Bundesamt fr Bevlkerungsschutz und Katastrophenhilfe

News le t t e r
4/2006

19.9.2006

Editorial
Europe is growing closer together, also in the field of civil protection. Today, joint training,
joint exercises and joint operations of Member States are nothing unusual. However, the
coordination of such activities across borders still requires a lot of money and effort.
Cooperation no longer means that all partners have to meet in a certain place. Digital media have removed physical barriers to a major extent. Why should it be necessary for people to travel or fly across the whole of Europe to meet in one place, thereby causing a major
burden in terms of costs and personnel, if a working group is supposed to prepare an exercises scenario? Why should it be necessary to hold weekly management seminars, constituting a similar burden, if in three days face-to-face tuition only those issues are taught
which a person could easily study all by himself? The answer for these and similar cases is
as simple as this: These measures are not necessary.
The EU Commission wants to prove this fact with its Virtual Academy project and develop new communication and training methods to be used in practice. Virtual class room,
blended learning, e-learning, fora and chat rooms are some of the key words describing
this aspect of Europes digital vision. The Academy is supported by powerful partners: the
EU Commission, Siemens Business Solutions (SBS), a Core Group with experts from
Portugal, France, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Poland, Sweden and the Federal Office of
Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance (BBK) are cooperating to ensure the conceptual
and technical implementation of the project. By the end of 2007 the virtual campus with
its full range of services is intended to be online. According to the BBK, it will link up
European, but also national civil protection structures in a completely new way.

Yours sincerely,

Wolfgang Weber

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Bundesamt fr Bevlkerungsschutz und Katastrophenhilfe

News le t t e r
4/2006

19.9.2006

EU project on the European Virtual Academy for

Civil Protection (EVA4CP), preliminary results
Introduction:
In January 2006 the Federal Office of Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance (BBK) and
Siemens Business Services (SBS) started to implement the EU project European Virtual
Academy for Civil Protection, EVA4CP. This project is supported by the EU Commission
within the framework of the EU action programme for civil protection with a subsidy of
75% of the total costs. The overall project manager is Adrian Reimering of SBS.

What has happened so far:

Fig. 1: EVA4CP platform

The first meeting on EVA4CP was held with the Core Group and the EU Commission in
Brussels from 20 to 21 February 2006. The Core Group consists of six members of training institutions in Sweden, France, the Czech Republic, Poland, Portugal and Slovenia.
They act as advisors for the project.
The development of the platform corresponds with the requirements of a virtual academy for civil protection at EU level (ongoing process).
The elements for the development of an
e-learning module to provide training
within the framework of the EU
Community Mechanism have been analysed and selected.
The EVA4CP platform has been online
since 15 May 2006 and is available at
www.eva4cp.eu, www.eva4cp.org or
www.eva4cp.net.
The first workshop on EVA4CP was held
in Ahrweiler from 19 to 22 May 2006.
The first virtual meeting of the Core
Group at the platform took place on 7
July 2006.
The following explanations are intended to provide some insight into the functioning of
the EVA4CP platform of the virtual academy and the development of an e-learning module. Furthermore, the results of the first workshop held from 19 to 22 May 2006 and the
experience from the first virtual meeting on 7 July 2006 with the Core Group will be presented.

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What does EVA4CP actually stand for?

EVA4CP (European Virtual Academy for Civil Protection) is a web-based online platform on
civil protection and disaster management at a European level with the following priorities:

Learning

Knowledge

Work

Contents (web-based trainings (WBT))

Lectures and presentations

Specific information
Manuals
Exercises
Planning documents

Forum
Chat
Messaging (exchange of messages)
Document filing system

Target groups:
The platform is intended for experts and those responsible for civil protection at EU level.
This also includes participants of EU courses on the Community Mechanism and the EU
training coordinators. To prepare cooperation on the platform the following user groups
and areas have been set up:
EU training coordinators,
Central training institutions of Member States,
Training and curricula,
Operations experts,
The EU Commission and the central civil protection institutions in the Member States,
EVA4CP project team,
Core Group of the project,
First workshop on the project,
Planning and implementing EU exercises,
Cooperation in specific areas of civil protection.
The list can be amended any time.

User-friendly operation
The menu items are clear and easy to understand and offer the user the available options
any time.

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Administration of courses and participants

Following the registration by the course office, participants get access to the training
media and the communication possibilities offered by the platform. On the basis of their
registration, participants are assigned to virtual study groups, which allows for various
possibilities of cooperation and communication and different course offers for each user
group. These are managed by the trainer in his/her capacity as study administrator. The
trainer can act as a facilitator in the virtual study groups, can provide up-to-date information, receive feedback and provide substantial assistance to the study groups.

Fig. 2: Fora on the platform

Study groups
The participants are assigned to various study groups depending on the issues to be studied or on organizational requirements, and obtain information and knowledge. The
study groups can receive assistance from a study organizer (trainer) but also work all by
themselves, share information or report on
experience of practical implementation.
Communication and cooperation
The special strong point of the EVA4CP portal is communication. Users can communicate and receive or provide information via
fora, internal e-mail functions, chats, and
group and event calendars. The group
calendar includes information on the presence of teletutors, e.g. in the chat room,
and is generally intended to notify users of
the possibility of synchronous study units
with learners and trainers. Thus, a different
kind of learning is possible, and up-to-date
information supports work in civil protection, because learning does not end when leaving the class room, but only starts at that
moment.
Virtual class room
The study methods of EVA4CP are based on tried and tested methods real training in
seminar rooms (e.g. at the BBKs academy). In addition to these seminars there are webbased elements (chat, fora, ), which are frequently used today. Furthermore, there is a
virtual class room allowing participants to meet at the virtual EVA4CP academy, talk to
one another, give presentations (such as Powerpoint presentations or video sequences),
discuss and find new solutions everyone from their home country and place of work linked via the internet.

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Fig. 3: Virtual class room

Personal study area and monitoring of study success

In the section on Seminars participants find their booked and activated study contents
to study at their convenience. Study data can be recorded and evaluated any time. Thus, it
is possible to issue online certificates, provide active support and develop intelligent
and individual training profiles for each
participant.
Development of an e-learning module
A central element of the project is the development of an e-learning module for the
EU Community Mechanisms training
system. The aim of the training system is to
reinforce and facilitate cooperation in civil
protection at EU level. The basis for this are
the curricula jointly determined by the EU
Commission and the Member States, which
are implemented by the central civil protection training institutions of the Member
States. To be able to select the relevant
study contents of the EU training system
that are suitable for an e-learning module,
EU courses held in Sweden and Germany
were studied. The following decisive questions had to be clarified:
Who are the target groups?
What are the necessary prerequisites and experience of handling a computer?
Can it be assumed that participants have some experience with interactive learning
programmes?
For drawing up an e-learning module it is also important to study questions, such as the
course structure and an appropriate study strategy including methodical and didactic
issues. A number of steps must be taken into account for the development of e-learning
contents. These steps range from a general, non-technical specification phase to more
specific implementation tasks:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Analysis of objectives definition of study objectives / content.

Rough concept basic structure for the development of a learning module.
Detailed concept detailed structure of the rough concept.
Script definition of the methodical/didactic draft of a learning module.
Prototype production of the technical design.

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19.9.2006

6. Implementation finalizing the e-learning module.

7. Evaluation.
The Federal Office of Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance (BBK) and Bitmedia are responsible for the development of the e-learning module of the EVA4CP project.

Results of the first workshop on EVA4CP

From 19 to 22 May 2006 experts from 19 European countries met at the Federal Office of
Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance (BBK) to discuss the European Virtual Academy for
Civil Protection (EVA4CP). A total of 32 representatives of central training institutions and
the Interior Ministries of European Member States, the European Economic Area and
Romania and Turkey participated in the workshop.
Kenn Christensen, representative of the European Commission, explained that the idea
behind this European Virtual Academy project was to function as a motor for civil protection in Europe. The ideas and suggestions of the Member States national training institutions are the driving force behind this project, Kenn Christensen continued.
In the workshop the experts discussed the aims of the Virtual Academy in working
groups and presented their results on the already developed and activated internet platform (www.eva4cp.eu).
The different working groups discussed the following questions in particular:
Creating a network for sharing experience between the national training institutions of
the Member States and the European Commission
Establishing fora for sharing information and experience in special fields of cooperation
throughout Europe
Modernizing training by introducing electronic learning systems (e-learning) and developing an e-learning module for introductory courses in the context of the EU
Community Mechanism
Optimizing efficiency by redesigning courses and combining presence and IT supported distance learning
Implementation of EU curricula with a modular structure. Recommendations and training guidelines for the Member States and the States of the European Economic Area
Additional use of the platform as a virtual seminar room for the joint and simultaneous
training of students in different locations.
In the workshop initial solutions were drawn up and implemented to create networks at
the technical platform for sharing experience, curricula and best practices between the
training institutions.
In conclusion Kenn Christensen declared that the European Commission would like to use
the EVA4CP platform already in autumn 2006 to cooperate with the EU training coordinators.
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19.9.2006

Experience of the first virtual meeting at the EVA4CP platform

On 7 July 2006 the first virtual meeting of the Core Group of the EVA4CP project was held.
The audio conference in the virtual class room was generally successful. In an audio-technical review the systems strengths and weaknesses were identified and, if necessary, corrected. Furthermore, the future steps of the joint project work were discussed. The results
have already been made accessible to Core Group members on the platform. Additional
virtual meetings will follow at regular intervals.

Future steps:

Fig. 4: Involved states of the

EU-project EVA4CP

Working groups with members from different Member States will develop and implement
the networks. The project team will have regular discussions with the Core Group at the
platform to overcome the spatial distance by holding virtual meetings and to cooperate
in an efficient way in terms of time and
costs.
The project provides for a regular exchange between the project management and
the European Commission. One of the results of the projects will be recommendations for the Member States on how to use
synergy effects and implement new curricula on a joint training platform at EU level.
Furthermore proposals for the joint preparation, implementation and evaluation of
EU exercises will be drawn up. At its meeting with EU training coordinators in October 2006 the EU Commission intends to
present the EVA4CP platform for joint cooperation.
Currently, a user group called
Committee is being established for the Committee of the EU Commission, the civil protection action programme and the Community Mechanism. In this group, committee
members can receive information on the current status of the project. The Committee
consists of all Member States of the EU, the states of the European Economic Area and the
candidate countries. From 19 to 20 September 2006 the second European Congress on
Disaster Management will be held at the city hall in Bonn-Bad Godesberg. At its exhibition
stand, the BBK will present additional information on the EUs EVA4CP project and demonstrate the way the platform and the virtual class room work.

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