active learning
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.
Keynote Speakers of EDEN 2013 Annual Conference Revealed
The first list of keynote speakers for the 2013 EDEN Annual Conference unveiled right before the Holiday season includes Prof. Sugata Mitra, Dr. Bernard Luskin, Anna Kirah, Ana Carla Pereira, and a representative of the Norwegian Nobel Committee.
Prof. Sugata Mitra is Professor of Educational Technology at the School of Education, Communication and Language Sciences at Newcastle University, UK. He is best known for his "Hole in the Wall" experiment, and widely cited in works on literacy and education. Prof. Mitra is a leading proponent of Minimally Invasive Education, a solution that uses the power of collaboration and the natural curiosity of children to catalyze learning. During his most known experiment, 'Hole in the Wall' conducted first in 1999, a computer was placed in a kiosk created within a wall in a slum at Kalkaji, Delhi and children were allowed to use it freely. The experiment aimed at proving that children could be taught by computers very easily without any formal training. This experiment inspired Vikas Swarup, an Indian diplomat to write Q & A, the novel adapted into the multiple Oscar-winning movie Slumdog Millionaire. See his TED talk on the experiment here.
Dr. Bernard Luskin, President-Elect for the American Psychological Association (APA) Media Psychology Division is widely known for his major study 'Media Psychology and New Technology'. Dr Luskin was central to the launch of Jones International University, the first accredited fully online university in the USA and the Mind Extension University, a precursor for many of the online university programs of today, including what are now being called emerging MOOC strategies. Read his blog 'The Media Psychology Effect' featured on 'Psychology Today'.
Anne Kirah, is currently Senior Design and Innovation Anthropologist of Steria, Norway. She served previously as a design anthropologist for MSN leading field and laboratory research, national and international, intended to influence software and service designs to improve humans’ interaction with technology. She holds an advanced graduate degree in social and cultural anthropology, as well as undergraduate degrees in social anthropology, the sociology of education and developmental psychology. She also holds a master’s degree in psychology from the University of Washington.
Ana Carla Pereira, Head of Unit for Skills and Qualifications, Commission Directorate-General Education and Culture will talk about the developments with the European Union new generation education programmes.
Our Norwegian hosts invited a high level representative of the Norwegian Nobel Committee to speak.
The Nordic Voice
Distance education has been an important part of adult education in the Nordic countries for the last hundred years. Today, in Scandinavia, online education with advanced digital learning resources are widely accessible. A best practice presentation from all the Nordic countries will take place.
Call for Contributions
Underpinning the conference theme, “The Joy of Learning”, the EDEN 2013 Annual Conference will include paper presentations, interactive workshops often blended with webinars, on-the-spot poster sessions with visualised practices and project presentations in form of short demonstrations.
Contributions should relate to the conference themes. The Call is open until 5 February. Submissions will be double peer reviewed and accepted contributions published in the electronic Conference Proceedings with ISBN and their summary in the printed Book of Abstracts.
For details on submission categories, on how to submit your proposal and format guidelines, please visit the conference website and the Call for Contributions menu.
Online and Social
The Conference will be supported and accompanied intensively by social networking, sharing, online and virtual presence and involvement possibilities. You are invited to share on Twitter, Facebook, Slideshare and Youtube. The conference hashtag is #EDENOslo. A curated Conference news service is collecting related information via it's Scoop.it account.
The EDEN Oslo Facebook group is already active.
About the Conference
E-learning, open and distance education have been important fields of intellectual excitement and innovative development. Challenges posed by the new technologies are permanent, and students constantly keep teachers under pressure to develop. Individual and collective motivation, enhancement of the learning experience and overall improvement of learning quality are gaining ever-increasing traction.
How can we do our best to make learning a thrilling experience for learners, including providing a sense of joy in the virtual classroom?
The EDEN 2013 Conference will discover and present the latest best practice in this field, share progressive concepts, inventive solutions, and promote joint-thinking and collaboration.
EDEN Announces Keynote Speakers for its 2013 Annual Conference 'The Joy of Learning' in Oslo
The European Distance and E-learning Network unveiled today its first list of keynote speakers for the 2013 Annual Conference to take place on 12-15 June 2013 at the University of Oslo, Norway. This year, Prof. Sugata Mitra, Dr. Bernard Luskin, Anna Kirah, Pierre Mairesse, Kirstin Clemet and a representative of the Norwegian Nobel Committee was invited to inspire the EDEN conference participants.
Underpinning the conference theme, “The Joy of Learning”, the EDEN 2013 Annual Conference includes three days of keynote speeches, paper presentations introducing high quality scientific research and applied solutions, hands-on interactive workshops often blended with webinars, short on-the-spot poster sessions with visualised practices and project presentations. EDEN's community of members and partners that are driving innovation in TEL, e-learning, open and flexible learning meet every year to discuss the latest developments in this fast growing field.
Prof. Sugata Mitra is Professor of Educational Technology at the School of Education, Communication and Language Sciences at Newcastle University, UK. He is best known for his "Hole in the Wall" experiment, and widely cited in works on literacy and education. Prof. Mitra is a leading proponent of Minimally Invasive Education, a solution that uses the power of collaboration and the natural curiosity of children to catalyze learning. During his most known experiment, 'Hole in the Wall' conducted first in 1999, a computer was placed in a kiosk created within a wall in a slum at Kalkaji, Delhi and children were allowed to use it freely. The experiment aimed at proving that children could be taught by computers very easily without any formal training. This experiment inspired Vikas Swarup, an Indian diplomat to write Q & A, the novel adapted into the multiple Oscar-winning movie Slumdog Millionaire. See his TED talk on the experiment here.
Dr. Bernard Luskin, President-Elect for the American Psychological Association (APA) Media Psychology Division is widely known for his major study 'Media Psychology and New Technology'. Dr Luskin was central to the launch of Jones International University, the first accredited fully online university in the USA and the Mind Extension University, a precursor for many of the online university programs of today, including what are now being called emerging MOOC strategies. Dr. Luskin has received lifetime achievement awards from the UCLA Doctoral Alumni Association, University of Florida, California State University, Los Angeles, Long Beach City College, the Irish Government and European Commission. Read his blog 'The Media Psychology Effect' featured on 'Psychology Today'.
The partnership of the Norwegian Association for Distance and Flexible Education guarantees the smart involvement of the national distance and e-learning community and effective liaison with the Nordic stakeholders.
About EDEN
Established in 1991 as an international educational association and not-for-profit organisation, EDEN is open to institutions and individuals dealing with e-learning, and – more broadly speaking – open and distance education. It’s aim is to share knowledge and improve understanding amongst professionals in the field and to promote policy and practice across the whole of Europe and beyond. With more than 200 institutional members and over 1200 members in the Network of Academics and Professionals (NAP), EDEN assists a wide range of institutions, networks and individuals to become involved in professional information and networking activities. It does so through the organisation of acknowledged European conferences, its publications and information services, and by taking an active role in a wide range of important EU projects. EDEN has also proved successful with thematic activities such as the Open Classroom Working Group (school level distance education), and by contributing to, and promoting, ‘cutting edge’ research in the field. In addition, EDEN has also provided extensive secretarial support to the European Journal of Open, Distance and E-Learning (EURODL).
Further readings:
EDEN website
Conference Website
EURODL
Hole in the wall official website
The Child-Driven Education, TED talks 2010
'The Media Psychology Effect' blog
Norwegian Association for Distance and Flexible Education
University of Oslo
CARER+ - Developing Digital Competences of Care Workers to Improve the Quality of Life of Older People
An interdisciplinary and international team of 14 institutions launched the Carer+ project earlier this year for care-workers all around Europe. The project identifies and enhances ICT competences of care-workers who support elderly persons at home - anticipating a new and vital role for care workers. Introducing new, easy-to-use internet-based technology tools for elderly, in the next 2 years scientific research, a competence framework, curriculum and training tools in theory and practice, training for trainers and policy exchange visits as well as an open online learning space and community for care-workers will be put in place to realise the challenging aims of the project.
In today’s social care systems in most European countries, it is possible to receive the care needed at home, especially if one suffers from multiple chronic illnesses. Europe battles with an aging society and with the financial crisis holding a firm grip on European economy, it becomes increasingly crucial to take a close look on social care systems in place. For many elderly citizens the transition to a life in need of care is accompanied by lack of qualified caregivers, an absence of basic services such as transportation, no access to appropriate housing, and loneliness. Recent research has shown that a growing number of older people can be encouraged to use online services, and that modern ICTs and AAL (Ambient Assisted Living) technologies can radically change their lives. The key mediator between technology and ever-day life of elderly people are the domiciliary care-workers.
CARER+ is there to care for care-workers. It will create a unique a list of ICT knowledge and skill-based competences for domiciliary care workers with related certification process for digital competences of care-workers. Based on this framework and non-formal hard and soft skills, a special learning environment and resources will be put in place and disseminated. To make sure, the CARER+ framework works in real-life conditions, the project will pilot its framework and methodology in 5 countries with 500 care-workers. Following the lessons learned during the pilot phase, a complete set of guidelines will be developed to ensure transferability for all areas of the field. News and updates on project events and activities will be continuously shared on the web, on social online platforms and at events.
Details of on the project can be found at the project website: http://www.carerplusproject.eu/
Designing for learning in an open world
Gráinne Conole's book argues that in today’s technologically rich context, where content and services are increasingly free, we need to rethink approaches to the design of learning activities and content.
She introduces the concept of ‘open design’ and argues that making the design process more explicit and shareable will enable teachers to develop more effective learning contexts for learners and help make the intended design more explicit and shareable with other teachers and learners. It will help learners to make more sense of their educational provision and associated learning pathways.
Conole provides a number of illustrations of adopting an ‘open design’ approach, from a set of design representations through to the use of open, social and participatory media for sharing and discussing designs. She draws on the areas of learning design, pedagogical patterns and OER (Open Educational Resources) research to explore the creation, sharing and discussion of learning and teaching ideas and designs.
Call for Papers: Personal Learning Environments: Learning and Diversity in Cities of the Future
The PLE Conference intends to create a space for researchers and practitioners to exchange ideas, experiences and research around the development and implementation of Personal Learning Environments (PLEs) – including the design of environments and the sociological and educational issues that they raise. The 2013 edition will take place in Berlin and Melbourne.
The deadline for abstracts is 4 March 2013.
PLE 2013 – 4th International Conference on Personal Learning Environments The Personal Learning Environment Conference (The PLE Conference) is an international scientific conference taking place annually, each time in a different city. Following the highly successful events in Barcelona, Southampton, Aveiro and Melbourne, Australia, the 4th International PLE Conference 2013 will be held in Berlin, Germany together with a parallel event in Melbourne, Australia (#PLECONF) from the 10th to the 12th July 2013.
So far Personal Learning Environments have been designed and implemented in formal and informal learning contexts, such as school and higher education, work-based learning and in-company training, and in continuing education. The potential of Personal Learning Environments for crossing the boundaries of traditional learning contexts, connecting diverse communities and infrastructures has not been fully realised. Therefore, the 4th PLE Conference in 2013 aims at taking the discussion on Personal Learning Environments a step forward, providing a new impulse for PLE research and development.
The theme for the conference is learning and diversity in cities of the future. In view of the “Smart City” concept and the key priorities for research and innovation expressed in the EU Horizon 2020 framework, innovative, sustainable and inclusive solutions become crucial not only in terms of future and emerging technologies but first and foremost in terms of (i) human knowledge and skills, (ii) diverse and inclusive communities, as well as (iii) learning and knowledge networks. Hence, new forms of connected, interdisciplinary learning and cross-boundary cooperation are seen to play a critical role in the development of creative solutions and in the intelligent exploitation of networked urban infrastructures. In smart urban spaces, people, organisations and objects become interconnected by means of new technologies and media, forging new patterns of cooperation, production, research and innovation.
More information can be found here.
A Virtual Learning Journey on Community Reporting Training
The Virtual Learning Bus platform, resulting from the work of the LLP project ISABEL is on line. It is an open source Virtual Learning Journey on Isabel's project results and openly available multilingual resources. This "bus" will take you on a journey around the world of Community Reporting, with carefully designed "bus stops" that are full of all the information you need to successfully run and manage your very own Community Reporter programme and /or adapting it to other kind of Web.2.0-based learning. This resource has been devised as a sustainable tool for the re-use of the ISABEL project methodology, activities and results.
The Virtual Learning Bus platform, resulting from the work of the LLP project ISABEL is on line. It is an open source Virtual Learning Journey on Isabel's project results and openly available multilingual resources. This "bus" will take you on a journey around the world of Community Reporting, with carefully designed "bus stops" that are full of all the information you need to successfully run and manage your very own Community Reporter programme and /or adapting it to other kind of Web.2.0-based learning. This resource has been devised as a sustainable tool for the re-use of the ISABEL project methodology, activities and results. The bus will make four stops on its journey – as a trainer or educator this means you can prepare for and plan your sessions with confidence and access the resources you need for each session. You can spend as much or as little time in each of the stops as your learners need and it is conceived that Community Reporter trainees may go on several loops of the journey, as they become competent in different areas of media production.
The four stops cover the following areas:
· First Station: PRESENTATION
· Second Station: TRAINING
· Third Station: PRODUCTION
Within each station you will find a range of materials that have been tried and tested on other groups – this way, the best learning is ready to be shared by existing facilitators with you. Materials include lesson plans, outlines and graphical support materials, video and audio documentation, including video evaluations from other learners, which can be a real asset in bringing the training to life for new learners.
By January 2013, your project will be able to co-manage the platform, adding to the stations' goals, uploading materials and resources and therefore enriching the data base.
We hope you enjoy your journey on the Virtual Learning Bus
Listening to young children
The project is aimed at professionalising the work with children, based on an innovative approach, the concept of "Listening to young children". The project seeks to create expertise transfer from Greece, in order to develop country - specific frameworks for Poland, Cyprus and Bulgaria, - for conceptualising "Listening to young children".
The project also aims to develop a network of intervention at national level, connecting through an online platform, professionals from different areas and regions and allowing the implementation of “Listening to young children”.
The trans-national nature of the project is ensured by the transfer of expertise from Greece, but also by the exchange of good practices and results among the professionals implementing the project.
The “Listening to young children” project is pursuing:
• transfer and adaptation of innovative learning solutions for vocational training in the educational sector and
• design and testing of a European course for teachers and trainers developing key competences in the field, as well as providing quality services on a local, national and global level.
As planned, the tangible outcomes of this project are the following:
a multilingual, on-line course delivered by e-learning and training toolkits suitable for further integrations, reuse and commercialisation after this first delivery and diffusion of innovative, on-line and in-house solutions for European vocational training.