Inge-Anna Koleff

Die Wiener Volkshochschulen GmbH (previously Verband Wiener Volksbildung) is the head of 18 Adult Education Centres, a member of KEBÖ (Konferenz d. Erwachsenenbildung in Österreich), a non-profit company offering services and opportunities to the general public. In 2007 more than 135.000 participants attended 14.000 courses (3.400 language courses in 60 languages, ÖSD, TELC, Cambridge Exams etc.). 200 in-house training courses, seminars, workshops are offered to 700 employees and 4000 teachers (appr. 1000 language teachers). Special projects for long-term unemployed in socio-economic firms, for women, for people with special needs etc. Since Austria joined the EU, the adult education centres have taken part in numerous projects supported by the EU and the local/federal government (http://bildungsserver.vhs.at/fachgruppen/projekteundintitiativen ). The head office/Department of Pedagogy offers programmes for language teacher education (EUROLTA standards) and has experiences with ICT. The former Verband was awarded the ≥European Language Label for Innovative Projects≥ (Vienna Language Portfolio in 2002). ELOPA (http://meidling.vhs.at/elopa/ ), an e-learning programme for English and German. « eLearning self directed ... » (http://www.elsd.at/ ), also funded by the European Social Fund and the Austrian Ministry of Education, in co-operation with the Bundesinstitut für Erwachsenenbildung St. Wolfgang/Austria, started in Dec. 2004. In the EUROVOLT project the former Verband also co-operated in the development of the teacher training modules, developed a sample online module ≥English for Austrian Prison Officers≈, produced the manual and CD-ROM and has disseminated the results of the EUROVOLT project since then.

Inge-Anna Koleff, an English teacher, teacher trainer and course developer, has been working for Die Wiener Volkshochschulen (former Verband Wiener Volksbildung) for 20 years. She has participated in eLearning projects and is also dedicated to the concept of Lifelong Learning. She is the EUROVOLT project manager.