An open framework for integrated qualification management portals

Systematic and individual qualification improvement in a professional context is a challenging task, which is based on a complex knowledge supply chain. Human as well as virtual actors contribute to this supply chain and have to be supported by adequate system services. The authors believe that a qualification management portal that integrates support for all qualification-related activities like course production, content provision, teaching, and learning, into an open system enables the flexibility, responsiveness, and community-orientation that is necessary for modern qualification support. The coupling of the involved processes and roles enables synergies and innovative communication opportunities. A flexible, extensible, and standard-compliant framework for such integrated qualification management portals has been developed in the eQualification project. By integrating user-friendly and task-oriented application authoring tools for qualification portal design and evolution into the Web application itself, users are empowered to act as application co-designers.