Internal Area

Virtual Competence Center

A basic target of the Virtual Competence Centre (VCC) was to enable and to optimize the transfer of knowledge and the interaction between economy and research (D8.7). Different information services enable the members to read, up- and download information sorted by the categories news, events, projects, publications, links, forums and documents (D8.8). Content-oriented activities in the context of the VCC refer to the continuous integration of new fields and topics in the area of professional learning and training. This includes, e.g., to react on new trends in the area or to address new issues (D8.10.1, D8.10.2). The VCC has had a great increase in both content and members. The content uploaded on the Virtual Competence Centre has increased extensively since its launch in 2004. So did the visits of the channels.

The major idea of the technical and technological setup of the VCC was to enable a modular configuration with the aim to integrate additional services from PROLEARN partners more easily. The idea to implement additional services in the VCC to extend the offers in it from an information platform to a community including communication and interaction elements has been realised in the last years. Four services have been interlinked and provided by PROLEARN partners in the VCC in the last months of the year 2007 (D8.15, D8.16):
• PROLEARN-TV
• FlashMeeting
• PROLEARN MEDIABASE
• Conzilla – the Concept Browser

The main objective of the Virtual Competence Centre was to establish a sustainable integration between research and economy. The Professional Training Facts Series supported this aim by developing and establishing conferences for industry and research starting in the year 2005 (D8.14). To continue industry meets research activities the third Professional Training Fact (PTF) 2007 conference has taken place on 13-14 Nov in Stuttgart, Germany (D8.16). The topic “Learning – Competence – Performance” and the concept was discussed and verified with key partners from the PROLEARN network (http://www.professional-training-facts.com/).

In the last 4 years the PROLEARN Virtual Competence Centre has been developed, implemented, modified according to community members needs and extended. It is a well accepted community and still attractive to join. It is intended that after the funding period the PROLEARN VCC will stay online and the Professional Training Facts conference will take place at least for the next two years.

News from the VCC

• SumTotal Introduces ToolBook 9.5 for Faster Learning Content Creation and Access Anytime, Anywhere
• University of Ulster - International Short course series in Hydrogen Safety
• REFOCUS senioR Employees training on information and CommUnication technologieS
• "Second Generation" E-Learning: Characteristics and Design Principles for Supporting Management Soft-Skills Development
• Whitlock Training Group Corporation
• What does competence management mean for a company in the context of professional training? (Please vote for the most important point)

All VCC deliverables can be downloaded here

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