SLOOP Project

SLOOP is an e-Learning and OpenContent project, funded by the European Commission. It promotes the sharing of free/open learning objects. The original idea is to apply the free software philosophy to the production of pedagogical materials for e-learning.

A Learning Object (LO) is, by definition, a "reusable" chunk of learning content: the reusability is the main motivation in favour of LOs. But if an LO is covered by copyright "“all rights reserved”" it can be reused from the technical point of view, but legally it is only reusable by the owner himself. The SLOOP Project has introduced the idea of free/open Learning Object: LO with a licence which allows the material to be used freely, to be changed and to be distributed; obviously the source code must be accessible.

The SLOOP community includes teachers from many countries who share LOs. In the SLOOP Project has been developed freeLOms, a "free LO management system".

SLOOP is the acronym of Sharing Learning Objects in an Open Perspective.

Website

The address of the SLOOP site is: [http://www.sloopproject.eu www.sloopproject.eu] . The SLOOP site has been created using Moodle in order to have the possibility to deliver courses and to activate discussion forums as the Communities of practice are the base of the development of the project.

Project aim

The SLOOP Project aims
* to promote and facilitate the integration of face to face learning, work-based learning and e-learning in order to improve the quality and efficiency of the learning process;
* to customise learning paths by supporting them properly with multimedia learning objects;
* to facilitate the creation and the use of education tools (learning objects) which are free, re-usable and shared among teaching communities according to the free software philosophy.

The SLOOP Project aims to develop and promote a technological platform - named "freeLOms" - to create, save and use easy-to-access online teaching material, modifiable according to the open source philosophy. The goal is to create a collection so-called Learning Object to international standards such as SCORM for teacher training and student education.The SLOOP Project is funded with support from the European Commission under the European Commission "Leonardo da Vinci programme" – with partners in Italy, Ireland, Romania, Slovenia and Spain. [http://ec.europa.eu/education/programmes/leonardo/index_en.html] It follows the seventh objective of the Copenhagen Declaration: "“Focus more on the learning needs of teachers and trainers who operate in education professional development”".

Project outcomes

* The main product of the SLOOP project is the [http://www.freeloms.org freeLOms] , free LO management system.

* In the freeLOms are available many free/open LO: the ones produced during the project can be viewed on the SLOOP site in [http://www.sloopproject.eu/course/view.php?id=20 LOs miscellanea] .

* Another product is an on-line course "Producing and sharing LOs" available in self-learning in [http://www.sloopproject.eu/course/view.php?id=31 English] , [http://www.sloopproject.eu/course/view.php?id=7 Italian] , [http://www.sloopproject.eu/course/view.php?id=24 Spanish] and [http://www.sloopproject.eu/course/view.php?id=35 Slovenian] .

* The book Sharing Learning Objects in an Open Perspective (ISBN 978-88-903115-0-5) can be downloaded from [http://www.sloopproject.eu/mod/resource/view.php?id=1409 here] .

Project partners

Italy

* [http://www.tes.mi.it ITSOS (Istituto Tecnico Statale Sperimentale ad Ordinamento Speciale) “Marie Curie” di Cernusco sul Naviglio] ("promoter")
* [http://www.pa.itd.cnr.it CNR - Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche - Istituto per le Tecnologie Didattiche - Sezione di Palermo]
* [http://www.formaper.it Formaper]
* [http://www.metid.polimi.it METID – Politecnico di Milano]
* [http://www.scienter.org Scienter]

Ireland

* Cork College of Commerce
* [http://www-deis.cit.ie DEIS, Department of Education – Cork Institute of Technology]

Romania

* [http://www.ugal.ro University “Dunarea de Jos” - Galati]

lovenia

* [http://www.ntf.uni-lj.si/ University of Ljubljana - Faculty of Natural Sciences and Engineering]

pain

* [http://www.uoc.edu/web/eng/index.html FUOC, Fundación Universitat Oberta de Catalunya]

External links

* [http://www.sloopproject.eu www.sloopproject.eu]
* [http://www.impresalive.tv/ppw/ppw_user/showcontent.php?content_id=760%20class=titoli_filmati Video interview on the SLOOP project]
* [http://ec.europa.eu/education/programmes/leonardo/index_en.html Leonardo da Vinci Programme]
* [http://www.kii2.ntf.uni-lj.si/sloop/ Slovenian version of the SLOOP site]
* [http://www.collegeofcommerce.com/sloop/ Cork, Ireland, version of the SLOOP Project]

Articles about SLOOP

* "SLOOP: a European Project focused on the realization of a shared repository of free Learning Objects" by Mara Masseroni e [http://www.tes.mi.it/pfr Pierfranco Ravotto] , EXPO eLearning Ferrara (6-8 October 2005) [http://sloop.tes.mi.it/sloop/file.php/1/sloopdownload/Articles/Sloop_EXPOFerrara_EN.pdf]
* "SLOOP: un progetto europeo per un archivio condiviso di Free Learning Object" di Mara Masseroni e [http://www.tes.mi.it/pfr Pierfranco Ravotto] , EXPO eLearning Ferrara (6-8 ottobre 2005) [http://www.wbt.it/index.php?risorsa=sloop] [http://sloop.tes.mi.it/sloop/file.php/1/sloopdownload/Articles/Sloop_EXPOFerrara_IT.pdf]
* "SLOOP: sviluppare un Free Learning Objects Management System" ("SLOOP: to develop a Free Learning Object Management System") by [http://www.tes.mi.it/pfr Pierfranco Ravotto] , SieL Seminar in Florence (9-11 November 2005) [http://sloop.tes.mi.it/sloop/file.php/1/SloopDownload/Articles/Sloop_Siel.pdf]
* "Dalle scuole in rete a una rete di scuole per la realizzazione di free Learning Object" di [http://www.tes.mi.it/pfr Pierfranco Ravotto] , Didamatica, Cagliari (11 - 13 maggio 2006) [http://sloop.tes.mi.it/sloop/file.php/1/sloopdownload/Articles/Sloop_Didamatica.pdf]
* "A collaborative 'open Learning Objects' management system" by Manuel Gentile, Davide Taibi, Mario Allegra, Giovanni Fulantelli - WSEAS - ENGINEERING EDUCATION 2006 (EE'06)- Vouliagmeni Beach, Athens, Greece, (July 11-13, 2006) - Special Session: Methods and Tools for Managing Learning Objects [http://sloop.tes.mi.it/sloop/file.php/1/sloopdownload/Articles/Intervento_Gentile_in_Grecia.pdf]
* "Teachers make their expertise available online" - Evening Echo - Thursday September 28, 2006 [http://sloop.tes.mi.it/sloop/file.php/1/sloopdownload/Articles/echo28-09-06.doc]
* "Learn to teach on the Net" - Evening Echo - Thursday December 7, 2006 [http://sloop.tes.mi.it/sloop/file.php/1/sloopdownload/Articles/echo07-12-06.doc]

References

* [http://www.programmaleonardo.net/leo2/schedecompendium/progetti2005/154194_05_ITSOS_MarieCurie.htm ISFOL-Leonardo da Vinci Italian Agency]
* [http://www.pubblica.istruzione.it/buongiorno_europa/allegati/scheda_sloop_cernusco_sul_naviglio.pdf Italian Ministry of Education]
* [http://www.pa.itd.cnr.it/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=124&Itemid=134 Italian National Research Council (CNR)]
* [http://forge.alfresco.com/projects/freeloms/ Eduforge - freeLOms]
* [http://www.idd.ugal.ro/inf/sloop.htm Universitas Galatiensis - Romania]
* [http://www.metid.polimi.it/attivita/schede_progetti/int_sloop.htm Politecnico di Milano]
* [http://www.quel.it/Members/Webmaster/sloop QUeL, Qualità nell'eLearning]
* [http://www.obiettivoeuropa.it/progetti_ue_realizzati.asp Obiettivo Europa - Vetrina Progetti UE]