Fjernundervisning basert på Internett - et samarbeid mellom Høgskolen Stord/Haugesund, Høgskolen i Agder, Høgskolen i Sør-Trøndelag og Norges teknisk-naturvitenskapelige universitet.


A European Project; JITOL

(Just In Time Open Learning)

The project was established as part of the EU DELTA-programme, in order to test out possible applications of new technology to fill the need for upgrading of professionals, particularly where there were isolated work places and difficulties in acquiring the desired training. It was not a traditional distant education project, but it aimed at making training and exchange of knowledge available when and where there is a need for it. Several private and public organisations joined this international venture for a period of 3 years (1992-94). The experiences and evaluation results are now available.

Several of the 12 partners from 8 countries had common interests and experiences from previous, co-operative work as a background when the proposal for a new project was elaborated during 1991. Norway -although not a member of the EU - was invited for participation, represented by the Norwegian Ministry of Education, Research and Church Affairs as contractual partner. The participants from EU countries received support from community funds, while Swiss and Norwegian efforts were completely covered through national funding. Major partners in the project were:

The core objective of the JITOL project was to gain experience through user trials - or pilot testing - of technology supported open learning, applied on three main categories of users:

The total project was organised in 7 work packages, each of them split into different activities. Every work package had its well defined objectives, its own work package leader and several formal deliverables to be produced and submitted. Major WP-areas were infrastructure, user trials, evaluation and management.

Through this international and multi-institutional co-operation, with sharing of knowledge and experiences, the intentions were to benefit from synergy and joint ventures, to develop a new concept of open learning, a system where knowledge and learning could be obtained when and where individuals, companies or institutions want it. Networks and modern infrastructures based on new information technologies were important corner stones of this activity.

Findings from the evaluation of JITOL are generally positive and in favour of further activities along the same concept line. Technical systems applied in the user trials were more or less successful in filling the requirements for a really open and flexible learning system. The vast majority of actors, learners, tutors etc., were nevertheless highly motivated and found the content relevant to the learners' needs and expectations. The partners involved gained valuable experiences, both through own activities and from the co-operation within the project.