Generating Online Adult Learning

Partners

Belfast Institute of Further and Higher Education (NB Lead Partner) is a very large further and higher education provider offering a diverse range of community, vocational and academic programmes. BIFHE has a proven track record in vocational and community education and training, offering programmes in five city centre sites and over 100 centres in the Greater Belfast area. It has approximately 43,000 learners enrolled (including 20,000 in Adult and Community Education). It has won a number of prestigious ILT and Training awards.

Kodolányi János University College - KJUC is a higher educational institution, offering degree courses in Arts and Social Sciences. It currently offers a number of Teacher Training programmes in English and German. Programmes in Tourism and Hotel Management, French Teacher Training and Communications are also provided. Business Studies programmes were launched in 1996 along with programmes in Communications-Teacher Training and Communications-Business. A range of post-graduate extension programmes in Teacher Training are now also available.

Koning Willem I College -KW1C is a further education college in the Netherlands providing basic, further education and ILT education programmes to 14,000 students. It provides vocational and professional programmes,in technical, business, health care and in the Hospitality/Tourism service sector. Programmes are available at four levels from assistant to specialist. KW1C has lead curriculum and ILT innovation through the development of use of VLEs, creation of interactive multimedia training tools. It has an established School of the Future which acts as a driver in developing web based distance learning courses.

Cavan and Monaghan Rural Development Co-operative - CMRD is a non-governmental agency (NGO) providing training, financial and mentoring support throughout a large rural area in the border counties. In the absence of a formal further education college, adult vocational training is a major part of their role. They are actively involved in promoting networks, facilitating and supporting rural communities. CMRD has been highly successful in the delivery in a large number of agri-tourism training programmes. An active member of the National LEADER Network, it has the ability to disseminate good practice across Ireland and other LEADER networks within the EU.

The University of the Highlands and Islands - UHI is an educational partnership of Colleges, Research Institutions and a network of over 50 Learning Centres across the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. It is a dynamic 'virtual' organization at the forefront of the development of ILT and has extensive expertise in the development of technology based training materials for the delivery of distance learning to widely scattered communities. Management and communication technologies such as VLEs and video conferencing are already fully embedded in their pedagogical approaches. UHI has significant experience in educational research and EU projects.