The National Senior Officials Committee, which comprises the heads of vocational and technical education in Australia, has endorsed the adoption of standards which set a benchmark for the technical design of electronic learning resources.

The standards were put forward by the Flexible Learning Advisory Group, which oversees the national training system's e-learning strategy, the Australian Flexible Learning Framework. The standards have been researched and compiled through the Framework's E-standards for Training Project.

Updates to the standards are reviewed and ratified by the E-standards Expert Group, a group of technical managers supporting e-learning, from each state and territory, and relevant national initiatives across Australia.

E-standards Expert Group chairman Rodney Spark said the agreement allows for the development of standardized e-learning resources which are compatible with the various learning and resource management systems used by states and territories around Australia.

"E-learning now plays an integral part in the delivery of vocational and technical education and these standards are part of developing Australia's knowledge infrastructure for the 21st century," Spark said.