A socially-powered and multilingual open learning infrastructure to boost the adoption of eLearning resources”. Open Discovery Space addresses various challenges that face the eLearning environment in the European context. Open Discovery Space Web portal that was  developed during the project is socially-oriented platform through which the teachers, students and parents are be able to discover, adopt, discuss and adjust resources to their needs and interests. Consortium of this ambitious project consists of 51 organizations – participants from 25 European countries. Each partner had a goal to expand this idea and develop their national repositories that will supply the ODS portal with information and materials.

 

Open Discovery Space serves as an accelerator of the sharing, adoption, usage, and re-purposing of the already rich existing educational content base. First of all, it demonstrates ways to involve school communities in innovative teaching and learning practices through the effective use of eLearning resources. It promotes community building between numerous schools of Europe and empower them to use, share and exploit unique resources from a wealth of educational repositories, within meaningful educational activities. In addition, it demonstrates the potential of eLearning resources to meet the educational needs of these communities, supported by European Web portal: a community-oriented social platform where teachers, pupils and parents are able to discover, acquire, discuss and adapt eLearning resources on their topics of interest. Finally, it assesses the impact and document the whole process into a roadmap that includes guidelines for the design and implementation of effective resource-based educational activities that could act as a reference to be adopted by stakeholders in school education.
The main aim of the project was to accelerate the sharing, adoption, usage, and re-purposing of the rich educational content base created through EU funding and from national initiatives. Further, it aligned the efforts and initiatives of a large number of relevant stakeholders around Europe, stimulating and increasing user demand.

 

ODS addresses various challenges that face the eLearning environment in the European context. The interface has been designed with students, teachers, parents and policy makers in mind. ODS fulfilled three principal objectives.

 

Firstly, it empowered stakeholders through a single, integrated access point for e-learning resources from dispersed educational repositories. Secondly, it engaged stakeholders in the production of meaningful educational activities by using a social-network style multilingual portal, offering eLearning resources as well as services for the production of educational activities. Thirdly, it assessed the impact of the new educational activities, which served as a prototype to be adopted by stakeholders in school education.

 

Project consortium:

  1. Intrasoft International Sa, Luxembourg
  2. Ellinogermaniki Agogi Scholi Panagea Savva Ae, Greece
  3. Universiteit Twente, Netherlands
  4. Computer Technology Institute & Press Diophantus, Greece
  5. Brunel University, United Kingdom
  6. Jyvaskylan Yliopisto, Finland
  7. Universidad De Alcala, Spain
  8. Greek Research And Technology Network S.A., Greece
  9. Institut Telecom, France
  10. Universitaet Bayreuth, Germany
  11. European Distance And E-Learning Network Lbg, United Kingdom
  12. Universitaet Duisburg-Essen, Germany
  13. Sero Consulting Ltd, United Kingdom
  14. Open Universiteit Nederland, Netherlands
  15. Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft Zur Foerderung Der Angewandten Forschung E.V, Germany
  16. Signosis Sprl, Belgium
  17. Bundesministerium Für Unterricht, Kunst Und Kultur, Austria
  18. Helsingin Yliopisto, Finland
  19. Hogskolen I Oslo, Norway
  20. Psochios Ioannis & Sia Oe – Agro-Know Technologies, Greece
  21. Fondation Euractiv, Belgium
  22. Unisoft Romania Sa, Romania
  23. Universita Degli Studi Di Trieste, Italy
  24. Liverpool John Moores University, United Kingdom
  25. Nucleo Interactivo De Astronomia, Portugal
  26. Ou Miksike, Estonia
  27. Katholieke Hogeschool Limburg Vzw, Belgium
  28. Universal Learning Systems Ltd, Ireland
  29. Universidad De Cadiz, Spain
  30. Pau Education Sl, Spain
  31. Hrvatska Akademska I Istrazivacka Mreza – Carnet, Croatia
  32. Padagogische Hochschule Karlsruhe, Germany
  33. Anoikto Panepistimio Kyprou (Open University Of Cyprus), Cyprus
  34. Digipro Computer Consultants Ltd, Cyprus
  35. Univerzitet Metropolitan u Beogradu
  36. Pedagogical Institute – Ministry Of Education And Religious Affairs, Greece
  37. Universite Paul Sabatier Toulouse Iii France
  38. Technical University Of Crete, Greece
  39. Siveco Romania Sa, Romania
  40. Knowledge Markets Consulting Gmbh, Austria
  41. Universidad De Vigo, Spain
  42. National Research Network Association Bulgaria,
  43. Bundesgymnasium Und Bundesrealgymnasium Schwechat, Austria
  44. Metasolutions Ab, Sweden
  45. Sveuciliste U Zagrebu Fakultet Elektrotehnike i Racunarstva, Croatia
  46. Uab Metbaltic Lithuania
  47. United Nations Educational, Scientific And Cultural Organization –Unesco, France
  48. Ilisimatusarfik Ugreen Greenland
  49. Universitaet Wien, Austria
  50. Università Degli Studi Di Scienze Gastronomiche, Italy
  51. Centre For Research And Technology Hellas, Greece