A Life Long e-Learning initiative at Univpm. Preliminary results of a pilot project characterized by a learning desig n focused on users' requirements

This paper presents the preliminary results of a pilot project in the field of Life Long e-Learning. The project follows the decision of the Universita Pol itecnica delle Marche to open itself to experiences into the continuous education mar ket. It was developed in collaboration with the Association of Engineering Faculty Graduates (ALFIA). The instructional design of the courses has been based on didactic modes matching with users’ expected profiles. The users, in this case, are professionals and/or industrial managers involved into the industry. 1 The Univpm e-Learning project The Universita Politecnica delle Marche (UNIVPM) has adopted a University policy about elearning since 2004. This policy has been thought to provide UNIVPM with methods and technologies aiming to implement an e-learning blended model for inst itutional students and life long learners. The pedagogical model refers to Constructivi sm [1]. The decision constitutes a big challenge, involving substantial modifications of the traditional university instruction. The role of teachers, students and administrative staff has to be modified. The new policy, among its objectives, has identified directions to obtain a coverage of costs in order to make the project sustainable and to produce a high-quality tra ining offer for the professional world. The main direction is to focus and realize a re curring and continuous educational offer addressing professional instruction on topics of speci fic interest for the business world. In this context a collaboration between UNIVPM and the Association of Engineering Faculty Graduates (ALFIA) has started. ALFIA offers vocational training courses for the continuous education of professionals [2] in order to enable them to face the challenges of innovation. ALFIA organizes the knowledge demand and makes it available to its own members, as well as to the associations and the enterpris es asking to access the best didactic university experiences. The courses designed are proficiency courses allowing the acquis ition of university credits. Actually they regard three different target areas: Economics, E nergetics, Logistics. Therefore, a specific instructional design of each single course has been done in reference to its target/s and, for each user, the course gives a personalized training. The cou rses designed are: “From the business idea to the business plan”, “Buildings Energetic Certifi cation”, ”Supply chain management”.