The PROVIDE platform is the virtual home of quality KA1 training provision. In view of Europe 2020, continuous professional development calls for competence development, a needs-oriented approach, an international profile, validation, learning agreements and puts forward a number of priority themes. Most of these elements are reflected in the criteria of the KA1 applications of the sending organisations. These applicants are looking for the courses answering their needs and fitting their European development plan. The European policy is present on the demand side so it must also be present in the training offer.
For PROVIDE the course quality criteria are clear. Courses should:
• be innovative and competence oriented
• care for quality and have a self-evaluation system on board
• link up with European education priorities
• include a European dimension and exploit the European added value
• engage in learning agreements and validation of the individual learning outcomes
• use ICT in an appropriate way
• take care of transfer and impact
These quality criteria are reflected in the course description template. Training providers have to present their offer in terms of didactic approach, ICT use, competences tackled etc.
In a second phase the course providers will have the option to have their course(s) evaluated by the GINCO team. This evaluation will be based on document analysis, on-line evaluation and interviews of participants. This will lead to an on-site star labelling of the course.
In a third phase the course organisers can opt to use the LEVEL5 software to validate and certify the learning outcomes of their course participants.
The platform will also offer blended learning facilities and open source learning resources.