1. E-Learning & Vocational Training within Leonardo da Vinci projects:
The Romanian Case Study
M. Caramihai, Irina Severin, National Agency Leonardo da Vinci, Romania

2. The particular objectives of the Leonardo Programme, as established by the EC are:●
To improve the skills and competencies of people, especially young people, in initial vocational training at all levels.
To improve the quality of, and access to, continuing vocational training and the lifelong acquisition of skills and competencies .
To improve and reinforce the contribution of vocational training to the process of innovation, special attention will be paid in this respect to foster co-operation between vocational training institution, including universities and undertakings, particularly SMEs.

3. Figure 1. Pilot projects – with Romanian promoters: the eLearning component proportion

4. Figure 2 Thematic covered by pilot projects with Romanian promoters

5. Figure 3 Pilot projects - Romanian partners in projects with other state-member promoters

6. 60%
55%
30%
21%
10%
Managers
(continuing training)
People with high-school training
(continuing training
People with higher education training
People involved in formal education structures
(students, etc)
People in IVT
Figure 4. Target groups in Leonardo da Vinci projects, Exercises 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 (IVT = Initial Vocational Training)

7. Table 1. Educational tools used by target groups
Content
Educational Style
Informational Style
Communication
Style
Target Groups
Help on- line
Visual
Information
Portal
Intranet
Applications & simulations
Business operations
People in IVT
Highschool trainees
Higher ed. trainees
People included in formal ed. structures
Managers
Business processes
Interactive
Asynchronous
Web Training
Local Training (CD-ROM)
Good practices
Structural Management
People undergoing formal education
Collaborative
Synchronous
Virtual Classes
“On-the-job”applications

8. Conclusions:
The brief analysis of Romanian projects under the period 2000 – 2003 has led to the drafting of a Decalogue, founded on these analytical elements: 1
The vocational training cultivated within the Leonardo da Vinci projects is different from the standard approaches in the field: one cannot develop a curriculum, or write a book, and make it available on the Internet and expect people to use them ipso facto: they will not have enough patience to “turn” the pages or take in the written demonstrations. What people really want is to permanently “interact” with the source of information. 2
Learning should take place irrespective of time and place, moulded into flexible modules. The on - line courses are not taken in a classical sequence. The time allotted to learning is of times confined to an interval of 5 – 15 minutes. The curricular differences should be such as to emphasize this opportunity

9. 3
The learning path has been made explicit by complying with the postulate: ”content is king, but feedback is queen” (Michell Weisburg): Thus, in their ODL courses, trainees will (even shall) be able to master various ways of assimilating course matter as well as get empowered to answer the question “how can I individualise the pace of my learning process?” 4
Learning adapted to personal needs: although the trainee should, on principle, take in (and assimilate) the whole module, sometimes, he/she might need training in only one specific, highly personal area. In this case, the curricular approach should make this type of approach visible. 5
The on - line courses are created once, but they are used several times: tutorials, lessons and multimedia created for a certain application should be capable to meet multiple requirements.

10. 6
Individual approaches are multifarious: with respect to the target group, a course may be approached in various ways; thus, the course curriculum should take this into account, by emphasizing the dynamics of the object of study (standard courses being static in their nature). 7
Simplicity of approach: in general, the VT target audience avoids contacting the tutor by or activating interactive means (for supplementary information). In this case, the course should emphasize simplicity and explicit approaches. 8
Courses are changing permanently: because of the steady flow of information and exchanges, the course content is in a permanent state of change; their dynamics should allow for a permanent (and rapid) adaptation of VT modules.

11. 9
Permanent monitoring and evaluation: the trainees’ permanent monitoring and evaluation should not take into consideration only the learning performances, but it should also take into consideration the need to permanently adapt content to training needs. 10
Flexible curricular approaches: unlike the classical curriculum, featuring a fixed, long term structure, the on - line curriculum training should have a fixed component (nucleus) and a variable component, capable of ”absorbing” the permanent informational changes.