Advanced Training Institute
Krassen Stefanov, Raul Poler, Svetla Boytcheva & Pencho Mihnev, University of Sofia
Lydia Montandon, ATOS Origin

Krassen Stefanov described a renewed workplan for Kaleidoscope advanced training. ATI will provide a brokerage function for tools and competencies with regard to training and consultancy services, both for external requests and for Kaleidoscope researchers. This will be facilitated through a 'human-supported interactive portal' built on the existing communication infrastructure of Kaleidoscope, which will contain tools for presenting Kaleidoscope competencies, with people to help make linkages.The long-term goal is for it to evolve into a 'virtual organisation.'

Stephen Brown of Montfort University (UK) suggested that such a portal should have an automatic data harvesting capability, which Stefanov agreed to.

One of the first actions of ATI is a collaboration with the INTEROP Network of Excellence which is creating interoperability models in economics. Kaleidoscope ATI has developed a needs analysis and action plan, and two workshops are planned.

Another action is a collaboration with the European Thematic Network for Doctoral Education in Computing (ETN-DEC), and workshops are planned.

Lydia Montandon described the links between ATI and AIDA - the Kaleidoscope Academy-Industry Digital Alliance (which held its own workshop at the Symposium). Montandon is overseeing ATI and the Users Group as well as AIDA, and she stressed a need to differentiate industry from end users in technology-enhanced learning. Industrial users include content providers, telecoms, software and hardware companies. The products they produce include Learning Management Systems, Learning Content Management Systems, authoring tools, content, and applications. She also made a distinction between end users and customers or purchasers of technologies, which include schools and companies. Companies such as vendors, she said, can innovate and conduct research, and may potentially be interested in Kaleidoscope research. In fact, the lines are blurred further, since customers can innovate as well.