International Organizations

• is the leading multinational, apolitical organization in Information & Communications Technologies and Sciences
• is recognized by United Nations and other world bodies
• represents IT Societies from 56 countries or regions, covering all 5 continents with a total membership of over half a million
• inks more than 3500 scientists from Academia and Industry, organized in more than 101 Working Groups reporting to 13 Technical Committees
• sponsors 100 conferences yearly providing unparalleled coverage from theoretical informatics to the relationship between informatics and society including hardware and software technologies, and networked information systems Within IFIP
• IT societies’ members find a meeting place for sharing experience, and discussing challenges and opportunities
• TCs and WGs contribute to, and often lead, progress in the state-of-the art knowledge and practice IFIP scientific and technological leadership
• is warranted by WG membership, based solely on individual excellence
• is asserted by the organization of some 100 highest quality international events, and the publication of some 30 new books annually that are distributed worldwide Formally IFIP is a non-governmental, non-profit umbrella organization for national societies working in the field of information processing. It was established in 1960 under the auspices of UNESCO as a result of the first World Computer Congress held in Paris in 1959.

UNESCO - the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) was founded on 16 November 1945. For this specialized United Nations agency, it is not enough to build classrooms in devastated countries or to publish scientific breakthroughs. Education, Social and Natural Science, Culture and Communication are the means to a far more ambitious goal : to build peace in the minds of men.

Today, UNESCO functions as a laboratory of ideas and a standard-setter to forge universal agreements on emerging ethical issues. The Organization also serves as a clearinghouse – for the dissemination and sharing of information and knowledge – while helping Member States to build their human and institutional capacities in diverse fields. In short, UNESCO promotes international co-operation among its 193* Member States and six Associate Members in the fields of education, science, culture and communication.

The International E-Learning Association (IELA) is dedicated to advancing the knowledge and practice of e-learning in the classroom and the workplace. With members hailing from every continent—and from the realms of business, industry, government, and academia—the IELA is a vibrant and diverse community of e-learning professionals, researchers, and students. IELA makes it easy to connect with other e-learning enthusiasts.

Our international conferences focus on current e-learning themes, trends, and topics.

Our member directory can help you find colleagues with similar interests.

And our communications tools--discussion forums, networking tools, and video and photo uploads--will keep you up-to-date with your e-learning friends. When you use one of these IELA "links," there's a good chance you'll discover your next collaborator for a book, paper, or project.

Regional Organizations

EDEN - the European Distance and E-Learning Network - exists to share knowledge and improve understanding for professionals in distance and e-learning across the whole of Europe and beyond, and to promote policy and practice for this field of endeavour. EDEN is for all those concerned with distance and e-learning, in all sectors and phases of education and training. With more than 200 institutional members and over 1100 members in the Network of Academics and Professionals, EDEN holds annual conferences attracting more than 550 participants; holds additional conferences on research and on the schools sector every two years; has launched and supports the European Journal of Open, Distance and E-Learning (EURODL); and provides support and advice for a range of projects in the European sphere - EDEN is the smart network for the professional community, and a professional community for smart learning.

The Commonwealth of Learning (COL) is an intergovernmental organisation created by Commonwealth Heads of Government to encourage the development and sharing of open learning/distance education knowledge, resources and technologies. COL is helping developing nations improve access to quality education and training.

The Commonwealth is a voluntary association of more than 50 independent sovereign states, which provide support to each other, and work together toward international goals. The Commonwealth is described as a "family" of nations, originally linked together in the British Empire, and now building on their common heritage in language, culture and education, which enables them to work together in an atmosphere of greater trust and understanding than generally prevails among nations.

Bringing together some 1.7 billion people of many faiths, races, languages, traditions and levels of economic development, the Commonwealth represents almost one-third of the world's population.

ELIG is an open industry group with members representing the ecosystem for 21st century learning solutions. Innovation in learning, knowledge creation and dissemination are central to ELIG’s endeavors.

• Providing policy input at a European level and as appropriate at country/region level.
• Acting as a communication channel to the marketplace, representing the position of the industry.
• Constituting a platform for cooperation, sharing and concerted action for its members.
• Being a pragmatic thought leader - by leveraging the 'collective intelligence' of the ELIG membership.

Innovation in learning, knowledge creation and dissemination are central to ELIG’s endeavours . ELIG was launched as eLIG (European eLearning Industry Group) on 25 April 2002 in partnership with EU Commissioner Reding

National Organizations

The United States Distance Learning Association was the first nonprofit Distance Learning association in the United States to support Distance Learning research, development and praxis across the complete arena of education, training and communications.

In 1987, the USDLA was founded on the premise of creating a powerful alliance to meet the burgeoning education and training needs of learning communities via new concepts of the fusion of communication technologies with learning in broad multidiscipline applications.

An elected president, an Executive Committee, and a governing board now govern USDLA with Dr. John G. Flores as the Executive Director of the Association.

The learning communities that USDLA addresses are: pre K-12, higher education, continuing education, corporate training, military and government training, home schooling and telemedicine. In addition USDLA is also focused on national and international technology based Distance Learning

EDUCAUSE is a nonprofitassociation whose mission is to advance higher education by promoting the intelligent use of information technology. EDUCAUSE helps those who lead, manage, and use information resources to shape strategic decisions at every level. A comprehensive range of resources and activities is available to all interested employees at EDUCAUSE member organizations, with special opportunities open to designated member representatives.

Membership is open to institutions of higher education, corporations serving the higher education information technology market, and other related associations and organizations. The current membership comprises more than 2,200 colleges, universities, and educational organizations, including 250 corporations, with more than 17,000 active members.

The abbreviation scil stands for Swiss Centre for Innovations in Learning. scil aims to sustainably promote and successfully establish further and higher education through the practical use of the latest research findings, methods and technologies. scil’s services are directed at international groups, small and medium-sized companies and universities.

Innovation in the matter of education management is not just a part of our reputation; through our affiliation with the University of St. Gallen, it is part of our everyday life too.

scil itself is a constantly learning, ever-developing institution. The competence centre is firmly integrated into the Institute for Business Education and Educational Management (IWP-HSG) at the University of St. Gallen –innovative stimuli are pre-programmed from here.

ODLAA connects professionals in order to share experiences and disseminate information with respect to open and distance learning. Our members come from all educational sectors plus commercial training providers and training units in the corporate sector. They are involved in management, administration, design, development, research and teaching in multiple modes that may best be described as 'outside the traditional classroom'.

ODLAA is a non-profit organization managed by an elected Executive Committee of members who donate their time to conduct the business of the association.