Forum .LRN Q&A: .LRN Consortium Formed

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Posted by Alfred Essa on
I would like to announce that as of Monday, August 9, 2004, the .LRN Consortium was formally incorporated as a non-profit, tax-exempt corporation. As such, the Consortium can now raise money from a variety of sources to support its mission, which remains the development and promotion of .LRN as a leading platform for learning and research communities worldwide.

The initial Founding Members are MIT, University of Heidelberg, and Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (as coordinator of the ELANE Project).

The initial Board of Directors include Al Essa (MIT), Michael Hebgen (University of Heidelberg), Carlos Delgado Kloos (U3CM, Project ELANE), Rafael Calvos (Univ. of Sydney), Carl Blesius, and Cesar Brea. Additional members to the Board will be named in the coming weeks and months.

Carl Blesius will serve as the first President and lead the .LRN project under the guidance of the Board of Directors.

Our first step will be to secure seed funding in the form of charter memberships from major institutions participating in the .LRN project to date. With this we can make a small investment in publicity, and more importantly, demonstrate commitment of our users as we try to raise money from foundations and other grant agencies. It will also help demonstrate credibility as we approach other major corporate sponsors.

You may direct any questions regarding the .LRN consortium to me, Carl, or other members of the Board.

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2: Re: .LRN Consortium Formed (response to 1)
Posted by Rocael Hernández Rizzardini on
Great news! Thanks for all the effort & energy, the .LRN community is even gaining more momentum with the consortium formed.
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3: Re: .LRN Consortium Formed (response to 1)
Posted by Alfred Essa on
I would like to add that we have secured seed funding from the Founding Members and plan to build formally the wider membership of participating institutions. In addition, we will begin formal launch of our marketing campaign under the leadership of Cesar Brea.
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4: Re: .LRN Consortium Formed (response to 1)
Posted by Kathleen Gilroy on
Congratulations, Al.  This has been a major undertaking and a job well done.
I have used the .LRN platform for e-learning and think it is an important alternative to its commercial cousins.  Thanks to all of the people who made this happen.
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5: Re: .LRN Consortium Formed (response to 1)
Posted by Alfred Essa on
Michael Hebgen (Heidelberg) has agreed to serve as Co-Chair with me of the Board of Directors for .LRN.