SLOOP Project
Encyclopedia
SLOOP - Sharing Learning Objects in an Open Perspective - is an eLearning and open content project started in 2005 thanks to a European project co-funded within the Leonardo da Vinci programe. The project has gone on after the deadline of the funded project.
SLOOP is a community of practice of teachers who share Open Learning Object (or OER).
The original idea is to apply the free software philosophy to the production of pedagogical materials for e-learning.

Another two European Projects have followed, at the moment, the previous one: Tenegen & Sloop2desc.
SLOOP Project (2005-2007)=

A Learning Object
Learning object
A learning object is "a collection of content items, practice items, and assessment items that are combined based on a single learning objective". The term is credited to Wayne Hogins when he created a working group in 1994 bearing the name though the concept was first described by Gerard in 1967...

 (LO) is, by definition, a reusable chunk of learning content: the reusability is the main motivation in favour of LOs. But if an LO is covered by copyright “all rights reserved” it can be reused from the technical point of view, but legally it is only reusable by the owner himself. The SLOOP Project has introduced the idea of free/open Learning Object: LO with a licence which allows the material to be used freely, to be changed and to be distributed; obviously the source code
Source code
In computer science, source code is text written using the format and syntax of the programming language that it is being written in. Such a language is specially designed to facilitate the work of computer programmers, who specify the actions to be performed by a computer mostly by writing source...

 should be accessible but is not.

The SLOOP community includes teachers from many countries who share LOs. In the SLOOP Project has been developed freeLOms, a free LO management system.

SLOOP is the acronym of Sharing Learning Objects in an Open Perspective.

SLOOP aim

The SLOOP Project aims
  • to promote and facilitate the integration of face to face learning, work-based learning and e-learning in order to improve the quality and efficiency of the learning process;
  • to customise learning paths by supporting them properly with multimedia learning objects;
  • to facilitate the creation and the use of education tools (learning objects) which are free, re-usable and shared among teaching communities according to the free software
    Free software
    Free software, software libre or libre software is software that can be used, studied, and modified without restriction, and which can be copied and redistributed in modified or unmodified form either without restriction, or with restrictions that only ensure that further recipients can also do...

     philosophy.


The SLOOP Project aims to develop and promote a technological platform - named freeLOms - to create, save and use easy-to-access online teaching material, modifiable according to the open source philosophy. The goal is to create a collection so-called Learning Object to international standards such as SCORM
SCORM
Sharable Content Object Reference Model is a collection of standards and specifications for web-based e-learning. It defines communications between client side content and a host system called the run-time environment, which is commonly supported by a learning management system...

 for teacher training and student education.
The SLOOP Project is funded with support from the European Commission under the European Commission
European Commission
The European Commission is the executive body of the European Union. The body is responsible for proposing legislation, implementing decisions, upholding the Union's treaties and the general day-to-day running of the Union....

 "Leonardo da Vinci programme" – with partners in Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

, Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

, Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...

, Slovenia
Slovenia
Slovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central and Southeastern Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy to the west, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north, and also has a small portion of...

 and Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

.http://ec.europa.eu/education/programmes/leonardo/index_en.html It follows the seventh objective of the Copenhagen Declaration: “Focus more on the learning needs of teachers and trainers who operate in education professional development”.

SLOOP outcomes

  • The main product of the SLOOP project is the freeLOms, free LO management system.

  • In the freeLOms are available many free/open LO: the ones produced during the project can be viewed on the SLOOP site in LOs miscellanea.


  • The book Sharing Learning Objects in an Open Perspective (ISBN 978-88-903115-0-5) can be downloaded from here.

Italy


Ireland


Slovenia


Spain


TENEGEN Project (2008-2010)=
PROMPT, an Hungarian organisation, has presented in the framework of the Lifelong Learning Programme a transfer of innovation project based on the Netis project and SLOOP project results. It has been approved and has been developed in the period October 2008 - September 2010.
The project is called TENEGEN, that comes from: Connect the TEachers – to reach and teach the NET GENeration.

Tenegen aim

"According to recent surveys the use of computers in European schools is close to 100%, and almost all European schools have internet access. We also find essential improvements concerning the basic ICT competencies of VET teachers. In spite of positive tendencies, the e-learning methods have not been integrated in the schools’ pedagogical programmes at the expected level, not even in the front-runner countries. The wide e-learning developments do not seem to reach the target group: the VET teachers, and as a consequence not even the primary target group, the VET students. In a Hungarian case study we find that the majority (73%) of VET students are sceptical about their teachers’ skills to apply ICT in the class. The ways of learning and teaching are changing in the information society independently of theteacher’s (of our) intentions. Among us lives a new generation (born between 1982–1991), called the Net Generation, which learns and communicates in a new way, forms its own special path to get information about the surrounding world. They are always connected: they are the digital natives. To be able to guide n-Gen on the way to become a citizen of the knowledge society, the teachers have to experience what the phenomenon of web 2.0, elearning 2.0 mean, how they can incorporate social networking, connectivism, knowledge sharing in their educational activities and they must have not only digital literacy but also fluency in information technology.

The aim of the project is to establish the TENEGEN networking environment, in which teachers will not only study but also experience the newest e-learning methods, by cooperating, communicating, providing and sharing knowledge – where they learn, why it is so important for the NET Generation to be connected." (From the Tenegen Application form)

Hungary


Sloop2desc Project (2009-2011)=
One of the previous SLOOP project partner, ITD-CNR, has presented within the Lifelong Learning Programme a new transfer of innovation project, started in October 2009: Sloop2desc that means Sharing Learning Objects in an Open Perspective TO develop european skills and competences.

SLOOP2desc aim

The Sloop2desc project intends to transfer and extend the results of the former SLOOP project concerning:
  • a model of Free/Open Learning Object (or Open Educational Resources),
  • a model of collaborative e-Learning,

At the same time Sloop2desc focuses on new educational models based on competences and learning outcomes. Specifically, the project refers to the EQF (European Qualification Framework), that has been adopted by the EU Parliament and Council in April 2008 (it establishes general criteria for comparing qualification systems developed and/or adopted in the EU countries).

Sloop2desc focuses on teachers training as far as the following two goals are concerned:
  • competence-based learning,
  • the use of the Internet and Web 2.0 tools to integrate face-to-face and online learning.

Teacher training activities in Italy and Slovenia will be based on the development of educational resources regarding a specific European model for certifying competencies, the EUCIP system.
Certification systems in the maritime field will be adopted in Romania.

Italy


Ireland


Slovenia


External links


Books and articles about SLOOP and connected projects



Books and articles about Sloop2desc

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