What are the benefits?
Standards provide an environment that is more predictable, safer, efficient, and dependable than one assembled in an ad hoc manner. Standards stimulate innovation and development of products and services, while reducing the duplication of effort, unnecessary costs, and complexity.
The training sector benefits greatly from the use of agreed standards.
Ready access to resources
The use of agreed standards facilitates the sharing and reuse of training resources. Common approaches to resource discovery, intellectual property arrangements and the physical formats of resources ensure that it is easy to find, adapt and reuse training materials and move them between different collections and platforms.
Learners benefit from the improved quality and the customisation opportunities that flow from the wider range of resources available to trainers.
Access to training
Standards support universal access to training opportunities by ensuring that online services can be accessed without undue problems caused by the physical location, software platform, network access or disability of the teacher or learner.
Cost effectiveness
Organisations benefit from the sharing of resources facilitated by the use of agreed standards. Duplication of effort is reduced, and the cost of developing high quality resources can be spread across a greater number of users.
Standards-based purchasing of software and systems reduces costs and risks by preventing vendor lock-in, while the opportunities for shared procurement and common infrastructure development can also reduce costs. Components of IT systems that meet common interface standards can be substituted and upgraded as required.
Participation and collaboration
Supporting the use of current standards provides a reference source of standards information, and positions the sector for input to further development of standards in cross-sectoral, whole of government, and international forums.
Standards enable collaborative processes to occur irrespective of organisational boundaries, technical platforms and location.
Efficient information management
Standards-based systems increase efficiency in information management and administration by ensuring that information can be entered and maintained in one location and used for multiple internal and external purposes.
Further development will allow the interfacing of systems that deliver learning and training with registries of competencies and qualifications, and enable data exchange between e-commerce ICT systems, applications and business processes.
Greater interoperability
Standards are the basis of interoperability which is defined by the IEEE as “ the ability of two or more systems or components to exchange information and to use the information that has been exchanged.” The 2004 Framework evaluation suggests what is possible.
VET providers and clients in different States and Territories use different delivery platforms. Improved information management and greater adoption of consistent technical standards can ensure that these technologies can work together seamlessly, free the VET sector from constraints imposed by proprietary and competing technological platforms, and enable ready access to online VET services within Australia and internationally.
Australian Flexible Learning Framework, Evaluation of the Australian Flexible Learning Framework 2000–2004: Phase two evaluation – summary, 2004, http://www.flexiblelearning.net.au/aboutus/keydocuments.htm#evaluation
