Announcing details of international collaboration through e-Framework
The e-Framework for Education and Research is a visionary new initiative that brings together and builds on the successes of a number of Jisc development programmes – including the Jisc Information Environment activity (IE), e-Learning Framework (ELF) and the Virtual Research Environment Programme.
The goal of the e-Framework initiative is to develop a service-orientated approach to the development and integration of computer systems in the sphere of teaching, learning, research and administration.
In addition the e-Framework programme will support the vision outlined in the DfES e-strategy towards ‘a common digital infrastructure to support transformation and reform’.
Increasingly standards are international in scope and therefore Jisc cannot work alone; working under a collaboration agreement with the Australian Department for Education, Science and Training (DEST), Jisc is leading this international initiative which it is hoped will attract support from other partners.
What is the e-Framework?
One of the big technical obstacles preventing learning and research technology realising its full potential is the difficulty of accessing and sharing information between the different and often incompatible computer-based information systems and applications used throughout the learning and research communities.
The e-Framework supports a service-oriented approach to developing and delivering education, research and management information systems. ‘Service-orientated’ means breaking down monolith applications such as a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) into its core components eg authentication, authorisation, course management, assessment, marketing, tracking and content management. Such an approach maximises the flexibility and cost effectiveness with which systems can be deployed.
This is an ambitious task that will require us to bring together many different stakeholder groups to encourage sharing and working across communities and sectors. With its impressive track record in the field of ICT, Jisc is ideally placed to undertake this work on behalf of UK education and research.
What are we going to do?
Jisc intends to employ a practical approach to the e-Framework development, one based on institutional needs; for example, it will fund university-based projects to produce and test models and tools that will allow institutions themselves to link different services together to address their own particular needs.
The intention is not to provide a blueprint for an open-source solution, but rather to facilitate the integration of commercial, home-grown, and open source components and applications to meet institutional goals.
The e-Framework collaboration partnership intends to set-up a supportive environment and infrastructure to encourage the community to participate in the e-Frameworks further development. This will include setting up and maintaining an e-Framework website (www.e-framework.org), employing an Editor to co-ordinate the information and resources available on the website, and implementing a governance model which will allow the community to engage with confidence in an open and fully transparent process.
Why do we need to do this?
Universities and Colleges have invested million of pounds in systems to support learning, teaching and research. This work and partnership will help us to fully realise these investments and will ensure that work is not duplicated locally, nationally and internationally.
Further Information
The e-Framework Collaboration website outlines the broader e-framework collaboration initiative. This site is under development.
To receive regular updates about the development of the e-Framework and contribute to discussions you can sign up to the e-Framework mailing list: