Preferred Standards to Support National Cooperation in Applying Technology to VET

1. Definitions and Technology Areas

Important terms, which are used extensively throughout this report, are defined in the paragraphs which follow.

The National Guidelines for Technology comprise the following three components:

• Preferred Standards. In terms of the needs of the VET sector, the technical standards comprise agreed electronic parameters or information exchange protocols which, when used consistently, enable systems and equipment to interoperate easily.
• Functional Specifications are agreed descriptions of the required capability of systems or equipment to facilitate their use or interoperability within the sector.
• Operating Guidelines are agreed ways of using technology to maximise the benefits, minimise costs or support interoperability between different systems using that technology.
• Initiatives comprise those actions which the participants in the standards determination process believed would increase the value and/or interoperability of the VET Sector.
• Issues for Investigation were those that the participants believe could increase the value and interoperability of the VET Sector, but insufficient information is available at present to allow prescriptive recommendations to be made.

The outcomes of this report are targeted on a range of key technologies which support flexible delivery in the VET sector. These technologies comprise:

• Computer Managed Learning Systems: The systems used to support learner enrolment, online delivery of course material, assessment and the allocation and scheduling of resources to support those activities.
• Data: Standards to allow portability of student data, the interchange of records between institutes and access to courseware developed by third party organisations.
• Email: The server hardware, client software and protocols for data interchange allowing a store and forward means of communication of text and associated files.
• Groupware: Software to allow collaborative working between teachers and learners, including directory services, workflow scheduling and scheduling.
• Internet & Intranets: The network of networks and associated routing software, which allow users to communicate via email, access information data bases and transfer text, graphics, video and voice files.
• Personal Computers: The sets of PC hardware to support general learning for general VET courses and to support multimedia authoring and applications development.
• Video Conferencing: The communications hardware and associated video compression and transmission protocols which allow multipoint communication of real-time video, voice and graphics material.

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