Strategic Partners American Association of Community Colleges ACT, Inc American Society of Association Executives American Society for Training and Development The Career College Association Community Learning and Information Network The Council for Excellence in Government DoD's Advanced Distributed Learning initiative Industry Training Credit Approval Process (ITCAP) Program Instructional Management System National Guard Bureau Distributive Training Technology Program The National Institute for Literacy The National Partnership for Reinventing Government The National Skills Standards Board PBS Adult Learning Service The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation

Business Partners Seminar Finder TSCentral GoCertify

AACC has been a national voice for two-year associate degree granting institutions since its inception in 1920. Located in the National Center for Higher Education in Washington, D.C., AACC works with other higher education associations, the federal government, Congress, and other national associations that represent the public and private sectors to promote the goals of community colleges and higher education.

America's Learning eXchange will have a profound impact on the way learners, employers, training and education providers and developers participate in the training and education marketplace. AACC is committed to making sure that ALX meets the needs of community colleges and their students and will work collaboratively with ALX to make sure that its members are aware of ALX and the benefits of participating in ALX.

ACT, Inc. - http://www.act.org/

ACT, Inc. is an independent, nonprofit organization that provides educational services to students and their parents, to high schools and colleges, to professional associations and government agencies, and to business and industry. Founded in 1959, ACT is best known for its college admissions testing program. We also offer a wide range of other education-related programs and services in: college admissions and advising, career and educational planning, student aid, continuing education, professional certification and licensure. We work with business and industry in workplace assessments, certification, and training program evaluation. Our broad-ranging research agenda develops new assessment methodologies and ensures that our programs meet or exceed established professional standards.

To effectively manage their work lives people need relevant information provided early on and backed with continuous research and support. ACT has joined with America's Learning eXchange to assist in making sure that ALX customers have access to the most relevant and highest quality assessment information and tools. In July of 1999, ACT will provide the ALX website with comprehensive information for all ALX customer groups on assessment and testing.

American Society of Association Executives http://www.asaenet.org/

The American Society of Association Executives (ASAE) is often described as the 'association for association executives.' With more than 25,000 members worldwide, ASAE is the leading organization in the field of association management. Since 1920, ASAE hasprovided members with the resources they need to enhance performance and ensure continued growth and success.

ASAE is dedicated to enhancing the professionalism and competency of association executives, promoting excellence in association management, and increasing the effectiveness of associations to better serve members and society. Those who manage trade associations, individual membership societies, voluntary organizations, and other nonprofit associations, as well as those who provide products and services to the association community, find that ASAE membership gives them an invaluable professional edge--the ASAE advantage.

ASAE helps members solve on-the-job problems, keeps them up-to-date on techniques and trends through ASAE's monthly magazine Association Management and allows them to select a professional interest section specialized to their job responsibilities.

Training and professional development play a large part in fulfilling the ASAE mission. ASAE is pleased to be partnering with America's Learning eXchange to make training resources more easily available to and from ASAE members through the http://www.alx.org/ site.

Association executives already look to ASAE for industry trends, peer assistance, networking and more. Now, through ALX, ASAE can provide members with one electronic place to post their training offerings. ALX will also help association executives find training and educational resources specific to the needs of their own employees.

To learn more about ASAE, visit http://www.asaenet.org/.

American Society for Training and Development (ASTD) - http://www.astd.org

For 55 years the professionals who have lead the growth of workplace training along with those entrepreneurial training suppliers who have built the multi-billion dollar training supplier industry have joined together as members of ASTD. Today there are more than 70,000 members from every sized company, industry, and nation. They are dedicated to providing their fellow members with cutting-edge information that enables all to be informed, apply the latest practices, research new practices, and network with each other. The members learn from each other and share what they have learned through their conferences, publications and more recently their highly acclaimed website www.astd.org. Visit the site and learn from the professionals.

This many professionals devoting massive amounts of time to solving training problems have over the years identified barriers to lifelong learning and how to overcome them. This commitment has led the ASTD membership to become actively involved in the development and implementation of America's Learning eXchange (ALX). ASTD is part of the industry/government consortium that manages ALX and will help address membership needs and ensure that members are aware of the benefits of participating in ALX.

The Career College Association (CCA) - http://www.career.org/

The Career College Association (CCA) is a voluntary membership organization made up of private, postsecondary schools and colleges which provide career-specific educational programs. The 725 member institutions graduate more than a quarter of a million students per year for employment in more than 150 occupational fields. Private career colleges and schools graduate almost one half of the technically trained workers who enter the work force with more than a high school education, as well as providing retraining for displaced workers and skill upgrading for front-line workers. The CareerTraining Foundation, a CCA affiliate, works to demonstrate the value of specialized career training and improve public understanding of the role of career training schools.

CCA and ALX are working together to provide expanded public access to accurate information about private career colleges and schools and their training offerings. The Career Training Foundation, a CCA affiliate, offers nearly $40 million in scholarships for postsecondary training each year.

Community Learning and Information Network (CLIN) - http://www.clin.org/

CLIN is a not-for-profit organization creating a community-linked learning and information system that provides all people equal access to education, training, and information required for lifelong learning, development of new skills, and enhanced quality of life. CLIN is establishing state-of-the-art learning sites accessible to all community members. A CLIN site is characterized by fast, direct Internet access, interactive video conferencing and distance learning, computer - based instruction and information gathering, and remote sites linked to a community hub. At the present time, the National Guard has 58 sites based on the CLIN model and plan to open another 582. These sites are available to all citizens on a fee-for-service basis, not just guardsmen. In addition, CLIN plans to open 360 sites in the near future.

CLIN and America's Learning eXchange have common goals about the need to provide access to all people to enhance lifelong learning. Both organizations will work collaboratively to make cutting edge technology-based education and training affordable and accessible to everyone.

DoD's Advanced Distributed Learning initiative (ADL) - http://www.adlnet.org/

In November 1997, the Department of Defense and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) launched the Advanced Distributed Learning (ADL) initiative. ADL activities are focused on instructional content development and delivery using current and emerging technologies.

ADL is working with the Instructional Management Systems (IMS) (also an ALX partner) on the development of next-generation open architecture for online learning. The purpose of the ADL initiative is to ensure access to high-quality education and training materials that can be tailored to individual learner needs and can be made available whenever and wherever they are required. ALX and ADL are working together in support of IMS specifications that will have a significant impact on the management and delivery of learning services.

The Council for Excellence in Government (CEG) - http://www.excelgov.org/

The Council for Excellence in Government is a nonpartisan, nonprofit, national organization that has been in existence for 15 years. All of the Council's 700 members, or Principals, have served as senior public officials in the federal executive and legislative branches, many as presidential appointees or elected members of the Congress. They now hold leadership positions in business, law, education, media or nonprofit sectors throughout the country. Their collective profile distinguishes the Council as an organization that uses its broad knowledge base and knows how to develop solutions in order to meet the challenge of sustained high performance in the public sector.

America's Learning eXchange is the product of a unique partnership between federal and state government and a wide range of public and private organizations. America's Learning eXchange has engaged the Council to facilitate its partnerships and collaborations and to serve as a catalyst in building and sustaining "win-win" relationships.

Industry Training Credit Approval Process (ITCAP) Program – http://www.itcap.com/

ITCAP is an innovative model for bridging public and private adult workforce education by allowing students at commercial training centers to earn college credits. College credits enable most tuition reimbursement benefits plans to cover the high-quality vendor-authorized education and certification training programs often neglected or unaccredited by higher education institutions. Through our expansive credit-for-training program, ITCAP creates new funding opportunities for industry-essential training, thereby providing an effective solution to the critical skills-gap workforce shortage. By addressing this issue, ITCAP serves the needs of employers, employees, students, commercial training centers, vendors, and educators.

ITCAP has been heralded within the academic community as an exemplary paradigm for the future direction of college/industry partnerships. ITCAP has also been described as a “Best Practices” program by Microsoft, and has been recognized by CAEL as an important prior learning and corporate training assessment service.

ITCAP provides credit-for-training opportunities for courses leading to certifications from Microsoft, Novell, Lotus, CompTIA, Cisco, Oracle, HyCurve, Vital Learning, IIL, and the Project Management Institute. Because these commercial training programs have college credit potential, employees of companies with tuition reimbursement plans can get reimbursed for this training. Employers can be assured that the industry’s highest educational standards are being met by ITCAP-approved centers. Through careful screening and continuing on-site audits, ITCAP affiliates only those centers and instructors that are delivering the very highest quality training.

Credits are conferred by Pima Community College, the nation’s fourth largest multi-campus community college. Credits earned through the ITCAP program may be applied to Associate of Applied Science degrees wrapped around Microsoft, Novell, and Oracle certifications.

Since its inception, ITCAP has contributed to closing the nation’s critical information technology skills gap by assisting more than 6,000 individuals in the nation’s workforce to maintain or upgrade their professional qualifications. ITCAP made it possible for them to pursue industry certification studies at vendor-authorized commercial training centers where they earned more than 25,000 college credits and received tuition reimbursement from their employers for doing this.

For more information, or to be referred to the nearest of hundreds of vendor-authorized ITCAP-approved training centers, contact ITCAP (http://www.itcap.com/ or mailto:getcredit@itcap.com?subject=Email from America's Learning eXchange or call 1-888-994-8227 toll-free).

Instructional Management System (IMS) - http://www.imsproject.org/

The IMS is a project of Educause, a nonprofit consortium of 600 colleges and universities dedicated to the transformation of higher education through information technology. The IMS project was formed as a catalyst for the development of a substantial body of instructional software, the creation of an online infrastructure for managing access to learning materials and environments, the facilitation of collaborative and unique learning activities, and the certification of acquired skills and knowledge. The goal of the IMS project is the widespread adoption of specifications that will allow distributed learning environments and content from multiple authors to work together. If successful, the IMS project will increase the range of distributed learning opportunities and will promote creativity and productivity for both teachers and learners in this new high-tech environment.

Adoption of the IMS specifications will have a profound impact on teachers and learners, and will greatly enhance opportunities for lifelong learning. The leadership of America's Learning eXchange supports this effort and is an Investment Member Organization.

The National Partnership for Reinventing Government (NPR) - http://www.npr.gov/

Since 1993, the National Performance Review (which became the National Partnership for Reinventing Government in 1998) has developed initiatives to tackle areas in need of reform. NPR has mobilized staff and resources across government to study issues and take action. Some initiatives have been spun-off to appropriate agencies for implementation as reinvention began to take hold. NPR is involved in numerous projects and partnerships including the Access America initiative, which is aimed at strengthening reengineering through using information technology to deliver government services electronically. America's Career Kit exemplifies the types of efforts that NPR supports. In fact, America's Job Bank is a winner of the Vice President's Hammer Award. The Hammer Award is presented to teams of federal employees who have made significant contributions in support of reinventing government.

NPR is working collaboratively with the other components of the Career Kit, particularly America's Learning eXchange, to create a suite of services that exemplifies its mission to create a government that "works better, costs less, and gets results Americans care about."

The National Institute for Literacy (NIFL) - http://www.nifl.gov/

The National Institute for Literacy (NIFL) is an independent federal organization that is leading the national effort toward a fully literate America. By building and strengthening national, regional, and state literacy systems, the Institute fosters collaboration and innovation. Our goal is to ensure that all adults with literacy needs receive the high-quality literacy and basic skills services necessary to achieving success in the workplace, family, and community.

As one of their many services, NIFL maintains a basic skills database which is a national resource for literacy stakeholders. The NIFL basic skills database will be on-line within ALX's specialty databases for our July release.

National Guard Bureau Distributive Training Technology Program - http://dtt.ngb.army.mil/

The Restructuring of the total Army is bringing many mission changes to units of the National Guard. These evolutionary changes place a heavy burden on retraining soldiers from one military occupational specialty to another. Budget constraints and fiscal responsibility mean that the ARNG cannot afford such retraining through the traditional practice of sending soldiers to far away classrooms. Distance learning promises a significant opportunity the Guard can use to continue to maintain required readiness. The information technology infrastructure required to support such training in itself can be very expensive, but the concept of shared usage offers the promising opportunity to offset costs with commensurate benefit to local communities for education enhancement and economic development.

The DTT project is still early in its implementation. The network has been established in all 54 states and territories. To date approximately 50 classrooms have been installed in almost as many states, and continue to be installed at a pace of approximately two per week. By this time next year, 250 classrooms are projected to be operational.

The Guard's Distributive Training Technology Program and America's Learning eXchange plan to work together in 1999 in several areas; ALX will provide public access to information about all Guard DTT sites, the Guard will promote the use of ALX and related job resources at all DTT sites. Both organizations will work collaboratively to make cutting edge technology-based education and training affordable and accessible.

National Skill Standards Board (NSSB) - http://www.nssb.org/

The National Skill Standards Board (NSSB) is building a voluntary national system of skill standards, assessment and certification that will enhance the ability of the United States to compete effectively in a global economy. These skills are being identified by industry in full partnership with education, labor, civil rights and community-based organizations. The standards will be based on high performance work and will be portable across industry sectors.

The NSSB and ALX have collaborated to become Strategic Partners. Through this partnership, the NSSB and ALX will share information about the technical knowledge and skills required to meet industry skill standards, thus enabling greater public access to information on certifications and skill standards. The NSSB Web site complements the information on certification programs on the ALX Web site by providing a certification program database http://www.nssb.org/cgi-bin/cert-org.cfm as well as in-depth reports http://www.nssb.org/cert1.htm on selected certification programs, which include detailed information on the programs and the requirements for certification.

PBS Adult Learning Service - http://www.pbs.org/adultlearning/als

PBS Adult Learning Service increases distance learning opportunities for adult learners across the country by delivering the best in college-level telecourses, satellite events, professional development and curriculum enrichment programs. PBS Adult Learning Service is the largest delivery system in the U.S. of programming for higher education with over 10,000 organizations having licensed Adult Learning Service programming. More than 4 million students have earned college credit through Adult Learning Service distributed telecourses, and more than two-thirds of the nations colleges and universities have used PBS-distributed telecourses.

PBS Adult Learning Service, America's Learning eXchange and numerous training and education organizations have joined together through the ACCESS Project to build a suite of on-line student decision-making and advising services for distance learners. This service will be designed to address the needs of a growing population of nontraditional learners who will need to make better, more informed choices about increasingly complex learning and workplace education and training opportunities.

The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation - http://www.sloan.org/ The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, a philanthropic non-profit institution, was established by Alfred P. Sloan, Jr. in 1934. The purpose of the Sloan Foundation is exemplified in the following quote by Alfred P. Sloan, Jr:

"The greatest real thrill that life offers is to create, to construct, to develop something useful. Too often we fail to recognize and pay tribute to the creative spirit. It is that spirit that creates our jobs. There has to be this pioneer, the individual who has the courage, the ambition to overcome the obstacles that always develop when one tries to do something worthwhile, especially when it is new and different." --Alfred P. Sloan Jr., 1941

The main interests of the foundation include, science and technology, standard of living and economic performance, education and careers in science and technology, national issues, and civic projects. Specifically of interest to America’s Learning eXchange is the foundation’s interest in learning outside the classroom. The foundation is exploring new outcomes in science and engineering higher education which are made possible by asynchronous access to remote learning resources through current, affordable technology. These kinds of learning opportunities are often called Asynchronous Learning Networks. Sloan has funded a number of projects at universities and community colleges to explore ansynchronous learning and related outcomes.

Asyncronous learning networks have the potential to make learning available “anytime, anywhere.” This will remove a major barrier to lifelong learning. Learners will be able to take their classes in the middle of the night if they want to. The door to education and training will be a lot wider for learners whose life circumstances make it difficult for them to attend scheduled classes. America’s Learning eXchange and the foundation are working collaboratively to make sure that institutions offering ALN are included in the ALX database, and that learners understand ALN and its opportunities

Seminar Finder is a proprietary, interactive database program that allows anyone with Web access to browse and search information about your courses by topic, location, date, company, and/or seminar leader. With Deluxe Course Listings, you can also list expanded course descriptions, additional public dates, seminar leader biographies, and detailed registration information - including secure registration - to a global audience. Seminar Finder is positioned as the source for information on all seminars, WBT and continuing education courses.

Much like ALX, Seminar Finder is a pooling of resources within the industry. Instead of trying to find your existing seminar site in a sea of thousands, a visitor can simply go to Seminar Finder and ALX and locate his/her information quickly. By working together, ALX and Seminar Finder hope to provide users of their systems with timely and comprehensive listings.

TSCentral - http://www.tscentral.com/

TSCentral (formerly Trade Show Central) represents the next generation of trade and professional event marketing, planning, and management. Each month, thousands of visitors come to the TSCentral web site, www.tscentral.com, to find new ways to add value to their trade or professional event participation. With over 250,000 user sessions per month, tscentral.com is one of the most popular events-related sites on the Internet.

GoCertify - http://gocertify.earthweb.com/

GoCertify is the ultimate online resource for certification information, covering over 400 certifications from more than 40 vendors. Get certification descriptions, costs, requirements, perks, contact information, training links, discussions groups, quizzes and more. GoCertify has partnered with ALX to promote the value of certification for the IT professional. Visit gocertify.earthweb.com to find the latest information on new certifications in this rapidly changing market.