Harmonization of an infrastructure for flexible distance learning in Europe with CTA

Abstract

An analysis of the DELTA research program for computer supported distance learning has shown that there is a great variety in the use of technologies and standards, even for supporting similar services for flexible distance learning. This results in incompatible applications, missing reusability of courseware material and a number of diverse requirements towards the underlying hardware and software platforms. The objective of the Common Training Architecture (CTA) is to harmonize the technologies to set up an infrastructure for an European market for learning applications. The approach of CTA is to identify the main learning scenarios, to derive the necessary services to support these scenarios and to describe technical options for the realization of these services. For the technical options, the emphasis lies on finding profiles of de-jure or de-facto standards. In the area of communication, the results show the need for integration of recently developed distributed multimedia application services and standards as well as the need for the development of new standards in these areas. This paper presents an overview of the whole CTA project from the perspective of the authors with focus on the approach and results in the area of communication.