National Initiatives Concerning the Career Guidance/Information/Vocational Counselling - Iceland

Source: CEDEFOP

Learning Opportunities Database

On 1 March 2002, Educate-Iceland launched its learning opportunities database ( http://www.mennt.is/mennt/). The database, the first of its kind in Iceland, contains extensive information on all learning opportunities in Iceland at secondary level and above, as well as lifelong learning opportunities offered by a wide range of providers. In a country as scarcely populated as Iceland such free access to information is very important. This is not least the case in vocational education and training, where courses are offered in different types of schools, at different places and even through distance learning. The database is freely accessible to the public on the World Wide Web. The database is both in Icelandic and English and each institute can submit its information in either or both languages. It is easily translatable and supports all character-sets.

When Educate-Iceland was formed in 1998, top priority was given to the development of a web based information service on learning opportunities. After extensive research and planning the Icelandic software company, Nýherji, was contracted to construct the database, website and software.

It was decided that a decentralised approach would be adopted for feeding the database. The educational institutions themselves are entirely responsible for entering and maintaining information on their learning opportunities. To ensure the integrity of the system a number of automatic editorial features are included in the system and the processes involved in entering and maintaining the information have been made as simple as possible. The data format used is compliant with the IMS-LOM specification and the system will read and output compliant data in XML format. Due to the widespread use of both the LOM data specification and XML, data can easily be shared between the Icelandic learning opportunities database and other such databases. Educate-Iceland is currently exploring the possibility of establishing connections with operators of similar services to be able to offer information on learning opportunities abroad available to Icelanders. Furthermore, since the LOM specification is based on the Dublin Core Metadata Initiative, the most widespread metadata specification in use on the web, dData can also be shared between the learning opportunities database and other resources, such as digital libraries.

Education providers choose from two methods of entering data into the database. Larger institutions operating their own databases use software allowing simple transfer of data from the providers directly to the central database over the Internet. Smaller institutions enter their data directly using web-based forms. For these institutions the learning opportunities database also functions as a valuable tool for managing information on their services and products.

The public has free access to the database on the website. The primary goal in the design was to keep things simple and straightforward. The users choose from three different search engines depending on the educational level they are interested in. They search for either secondary or tertiary level or other courses not classifiable by education levels. Each of the three search forms differ to reflect the differences in offers. The users can easily locate learning opportunities suitable to their needs and narrow down possibilities by specifying further criteria, for example geographical location or whether the course is offered through distance learning. Since all the data is stored in a centralised location and in a uniform format, users are able to easily compare similar courses offered by different providers. The result being that users are able to make more informed choices better reflecting their exact needs or wishes. Finally, to complete the process, users are able to register and pay for courses online.

The Icelandic learning opportunities database was designed in a modular fashion to allow for easy expansion and integration of new services. The database itself is best thought of as a hub for a variety of services making use of available data. The first such extension, currently in the planning phase aims to construct an electronic counsellor to help users determine what learning opportunities best suit their needs and desires. Other possibilities to be explored in the future include linking the learning opportunities database to employment services and bookshops.

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