In order to make GBIF training accessible worldwide, the GBIF Secretariat plans to launch an internet-based Virtual Classroom. GBIF Participant Nodes, publishers and users will thus benefit from online training in topics that are important to them.

The Virtual Classroom will be based on an open-source learning platform and will be delivered as an easy-to-install toolkit that GBIF Participants can use to implement their e-learning activities. This toolkit will include open-source software that will allow users to develop training contents and materials for their own use – and for sharing (image capture and editing, multimedia production, etc).

The contents of the Virtual Classroom will be produced as a community effort by the GBIF Secretariat, GBIF Participant Nodes and worldwide experts. These efforts will be coordinated through the Experts and Languages GBIF Training Networks.

In February 2010, a GBIF Task Group on Electronic Learning was stablished with the mandate of exploring the needs of the GBIF Community on this topic and make recommendations on the technical platform to use for the GBIF Virtual Classroom.