An integrated solution for content management and computer assisted training (AEL)

AEL is an integrated Learning and Content Management System developed by SIVECO Romania SA aimed to support professors/tutors, students, content editors, administrative staff and other stakeholders in the learning process. AEL is the backbone of the National Educational System (SEI) Program in Romania; offering support for teaching and learning, evaluation and grading, content management, process management and monitoring, curriculum design and administration and also providing the tools for communication and synchronization between the local solutions within the national SEI framework. SEI means The Educational IT-Based System, a complex program initiated by the Romanian Ministry of Education and Research, having as main goal to support the teaching/learning process in the undergraduate educational system with latest technology. RMER's SEI program supports the objectives of the Romanian education reform, conforming to the EU's eEurope++/eLearning strategy. The Learning Management System AEL is built based on modern educational principles. Mainly, it conforms to the three successive stages that generally define the educational process: - Acquiring basic knowledge - Development of tactical thinking - Development of strategic thinking The innovative feature is the capacity of the system to be permently extendable, an open system, dynamic, information being stored according to existing standards. Moreover, the system creates in Romania a format that has become a starting point in the educational arena widely recognized by the market. The AEL system offers support in four areas: - Teaching - Evaluation of students - Management of organizational structure - Monitoring of the educational process

Main results, benefits and impacts

AEL is optimized for synchronous learning, having the professor in control of the complete lesson, creating, coordinating and monitoring the teaching environment. AEL also offers support for unsynchronized learning - self(-paced) study, collaborative projects or distance learning. Tests are integrated with study records, the system keeping track of each student's history and evolution. Assistance for administration and monitoring is offered, for: 1. Management of school records, including student records and scheduling; 2. Management of organizational structure: professorial core, students,administrative personnel, student groups, etc.; 3. Management of curriculas integrated with AEL knowledge base and with the organizational structure; 4. Management of classrooms, depiction of classrooms with graphic maps; 5. Support for evaluation of content, monitoring of content use and effectiveness; The educational software and the electronic content are obtained both from the existing content, but producers from the academic and private sector are developing new software. There is also a set of technical and methodological specifications for eContent development usage. Before school network distribution, commissions set up by subject of study, and appointed by RMERY assess the eContent. The assessment takes into consideration technical criteria (software quality metrics, such as usage, performance and feasibility), but also pedagogical criteria (interactivity level, scientific accuracy, methodological approach). Modules such as Secretariat, e-student book, centralized reporting system for the Ministry of Education and Research. Schoolbooks evaluation System, provided in an integrated manner, can be found in SIVECO Learning Solution, which cannot be said about any of the competing e-learning products.Interactive testing with online test evaluation and assessment is yet another added value functionality brought forth by SIVECO Learning Solution. The system also offers features for collaboration between schools and between branches of the same company in the employees' training process. Domestic market: SIVECO has used both internal and external resources for the selling of the AEL plat-form. Thus, for each geographical region of Romania there have been found domestic partners that were trained for the implementation of the system.

Return on investment

Return on investment: Not applicable / Not available

Lessons learnt

Assistance for administration and monitoring: - Management of school records, manuals; - Management of organizational structure of schools: professorial core, students, classes, study records etc. - Support for the creation and management of study programs - Data gathering from throughout the country for statistical purposes - Access to data available at national level - Creation of an evaluation system for manuals, at national level - Centralization of data; Management Information System (MIS) for governamental body and county educational administration, which should offer a strong support for the decision makers, in the areas of decision, control, planning, prognosis, tracking - Monitoring of performance and activity at educational unit level and even professorial core - Gathering of coherent data, based on synthesis of data in the system, both for managerial support on short and medium term and for establishing the policies and tactics on long term - Allows different views on data: different perspectives, different aggregation levels. External markets: Staying consistent with its expansion strategy naturally deriving from the successful rollout at a national level of the system in Romania, SIVECO has built the foundation for international part-nerships. This is seen as a necessary prerequisite for the development of the product growth on external markets, with the finality of setting a standard in terms of Learning Management Systems. The commercial department dealing with the international sales from SIVECO Romania will manage the promotion and the distribution of the product via the local distribution channels in different countries. The participation to the international conference (MARCUS EVENS, EDEN, other NoE), workshops and events dedicated to the eLearning area, will be an other way to promote and sell the product on the international market. The most obvious advantage that SIVECO Learning Solution brings lies in the fact that although flexible, it perfectly fits the needs of the Romanian pre-universitary educational system. Its flexibility allowed for the implementation of the system not only for pre-universitary education levels, but also at some of the largest universities in Romania (including Bucharest Polytechnic University, the largest technical university in Ro-mania). The similar e-learning solutions mentioned above are to a large extent, business oriented, in the sense that they provide support for training programmes, specifically, and to a smaller extent, if at all, can be mapped on the realities of the Romanian and international centralized education system.