Essen (GER), November 2007 - The new European standardization committee for eLearning, called CEN/TC 353, has been founded; its establishment is the result of extensive, thorough preparation. Reaching a European consensus on eLearning standards was a daunting endeavor, as was defining a vision, mission statement, and business plan. Finally, though, the unique organization will begin its efforts to bridge the gap between the international standards developed by the leading international eLearning standardization committee SC36 "IT-supported Learning, Education and Training (ITLET)" and those of the respective European national standardization bodies.
The committee is called officially the CEN Technical Committee (TC) 353 "Information and Communication Technologies for Learning, Education, and Training" or CEN/TC 353 for short. It was established by a vote of all European countries and the relevant national bodies for standardization, the result of which was an overall consensus with only affirmative votes. After its approval by the European Committee for Standardization (CEN), the first meeting of CEN/TC 353 took place in Milan, Italy on May 10th, 2007. Twenty-three delegates from ten European countries attended the kick-off function, auguring a successful and promising start for European eLearning standardization.
Mike Collett (UK) and Christian M. Stracke (Germany) were elected as Chair and Vice-Chair of CEN/TC 353, and the Secretariat is hosted by the Italian National Body UNINFO, with Massimo Actis Dato (Italy) as Secretary. "The establishment of the new European standardization committee CEN/TC 353 is a great step forward toward meeting the specific European needs in eLearning standardization and promoting and improving the application of eLearning standards throughout whole of Europe", points out Christian M. Stracke.
CEN/TC 353 will produce standards in the fields of information and communication technologies for learning, education, and training with a well-defined European scope. Main topics will include quality, competencies, vocabularies, and frameworks, and the first concrete results have already been achieved: The elaborate business plan, revised and adopted at the first CEN/TC 353 meeting, was officially approved by the CEN Technical Board. In addition, the CEN/TC 353 website has been launched, and comprehensive information and current news can be found online.
