The Melbourne Declaration

6 October 2005

The U.S. Department of Defense sponsored the Advanced Distributed Learning (ADL) Initiative in 1997 with the goal of enabling the highest quality education and training, delivered anytime, anywhere. The ADL's models are now widely adopted in many different contexts and sectors for implementing technology-based learning on a global scale.

In celebrating this achievement, the Melbourne Forum, Advancing ADL through Global Collaboration, endorses the following points as a means of creating and maintaining momentum for the further international advancement, development and deployment of advanced learning technology initiatives:

• Scalable and sustainable infrastructure is of critical importance in fulfilling the many visions for teaching, learning, education, training and performance support.
• Global interoperability based on open standards, is key to achieving scaleable and sustainable infrastructure.
• An international collaborative approach will optimise the advancement, development and maintenance of this infrastructure.
• The current ADL community has provided some of the foundation stones for building this infrastructure.
• The continuing involvement of the U.S. ADL Initiative will be critical to any collaborative venture.
• The formation of a global steward is an effective means to realise the above.

Actions:

• An international stewardship organisation shall be established and become fully functional within a three year period.
• The U.S. ADL Initiative in collaboration with the international community will convene, as soon as possible, an Interim Working Group to develop a planning framework and timetable for the creation and commissioning of the proposed international stewardship organisation.