vocational education
LINQ 2013 Attracts 200 Professionals from Fields of Open Education, Learning Technology, and Quality Management to Rome
2nd International Conference on “Learning Innovations and Quality: The Future of Digital Resources” (LINQ 2013) Concludes Successfully.
More than 200 attendees from four continents and over 30 different countries contributed to a vibrant conference dialogue at LINQ 2013 carried out over May 16th and 17th. LINQ 2013 participants gathered at the global headquarters of the United Nations’ Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) in Rome, Italy to discuss the future of international learning innovations and quality. Keynote speeches by prominent experts in the fields of educational innovation and representatives of the European Commission, UNESCO, and CEDEFOP complemented a great variety of on-going research projects and state-of-the-art papers presented during the conference. In his introductory speech, the LINQ Conference Chair Christian M. Stracke pointed out the need for bridging learning innovations and learning quality, which is the core objective of LINQ. The success of LINQ 2013 has inspired conference organizers from the University of Duisburg-Essen to begin preparations for LINQ 2014, expected to take place on the island of Crete next May.
Highlights from the LINQ 2013 Plenum on May 16th include elaboration by António Silva Mendes, Director of the European Commission and Coordinator of the European Union’s Lifelong Learning Programme on the importance of quality improvement in learning outcomes. Silva Mendes asserted the efficacy of learning programmes in promoting employment chances, the role the EU can play in supporting member states transfer successful schemes to other members, and the importance of developing benchmarking activities to monitor said schemes’ success in new contexts. Tony Bates of Tony Bates Associates provided LINQ 2013 with an analysis of the most recent forms of open education, concluding that open access education must be accompanied by quality assessment to ensure its value for learners. UNESCO OER Chairs Rory McGreal (University of Athabasca) and Fred Mulder (Open University of the Netherlands) emphasized the advantages Open Educational Resources (OER) have provided to contemporary learners – Rory McGreal underlined the need for free education and open mobile access, whereas Fred Mulder explained the broad, multifaceted meaning of open education, including demand-side arguments for opening up education.
Further keynote speakers included the expert and inventor of the term “e-learning” Jay Cross of the Internet Time Alliance, who focused on the need for integrating learning into work and the value of happiness for learning. Christian-Friedrich Lettmayr, Director of the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training (CEDEFOP) presented current trends in vocational training in Europe. Ignasi Labastida, board member of the OCW Consortium and Creative Commons, explained the value and benefits of open licenses and pled for an opening and sharing of educational resources. Miguel-Angel Sicilia of the University of Alcalá expounded on linked open data and its connections to the evolution of the semantic web, exemplifying this “web of linked learning” through the Virtual Open Access Repository VOA3R (www.voa3r.eu). Finally, Christian M. Stracke introduced the International Association ICORE for Open Research and Open Education and the results of its first meeting on the day before LINQ 2013.
On May 17th four parallel sessions gave invited speakers, research projects, and paper authors thematic space in which to present their work. More information about LINQ can be found online at the official LINQ website at www.learning-innovations.eu, including videos of the complete conference, the conference proceedings, and information about future events. For the most up-to-date news on the results of LINQ 2013 as well as LINQ 2014, including new opportunities for participation, please follow @LINQ_Conference on Twitter and like www.facebook.com/LINQConference on Facebook.
About the 2nd European Conference on
Learning Innovations and Quality:
“The Future of Digital Resources”
The main goal of LINQ 2013 was to bring together a variety of academics and professionals in active in the field of Innovations and Quality in Lifelong Learning (LLL) for an innovative exchange of the latest developments in education and training innovations and quality on both a European and international level. Potential points of access to this field included new learning methods and design, Technology-Enhanced Learning (TEL), quality standards and certification, human resources development, competences and skills, digital resources, learning materials, and online collaboration and communities.
LINQ 2013 attracted submissions from throughout Europe, as well as Asia, America, and Africa. More than 150 researchers and practitioners answered the LINQ 2013 call for papers and projects. This year thus showed a continuation in the high level of interest which made LINQ 2012 such a successful conference in Brussels last year. The Global Headquarters of the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in Rome, Italy provided an ideal location for LINQ 2013. The first day of the conference began with a plenary which included remarks from prominent keynote speakers. The second day was divided into four parallel sessions, allowing the chosen project and paper submitters to present their work.
More information about LINQ online:
Agriculture Competence
The AGRICOM project aims to establish the first Competence Model for the Agricultural Sector (ACM) in order to strengthen the transparency and comparability of VET opportunities at a European level.
AGRICOM (Transfer of the Water Competences Model to AGRIcultural COMpetences), a European Commission project, has as its goal to enhance the Vocational education and training situation by defining the skills and competences required for the different areas of work, workplaces and workers within the agricultural sector.
Improving Vocational Education Training: Call for Book Chapters
EFQUEL invites contributions to a book about improving the quality of Vocational Educational Training (VET).
The call for chapters, which will examine the tools, frameworks and current practices necessary to enhance VET, is supported by the Teacher Quality Management project. As the book will address two different topics, participants are asked to tailor their submissions to the following categories:
What is the Future of Digital Resources for Learning & Teaching?
Essen, April 2013 - To discuss this matter, the University of Duisburg-Essen invites educators and researchers to a European conference on May 16 and 17, 2013. Some main points of dialogue will include defining quality in learning and innovations in learning resources.
Recently Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) have shaken up the blogosphere and media reports on higher education. These courses make use of open digital resources for learning and have attracted hundreds of thousands of online learners at no cost. A digital resource for learning can be a written text, pictures, slides, videos, a 3-D simulation or a website combining all of them into ready-made curricula including tools for (self-)assessment for educators or learners. More and more digital resources with open licenses facilitate educators and learners in editing, improving, and adapting to different learning situations inside or outside of the classroom and in turn share their own work with the online community. These open digital resources provide the foundation for a borderless exchange of teaching and learning methods in many different fields. But a potential conflict exists between open learning resources and the quality of those resources. Restrictions on the certification of the creators of such content or the access to learning materials through paywalls have to some degree defended the quality of those resources in the past. How can creators ensure that their digital resources meet an appropriate level of quality and how can users be certain that said resources are worth their time?
The LINQ conference will bring together current initiatives from all areas of education - schooling, adult learning, informal and on-the-job learning - to demonstrate their online resources and methods of quality development and thereby address this potential conflict. An example of such an initiative is VOA3R (Virtual Open Access Agriculture and Aquaculture Repository), a European research project consortium of a variety universities and research centres. This group is building a hub for resources in agriculture and aqua-science through a social network in which researchers can share, comment and rate content. Through the VOA3R platform advances are being made in the sharing, reciprocal reviewing, and rating of learning innovations in the aforementioned fields, thereby addressing the important aspect of learning quality which should accompany learning development. These advances have proven of great interest to the Global Headquarter of United Nations' organization Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) - LINQ conference host and supporter of the VOA3R project.
In Rome, discussions will deal with the following questions:
· How can the quality of resources be improved and what does “quality” actually mean for teachers, learners and institutions?
· Are teachers and educational institutions ready to make use of the wealth of resources and how do they find the “right” thing?
· Will the future of digital resources be determined by metadata, i.e. the data about data, feeding databases and search engines?
· What must be done to ensure that we can still access valuable resources in 15 years from now (think about your files from 1998)?
· Do more easy-to-find resources lead to better learning?
Especially but not exclusively for those who do not plan to travel to Rome in May, the University of Duisburg-Essen is inviting interested parties to exchange views on the future of digital resources on Facebook: www.facebook.com/LINQConference. Two conference fee waivers will be given away to Facebook-Followers.
First Keynote Speakers for LINQ 2013 Announced
The 2nd European Conference on "Learning Innovations and Quality" (LINQ 2013) has announced several high-ranking speakers to be present during the event on May 16th and 17th at the Global Headquarters of the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in Rome, Italy.
The 2nd European Conference on "Learning Innovations and Quality" (LINQ 2013) has announced several high-ranking speakers to be present during the event on May 16th and 17th at the Global Headquarters of the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in Rome, Italy. Figures such as the esteemed Prof. Dr. Rory McGreal and Prof. Dr. Fred Mulder, both UNESCO chairs for Open Educational Resources (OER), as well as Christian-Friedrich Lettmayr, Director of the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training (CEDEFOP), will contribute their experience to the conference. Their support of LINQ’s continuing mission to examine the intersections between learning innovations and quality will provide an excellent framework for the state-of-the-art research and project work collected through the LINQ call for papers and projects, ended on March 4th.
“Rory McGreal and Fred Mulder have long been crucial pioneers in the development of Open Educational Resources as UNESCO Chairs,” says Christian M. Stracke, LINQ Conference Chair and international ISO Convener for learning quality from the University of Duisburg-Essen. “We will be honoured to greet them at LINQ 2013 and to learn from their professional and academic expertise. Likewise, Christian-Friedrich Lettmayr’s familiarity with the inner workings of CEDEFOP will prove incredibly valuable to practically situate the newest research efforts submitted to LINQ 2013. We are certain that the discussion at LINQ 2013 will benefit enormously from their presence.”
More than 150 researchers and practitioners have answered the LINQ 2013 call for papers and projects and the contributions of the highest quality will make the conference programme insightful and exciting. Early-bird registration at the reduced rate of 90€ will remain open until March 31st, 2013. All interested parties active in the fields of new learning methods and design, Technology-Enhanced Learning (TEL), quality standards and certification, human resources development, competences and skills, digital resources, learning materials, and online collaboration and communities are encouraged to register for LINQ 2013 and take part in the continuing development of learning innovations and quality. For more information on specific registration requirements and other matters, please visit the conference website at www.learning-innovations.eu.
Overview of the important dates:
- End of early-bird registration period (90€): 31st of March 2013
- Conference Programme Ready: April 2013
- Conference date: 16th and 17th of May 2013
For the latest information on the conference and to submit any pre-conference feedback, please visit the LINQ Facebook page at www.facebook.com/LINQConference and follow the LINQ Twitter account at www.twitter.com/LINQ_Conference.
LINQ 2013 at the UN FAO Headquarters in Rome
The 2nd European Conference on "Learning Innovations and Quality" (LINQ 2013) will take place at the Global Headquarters of the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in Rome, Italy, on 16-17 May 2013.
The Global Headquarters of the FAO stands near the impressive Circus Maximus, the first and largest stadium in the Roman Empire, and its expansive facilities will provide ample space to the participants of LINQ 2013. Furthermore, the FAO’s development of global standards in food and agriculture-related policies (including training and education) makes it an ideal venue for LINQ 2013.
This year's LINQ 2013 has "Innovations and Quality: The Future of Digital Resources" as its motto, and addresses and invites experts who are active in the field of Innovations and Quality in Lifelong Learning (LLL).
The LINQ 2013 conference fee will remain reduced at the early-bird rate of 90€ until the 31st of March 2013, after which it will rise to 150€. For further information about conference fees, requirements, and other details about LINQ 2013, please visit the conference website.
The University of Tuscia (Italy) Joins the Agricultural Competences Project (AGRICOM)
The University of Tuscia (UNITUS) based in Viterbo, Italy has just joined the AGRICOM consortium, providing expertise in Italian agriculture and food production, as well as forestry and energy efforts.
The full first version of the AGRICOM Competence Model (ACM) was developed by the end of the first project year and is now undergoing extensive testing in AGRICOM partner countries. Now, the University of Tuscia (UNITUS) will coordinate the Italian portion of pilot-testing phase. Their efforts will complement the on-going pilot-testing in the other countries like Germany, Greece, and the Netherlands. Together, their results will demonstrate a variety of national implementations and applications.
For the lastest AGRICOM updates, please visit the project website, Facebook page, or Twitter account.
Validation of Non-formal and Informal Learning EC-Cedefop Seminar
The seminar ‘Validation of Non-Formal and Informal Learning’ will take place on the 9th and 10th of April, 2013 in Mechelen, Belgium, and is open to 120 participants.
The event is hosted by the European Commission and the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training (Cedefop), in association with the Irish Presidency of the European Union.
European countries are increasingly recognising the need to acknowledge the types of learning that take place outside formal training institutions. There are still obstacles, however, to implementing policy objectives and practical solutions for validating the learning that happens in the workplace, at home, or in leisure activities.
This ‘Validation of Non-Formal and Informal Learning’ seminar will convene 120 participants interested in and involved with the challenges and solutions this topic presents.
Registration is currently open. For more information, please contact koen.nomden@ec.europa.eu
LEARNTEC 2013 - The digital relevance of life-long learning
LEARNTEC is the leading international trade fair and convention for vocational education, learning and information technology and is scheduled to take place between 29 and 31 January 2013 at the Karlsruhe Trade Fair Center. It has been established for many years as the sector meeting place for e-learning providers and players in the field of vocational education and the focus of next year’s event will be on “Future Learning”.
Mobile learning, games and social learning: there is no mistaking the technological trends in the world of learning, and these developments are also reflected in the LEARNTEC 2013 motto: “Future Learning”. The convention is also dealing with topics from daily practice, including blended learning, the introduction of e-learning and virtual classrooms. Among the management themes covered, employer attractiveness, professional careers and performance management are areas of particular focus. A number of new fields will also be highlighted, including education for the “50+” generation, innovative interfaces and digital publishing.
LEARNTEC follows up on its success with highly relevant, up-to-date topics. LEARNTEC was rated as far and away the most important one among education fairs and conventions by MMB Learning Delphi 2012. A large majority of experts surveyed – 82 percent – considered LEARNTEC to be the go-to event for digital learning, while 89 percent of e-learning providers were of the same opinion.
According to PricewaterhouseCoopers’ “Global Entertainment and Media Outlook: 2012-2016” publication, digital learning media are set to grow by 12.1 percent annually over the next five years, whereas the non-digital media market is only expected to grow by 2.8 percent per year. This is why LEARNTEC will be featuring the debut of e-PUB@LEARNTEC, an interactive café that will serve as a meeting point for everyone dealing with digital learning media such as e-books and apps. All issues having to do with e-publishing will be up for discussion in a relaxed café atmosphere.
LEARNTEC 2013 once again has a wealth of highlights in store, with organisers being careful to ensure that there is a healthy mix. The event will kick off with two keynote addresses: Prof. Barbara Ischinger from the OECD will be talking about “Creating quality jobs by leveraging education, skills and migration”, while Prof. Dieter Kempf, CEO of Datev and President of BITKOM, for the first time serving as a conceptual partner to LEARNTEC, will be exploring learning scenarios for 2020. On the first day of the event, a high-calibre discussion group featuring Prof. Dr. Peter Vorderer and Prof. Dr. Gerhard de Haan will take a look at the topic of “digital relevance”, offering a counterweight to current theses about computers not benefitting the educational process. New York-based Colleen Macklin, an internationally renowned professor specialising in games, will be brought on board for the Wednesday programme, while the final day will once again be devoted to the issue of motivation, as successful trainer Dr. Frädrich will be showing ways to escape from demotivation. During LEARNTEC, Karlsruhe Trade Fair Center will also be playing host to the Baden-Württemberg media day, which is focusing on “The role of mobile media in children’s media”.
The 21st LEARNTEC is to take place at Karlsruhe Trade Fair Center from 29 January to 31 January 2013.
End of a course on quality standards for vocational training in Portugal
The first course for auditors on the requirements of the new Portuguese standard “Vocational training management system, including technology-enhanced learning" (NP 4512:2012). The sessions took place on November 29th and 30th on the premises of the Portuguese Institute for Quality (IPQ) in Caparica, Portugal.
The Q-Cert-VET, which develops a new quality standard and supports a related certification scheme for the vocational education and training (VET) sector in Portugal. consortium welcomed 17 experienced auditors from 8 Portuguese and international certification bodies. If you represent a certification body interested in the specifics of this new Portuguese standard, please feel free to contact the Q-Cert-VET consortium through the official website at www.edu-certification.eu/