best practice
Strategies to Promote the Development of E-competencies in the Next Generation of Professionals: European and International Trends
This study analyses the effectiveness of policies, strategies and programmes that promote the acquisition of e-literacies, focusing in particular on the younger generation who will be joining the labour force in the next five to ten years. Based on the benchmarking of different studies about the impact of information and communication technologies (ICTs) on students’ learning, this work proposes a redefinition of the term ‘e-competencies’2. Moreover, a set of best practices for the development of the future e-competent labour force are identified. Although the scope for this paper is primarily the countries of the European Union, worldwide studies are also considered.
Plurilingual, Audiovisual and Digital Competences as Means to Construct Knowledge in Multilingual and Multicultural Communities of Practice
Language teaching in today's society should consider how the use of ICT and social networking influence learning, which, due to technology, very often occurs in multilingual milieus. Issues such as the presence of immigrant students in mainstream classrooms, the opening of those classrooms to pupils from other schools (through, for example, telecollaborative projects), the use of Internet as a tool for searching information but also for sharing what one has learnt (just to cite a few examples) raise the need to redefine concepts such as literacy, communicative competence, intercultural competence, text, text genre, and so on.
This project - which develops from previous studies carried out by the same team - aims to design, experiment and evaluate in inclusive classrooms authentic methodological proposals (projects), targeted at local students and students of immigrant origin and designed to enhance the joint development of the competences listed above. The study of learners’ communicative practices during the development of these global pedagogical projects will allow the reformulation of the concept of communicative competence. It will also provide for the expansion of the types of school texts that cater for the multimodal nature of communication. Moreover, the project will endeavour to understand the development of the multiple literacies that makes communication possible. In line with the research methodology traditionally adopted by the applicant research team, the experimental part of our study will be the result of collaborative work between faculty and school teachers.
There is a need to provide a learning environment that integrates all the competences, especially in project-based classrooms where there is often a clear target audience beyond the walls of the classroom itself. For instance, when learners read and construct non-linear texts, they may be seeking information in more than one language and they may need to include audio and images. Thus, it is patently obvious that it is necessary to treat in an integrated manner all the competences that make it possible for learners to develop the skills for building content knowledge through language use: multilingual and intercultural, audiovisual, digital and other skills related to different areas of knowledge in school curricula. Such an integrative proposal is essential for both the fields of language education and of research on teaching and learning of languages.
MEDEA Awards 2012
Annual competition to reward excellence and creativity in media in education.
Aim of the MEDEA Awards
The aim of the MEDEA Awards is to encourage innovation and good practice in the use of media (audio, video, graphics and animation) in education. The awards also recognise and promote excellence in the production and pedagogical design of media-rich learning resources.
In recent years there has been remarkable interest in the creation and use of digital video and audio in education, boosted by the increasing impact of multimedia and video based websites and applications on the internet and mobile devices. The pedagogical vision is clear: it is only when video and audio are routine components of education and online learning, that we will have an educational environment that reflects the media-rich world in which our learners now live.
Participation Guidelines
Before submitting a multimedia project or production, we strongly recommend that you read the Judging Criteria to understand what the judges are specifically looking for and the criteria they will use when judging your submission, as well as the Terms & Conditions of submission, where you will find the rules for participation in the MEDEA Awards. Read also the important Copyright Information page.
Entries need to be submitted via the online submission form and sent to arrive at the MEDEA Secretariat via post, e-mail or fax before the closing date: 17 September 2012 (midnight). All finalists will be notified in the beginning of November and will be invited to take part in the awards ceremony taking place during the Media & Learning Conference 2012, where the final winners will be announced.
MEDEA Awards 2012
- The MEDEA Award for User-Generated Educational Media 2012
This award honours the best entry submitted by teachers, students, learners, parents, professors, individual or organisational representatives in primary education, secondary education, higher education, adult education, vocational education and/or training. - The MEDEA Award for Professionally Produced Educational Media 2012
This award will be awarded to the best professional educational media produced by a professional company or semi-professional production unit such as a broadcaster, professional multimedia producer or publisher, professional web design company, audiovisual or media department in larger institutions or organisations such as universities, government departments, companies, multinational institutions and organisations, etc. - The Special Prize for European Collaboration in the creation of Educational Media 2012
This prize recognises excellent educational media productions and projects that come about as a result of European cross-border collaboration and recognises the impact such collaboration can have in increasing understanding and enhancing the European dimension. - The Special Prize for Educational Media Encouraging Active Ageing and Solidarity between Generations 2012
This prize will be dedicated to an entry or production that clearly uses (multi)media to encourage active ageing and solidarity between generations. All educational media productions, no matter in what format, be it website, video, game or interactive presentation, that illustrate, document or promote the active ageing and solidarity between generations. - The Special MEDEA Jury 2012 Prize
The judges may, at their discretion, present a special award to an approach or production in recognition of exceptional innovation in pedagogic or technical design.
Vision, Scenarios, Insights and Recommendations on how ICT may help making lifelong learning a reality for all
The aim of the VISIR network is to contribute to the full exploitation of the potential of ICT to transform and innovate European lifelong learning and to equip European citizens with digital competencies and other key transversal competencies for life and employability.
Why VISIR
The use of ICT for learning in Europe is gaining ground, but to uncap its potential as a driver of change for our economies and societies, we need to move from fragmentation and piloting to articulation and system adoption.
To address this need, seven European networks and two research institutions, with the support of the Lifelong Learning Programme of the European Commission, have joined forces and will work for the next three years to address three major gaps: the “understanding gap”, the “networking gap”, and the “mainstreaming gap” of ICT for learning in Europe.
The VISIR Approach
VISIR tackles three levels of analysis and action: macro (education and training systems), meso (organisations which provide teaching and learning opportunities) and micro (teaching and learning opportunities themselves), and will include a foresight component to enhance proactive change in effective ICT exploitation in learning.
To know more about the VISIR methodology, please contact us.
Micro-Innovation Practices
VISIR is inviting the academic and professional community to contribute: as one of the main research outcome of the project, 100 European leading innovation practice cases are being collected which:
- - have or have had impact in building digital and other key competences
- - are bottom-up cases
- - are innovative applications of ICT for learning
In case you are interested to share your experience, please send an outline to the EDEN Secretariat.
Genomineerden voor de e-Learning Awards 2012 bekend
De afgelopen weken heeft de vakjury zich gebogen over de 30 inzendingen voor de e-Learning awards 2012. Een grote diversiteit aan projecten maakte het wederom een boeiende klus met aan het eind de lastige opgave om per categorie drie projecten te nomineren.
De genomineerden zijn:
Best practice e-Learning
ISTARr learning (Universiteit van Tilburg)
Plaza Challenge School (Plaza Challenge School)
Smartgate the Game (BrandNewGame/Ijsfontein – ACN)
Innovatieve e-Learning
eFrame (Innofun)
PwC Startup (@Hand)
Traintool (Traintool)
Jong e-Learning talent
Educatieve I-tour (Job Haverkamp)
Mobiel Engels leren (Gerard Veenhof)
Studytube (Gerhard Riphagen & Homam Karimi)
Volgende week zullen de genomineerden voor Best Practice en Innovatieve e-Learning een pitch presentatie geven voor de vakjury, waarna de definitieve winnaars voor deze categorieën bepaald worden. De winnaars worden op 3 april op het e-Learning event bekend gemaakt.
De jong e-Learning talent kunt u ontmoeten op de Plaza van het e-Learning Event op 3 april in ’s-Hertogenbosch. Als bezoeker van het event kunt u die dag dan ook uw stem uitbrengen voor deze categorie. De winnaar in deze categorie wordt dan kort voor de uitreiking bepaald op basis van 50% juryoordeel en 50% publieksoordeel.
Meer informatie over de Awards
Meer informatie over het e-Learning Event 2012