have organised the worshops at an earlier date and that reporting is to some extent incorporated into the existing country studies. However, in some countries the workshops are still under preparation. In this respect it is essential that we can link the experience of the prior workshops and the ones to be prepared to each other. I have already started to prepare the facilitator's tools for such workshops but we had to focus on the WLP Web first. Now it is possible to link the preparation of such workshops to the parallel work with active piloting agendas.

For the partners who are implementing an actual piloting agenda the key point is to create and maintain active collaboration with counterparts who are involved in designing workplace learning arangements (or key elements of such arrangements). This collaboration may be supported by workshops or there may be other modes of communication. However, the main thing is that the project will provide support for the kind of cooperation activities that are taking off. Therefore, in these cases it is essential to develop a dynamic process model in order to offer appropriate support facilities. In this respect it is also essential to draw conclusions from other developmental communities wo are working with web-based facilities.

So, as I now look at the next step of the project, there is a need to discuss what kind of pre-piloting or piloting agendas can be tailored for the partners in different countries and how to link them together. I will try to develop some further thoughts on this isssue in my next posting.

I think ths is enough for the moment. I am looking forward to your reactions and to your views how to develop the work further.

Pekka Kämäräinen

Milestones: Heading from the Velenje Workshop (January) to interim meetings in Bremen (March)
As I have indicated in a previous posting, the WLP Workshop in Velenje helped us to get a picture of the results of the groundwork phase. It also gave us a push towards a piloting phase that has to be implemented in a differentiated way in the participating countries. Therefore, I worked with the partnership concepts and the visualisation of the interim synthesis. As the next step I started to draft a roadmap to give an overview on the piloting phase. However, because of time pressures I had to leave this 'big picture' aside and concetrate on the inputs for our interim meetings alogside the German cnference "Hochschultage Berufliche Bildung" in the middle of March.
For our meetings in March I prepared some drafts with which I tried to support separate piloting measures with Personal Learning Reviews (support for individual learners) and Learning Interface Reviews (dialogue between training providers and partner enterprises). However, it appeared during our talks in Bremen that could take one step further and draft an outline of an integrative instrument (see below).

Intervening factors: The issue of Leonardo projects'  participation in the ECER'06 conference in Geneva
In this context it is worthwhile to note that the administrative efforts  to ensure a proper  partiipation of ongoing Leonardo projects (including WLP) caused a delay in the work with the WLP Web tools. Now we are in the position to take further steps.

The interim conclusion: KLearn as the WLP prototype for an integrative Personal Learning Environment (PLE) and Learning Management System (LMS)
During the series of meetings with Graham Attwell, Al Harris, Alan Brown and Elmo De Angelis we could agree on some basi principles how to develop the integrative instrument for our piloting activities. The instrument "KLearn" (that Graham Attwell drafted on the basis of our talks) draws upon our discussions in Velenje and upon the needs that wer expressed by different partners. It draws upon the preliminary tool ("Courses") that was drafted by the KnowNet on the basis of the LPA-analyses. It also draws upon the prior work of Alan Brown and the KnowNet for the "Skills Review".
The KLearn instrument is presented in the attached note that was drafted by Graham Attwell on basis of our discussions. Here just some quick remarks on the two main features:

a) The simple Administration Interface  makes it possible for  vocational teachers and trainers to work as system adminstrators and provide the necessary support for learning),
b) The simple User Interface makes it possible for individual learners or training providers or partner enterprises to analyse and manage their work-related learning activities.

My impression is that KLearn will be the kind of integrative and easy-to-use instrument that the WLP project has been looking for to introduce as the "WLP Web tool".  However, we have to look at the usability from different user perspectives. This brings me back to drawing the "Roadmap" but now with an idea on the central instrument.

I think this enough for the moment. See the presentation of the "KLearn" as the attachment.

Pekka Kämäräinen

This is a weblog for the partners in the WLP project to discuss the work we do to make the project as successful as it can be...

Below is an email which was part of a thread about developing skills-development diaries in the site. It also has some very useful links to some of mine and the NGRF's tags in del.icio.us which have been sued over the past few months to bookmark web resources of interest to the project.

Graham Attwell writes: Sounds very cooool - am well happy with timeline - I think this could   be launch of a great product. Portfolio in plone will have many, many   people interested.

OK - I will offer partners option of one day extension to meeting to   do basic training etc

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Okie dokie!

I'll keep people posted.  As the issues come close to realisation I'll also post to Knotations blog, http://www.knownet.com/Members/mmalloch/blog ,  and will post bluesky planning to my main blog http://www.knownet.com/writing/elearning2.0

Graham just emailed with a food lightweight idea for getting started  - just give an interface for listing the learning-opportunities as potential categories - we'll get back on that when Steve is back ( he's off for the rest of the week cause his wife just had a little operation )

By the way, some tags I've been tracking related links into: ... I also include some NGRF tags that Alan et al have been tracking into

[ NB - there are a lot of other related links among my bookmarks, but I hadn't tagged them with wlp in mind so it would take some thought to extract all of the tags -- just have a look round my elearning bundle of tags for instance ]

• http://del.icio.us/Mike_Malloch/elearning/personalised ( 69 )
• http://del.icio.us/Mike_Malloch/eportfolios   (34)
• http://del.icio.us/NGRF/wrl (32)
• http://del.icio.us/Mike_Malloch/elearning/professional-development (16)
• http://del.icio.us/Mike_Malloch/careers-guidance/workplace  ( 4 )
• http://del.icio.us/NGRF/wrl/research (3)
• http://del.icio.us/NGRF/wrl/policy (3)
• http://del.icio.us/NGRF/wrl/apprenticeship (3)
• http://del.icio.us/Mike_Malloch/elearning/skills (3)
• http://del.icio.us/Mike_Malloch/elearning/VET (3)
• http://del.icio.us/Mike_Malloch/elearning/lifelong (2)
• http://del.icio.us/Mike_Malloch/social-narrative  (2)
• http://del.icio.us/Mike_Malloch/elearning/informal (2)

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Mike Malloch,
Software Architect,
KnowNet Ltd

post:   6 Menai View Terrace, Bangor, Gwynedd, LL57 2HF, WALES
web:    http://www.knownet.com

weblogs:
      elearning2.0 : http://www.knownet.com/writing/elearning2.0
      KNotations (technical): http://knownet.com/Members/mmalloch/blog
bookmarks:
      http://del.icio.us/mike_malloch
      http://www.connotea.org/user/MikeMalloch
photos:
      http://www.flickr.com/photos/mike_malloch
identity-commons:
        http://public.2idi.com/=Mike.Malloch