To develop concerted actions, European Schoolnet has proposed the creation of the eLearning Interoperability Framework for Europe (LIFE). LIFE seeks to provide a European framework in which actions concerning eLearning interoperability can be organised in a concerted way bringing together actors from different educational sectors, from the private and public sectors and from the European Commission. Work will include a Think Tank of researchers dealing with education in schools, universities, vocational and adult training, publishing and the ICT industry. There will be an observatory network in which countries provide reports concerning interoperability issues such as applied standards and application profiles. There will also be pre-standardisation work and valorisation related to work by organisations like ISO, CEN/ISSS, IMS and SIF. The LIFE framework will also foster collaboration on issues identified by the Think Tank.

The success of efforts to develop exchange and collaboration on issues of standardisation and interoperability will also depend on an in-depth, on-going understanding of the position of education ministries and specialised agencies with respect to these issues and mechanisms they have developed to gather information, exchange ideas and make decisions. The overall aim of the current study carried out by European Schoolnet at the request of the Swiss Agency for ICT in Education (CTIE) is to provide that knowledge and to draw up mechanisms to keep that knowledge up-to-date.

The aims of this study can be summarized as follows:

• Provide a snap-shot of existing policies and strategies in ministries and agencies in Europe related to standards and interoperability in eLearning.
• Propose mechanisms for ongoing monitoring of such policies and strategies.
• Draw up a map of involvement of ministries and agencies in major standards bodies and initiatives.
• Identify current key issues in the field of standards and interoperability in eLearning.
• Sound out interest on the part of ministries and agencies for involvement in exchange and collaboration on key issues related to standards and interoperability in eLearning.

Many of the different school networks around Europe use the word standard related with achievement in schools, and not exactly with the meaning we will use in this report. For us standard is “a technology, format or method ratified by a respected authority”, though in many cases, we can considered to be a standard something that has not yet gone through the whole standardisation process, but is widely accepted and used.

And what are the main results we get by using standards? We can divide them into the following categories:

• Accessibility: we can access educational resources from a remote location to where it is physically located and deliver them to other locations
• Interoperability: use educational resources developed in one location, with one set of tools or platform, in another location, with a different set of tools or platform
• Reusability: incorporate educational resources into multiple learning experiences
• Durability: continue using educational resources when technology changes, without redesign or recoding
• Affordability: increase learning effectiveness and at the same time, reduce time and costs

In many different environments, Interoperability is mainly used as a synonymous with the word standard, maybe because it is the first need for the educational community to achieve.

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