ILA Research Initiatives

Commitment To Research

The ILA is committed to furthering the development of next generation e-Learning technologies and best practices through its unique public/private research partnership, which is unmatched in the e-Learning industry. The ILA and its members have teamed up with leading universities and research institutions, and state organizations such as Enterprise Ireland, to fund and actively participate in next generation e-Learning research.

Based on a shared vision, the ILA companies have put together an evolving ten year innovation strategy that is focused around two key projects – the current ELITE project, which runs from 2006-2009, and a follow-on project to fund and support a Center of Excellence in Learning Technologies based in Ireland.

ILA ELITE

The E-Learning Ireland TEchnology (ELITE) Project is a 3 year, $5 million research project funded by ILA members and Enterprise Ireland. A dedicated team of 18 post-graduates in the Digital Enterprise Research Institute at the National University of Ireland, Galway has been carrying out research on behalf of the ILA members since early 2006.

The output of this research consists of a set of technologies, processes and tools to enable ILA members to streamline the development and delivery of engaging, effective next generation learning solutions.

The ILA industry consortium has considered the impact that new technologies such as Web 2.0 and the emerging Semantic Web can have on the way people communicate and collaborate online. The ELITE Platform looks to harness many of these new technologies to provide people with an innovative and flexible platform for collaboration, problem solving and knowledge sharing.

A key aspect of the project will be to measure and track this critically important process of social and informal learning and to integrate it within the standards and systems that currently exist within the industry.

Center of Excellence

The ILA is currently working on the planning phase for a much larger follow-on project to ELITE in terms of scope, funding and duration. The goal of this initiative will be to set up a Center of Excellence in Learning Technologies that will be based in Ireland but addressing the needs of the global learning industry.

There is potential for the Irish Government to provide funding of $3M per annum for 5-8 years to set up a physical research facility with a full-time team of professional researchers.

This Center of Excellence will have a significant commercial orientation with a team of business analysts who will explore the Enterprise, Higher Education and K-12 markets and provide direction to the core researchers.

Initial research areas have been identified and include:

Social & Semantic Learning
Mobile Learning
Games & Simulation
Online Identity
Sensors & Agents
New Assessment Methods

Find Out More

For more information on ILA Research, and the ELITE and Center of Excellence projects in particular, please view our presentation and feel free to contact us with any questions.