The Future of Education

Since the beginning of 21st century, the term “e-learning” has become the most prominent feature of distance educational systems. Various tags are currently used to describe it, but for the purposes of this paper, a definition of e-learning that encompasses an educational orientation has been chosen: e-learning describes the application of computer hardware, software and networks to any aspect of teaching and learning. In this context, the eVirtue project (http://groupspaces.com/eVirtue/), funded by the European Commission in the context of LifeLong Learning Programme, conducted an in-depth research of the competences and skills necessary for trainers so that they meet the requirements of emerging, technology-based training job roles. Six new specialized e-learning professions have been identified and described, namely: E-learning architect, E-learning content developer –full-time specialist role, E-learning content developer –part time role, E-learning curriculum designer, Online tutor and Virtual classroom facilitator. Because of the European scope of the project and of the technological nature of the professions, descriptions have been based on the European e-Competences Framework (e-CF), an emerging CEN standard that is compatible with the European Qualifications Framework (EQF). In addition, a set of guidelines to design trainings that would provide qualifications that match the specifications of each of the new job roles has been developed, to be used by Vocational Education and Training (VET) providers, employers and employees. These are based on a thorough review of current training and educational offers and present in a practical way a complete structure of learning units that should be designed by VET organisations who are active in the field of e-learning professions. In order to design the guidelines, we collaborated closely with training institutions as well as policy makers and experts in the field of e-learning professions from five European countries: France, Germany, Greece, Poland and United Kingdom. The training guidelines are centered on learning outcomes, offer ideas on the development of learning units and present examples of how they can be realized.