Exploiting Policies in an Open Infrastructure for Lifelong Learning

Nowadays, people are in need for continuous learning in order to keep up to date or be upgraded in their job. An infrastructure for lifelong learning requires continuous adaptation to learners needs and must also provide flexible ways for students to use and personalize them. Controlling who can access a document, specifying when a student may be contacted for interactive instant messaging or periodical reminders in order to increase motivation for collaboration are just some examples of typical statements that may be specified by e.g., learners and learning management system administrators. This paper shows how policies can represent a way of expressing these statements and describes the extra benefits of its adoption like flexibility, dynamicity and interoperability.