Learning Network Services for Professional Development

A "Learning Network" is a community of people who help each other to better understand and handle certain events and concepts in work or life. As a result – and sometimes also as an aim – participating in learning networks stimulates personal development, a better understanding of concepts and events, career development, and employability. "Learning Network Services" are Web services that are designed to facilitate the creation of distributed Learning Networks and to support the participants with various functions for knowledge exchange, social interaction, assessment and competence development in an effective way. The book presents state-of-the-art insights into the field of Learning Networks and Web-based services which can facilitate all kinds of processes within these networks.

Rob Koper is professor in the field of learning technologies and the Dean of the Centre for Learning Sciences and Technologies (CELSTEC) at the Open University of the Netherlands. Rob has more than 20 years of experience in the field of learning sciences and technologies, and published over 200 publications.

In the past he was responsible for the development of new learning technologies like the Educational Modelling Language (now IMS Learning Design), and methods and technologies to facilitate self-organized learning networks for lifelong learning. His current research is in the area of personal competence development, and he is co-ordinating the Integrated EU project TENCompetence that is building a web-based infrastructure for lifelong competence development.