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Long message, but worth a look!
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Applications in education

Multimedia projects close European knowledge gap

Two ambitious multimedia initiatives by the European Commission Joint
Research Centre aim to close the knowledge gap in Europe by bringing
schools and educational institutions together on the Internet. The GEM
project will allow teachers, students and academics to create a massive
on-line database of educational materials and resources. ParlEuNet will
enable pupils to collaborate on joint projects and, in the process,
enhance their understanding of the European Parliament.

The only way to build a united, prosperous and democratic Europe is to
bring its people – and especially schoolchildren and young students –
closer together. New technology and The Internet provide the technical
means but the real key lies in the content.

So, the Institute for Systems, Informatics and Safety (ISIS) at the
European Commission's Joint Research Centre in Ispra, Italy is working
on two projects to deliver high-quality material to schools, colleges,
and universities throughout the EU. Funded by DG13 under the Multimedia
Taskforce initiative, the ISIS GEM and ParlEuNet projects are creating
an on-line learning environment where children can work together, find
out more about other European cultures, and develop a stronger sense of
European citizenship:

Massive on-line database

GEM aims to build a massive on-line database of educational resources.
This will form the hub of an EU-wide network bringing together teachers,
schools, colleges and universities, funding agencies and companies
developing educational materials.

The project exploits the interactive nature of Internet to the maximum;
everyone who joins the project will be a user and a provider:
-  teachers can upload their own course material;
-  teaching establishments can advertise courses, workshops and
conferences;
-  national and EU institutions can announce new programmes, funding
schemes and projects; and
-  companies can promote multimedia teaching products.

At the heart of the database is a powerful search engine letting users
locate material using subject, keyword, or free text queries. Everything
that goes into the database is automatically indexed, and there is tight
quality control, both from peer groups and from GEM itself.

Although the project is still at the prototype stage, ISIS has already
recruited 200 users, including educationalists, researchers, suppliers
and teachers. Information is stored in English, French, German and
Italian, and the aim is ultimately to sign up thousands of users
throughout the EU. In its final form, GEM will be a European clearing
house for products and services in the fast-growing field of multimedia
applications for education and training.

The URL for GEN is  http://gem.jrc.it

All interested parties are invited to register and populate the system.


Parleunet - Europe-wide Internet collaboration

ParlEuNet is the prototype for a multimedia system that will give
students and teachers from all over the EU the opportunity to work on
shared projects and documents. It is the first Europe-wide initiative to
put state-of-the-art technology at the disposal of schoolchildren and
let them collaborate over the Internet. The end product will be a
practical guide on how best to use telematics in the classroom.
The emphasis will be on student-based learning, a collaborative approach
and turning users into providers so that everyone’s experience and
knowledge is fully used. Students can link up using Internet connections
and videoconferencing. At first, they will use the material on the site
itself but, gradually, their own work will supplement this material as
they develop educational modules and resources themselves.

All the on-site material is based around the European Parliament’s
history, role and future – so as well as long-term benefits as a model
for on-line education, the ISIS project is helping the pupils involved
to gain a close insight into the way the parliament functions. It is
possible for students to:
- access information on the parliament;
- create their own projects around the site;
- join forces with students from other schools; and
- exchange information with MEPs themselves.

The project is designed to make an impact throughout the whole
educational sector. It will provide feedback to colleges and
universities on using telematics in education, and, crucially, to the
technology industry on the needs of real users.
Everyone will learn something of value from these two ISIS projects –
not just the students, but also the teachers, the software developers,
the parents and, perhaps, even the EU institutions and MEPs.

More information can be found at http://parleunet.jrc.it




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