Distributed digital content access in a virtual community based e-Learning platform

Eight years on from the start of the development of the aLF (active learning framework) platform, by the Innova group (in the UNED, Spain), we have approximately 100,000 users grouped in more than 500 virtual learning communities. The development of an integrated space of communities and courses has provided a unified model adapted to the new European Higher Education Area (EHEA). In the first part of the paper the fundamentals of aLF are discussed, and the service model provided based on the concept of virtual community. Following the description of aLF, how the official digital repository (based on an application of Fedora) has been integrated into aLF to allow professors and students to search for (and retrieve) digital content (audio and video generated from more than 30 years of UNED activity and references from papers) is described. The paper will discuss the application developed together with the advantages of using it: recorded classes reused in the courses, access to institutional library material in a distance education model and a simple way of consulting related content to help students in their learning activities.