The PROLEARN Academy Portal is a Zope/Plone based Community Information System serving the technology enhanced learning community in Europe. It is maintained by the chair of information systems at RWTH Aachen University in the frame of the EU Network of Excellence PROLEARN for professional learning. The PROLEARN Academy Portal has around 420 registered members, mostly PhD students and instructors participating in the various events, trainings, workshops, schools and consortia organized by the PROLEARN Academy.
The aims of the PROLEARN Academy are to:
- continuously educate, train and network world-class graduate and postgraduate researchers or junior faculty to maintain leadership at the people level
The PROLEARN Academy is offering a yearly summer school in technology enhanced learning for early PhD students in the field. Until now, three summer schools have been taken place. In 2005, the first PROLEARN summer school took place in Sile, Turkey. In 2006, the second PROLEARN summer school was in Bled, Slovenia. In 2007, the third PROLEARN summer school was in Fréjus, France.
The PROLEARN Academy is also organizing a yearly doctoral consortium at the European Conference on Technology Enhanced Learning EC-TEL for advanced PhD students in the field. The first doctoral consortium was in 2006. In 2007, the Academy will run another doctoral consortium at the EC-TEL 2007.
In the context of the summer schools and the EC-TEL conference the Academy offers scouting, recruiting and consulting events for PhD students and young faculty. There is a special mentoring programme run by the PROLEARN Academy which allows the exchange of students and faculty supported by the network. A database is documenting this exchange. A job database is offering open positions in academia and industry related to technology enhanced learning. For students on the master and the PhD level the PROLEARN Academy is running a special entrepreneurship course at RWTH Aachen University.
- offer a forum for publication, debate and envisionment in order to maintain European leadership in topics across the full range of research issues in technology enhanced learning
The flagship of the PROLEARN Academy is the European Conference on Technology Enhanced Learning EC-TEL, an annual conference for the technology enhanced learning community in Europe. Last year, the EC-TEL 2006 took place in Crete, Greece. This year (big surprise), the EC-TEL 2007 will take place in Crete, Greece.
The PROLEARN Academy is running a couple of academic journals, among them the International Journal of Technology Enhanced Learning (IJTEL) and the International Journal of Social and Humanistic Computing (IJSHC). But also the Academy has organized some special issues in already established journals.
The PROLEARN Academy portal is affiliated with the European Association for Technology Enhanced Learning (EATEL).
- implement a technology infrastructure to support a pan-European virtual community of researchers and training measures in the area of technology enhanced learning
The PROLEARN Academy is maintaining a lot of technology enhanced learning services provided by the partners in the network and a publication database. A media base is collecting and analysing e-learning materials coming from the scattered e-learning communities world-wide and especially in Europe. News, a newsletter, forums, and a call for papers section facilitate knowledge sharing and discussion among researchers and students in technology enhanced learning.
Everybody interested in technology enhanced learning is invited to contribute and to discuss. The PROLEARN Academy Portal is an open community information system with low barriers for participation (just register) and many opportunities to give voice to new and exciting topics in technology enhanced learning.
