innovation

Sharing resources questions the capacity of different institutions to collaborate in a meaningful way. Different steps in the sharing process are to be taken into account as we contend that teaching resources, despite
their intrinsic qualities, can remain unexploited otherwise. The present contribution proposes to study both the development of online resources, the challenges that are posed once the created resources are meant to be used by partner institutions, and the ways they can be integrated into the local contexts. It aims at understanding the process involved in an online learning environment designed for the learning of English, originally created for a specific local audience, and ultimately replicated in several universities. We
will distinguish phases to be respected for a successful sharing experience, during the development and appropriation phases, in order to favour the dissemination of innovation in a university context.

The consistent demand demonstrated by applicants concerning the 2nd European Conference on "Learning Innovations and Quality" (LINQ) has encouraged the organizers at the University of Duisburg-Essen to extend the submission period for papers and project presentations until the 4th of March, 2013. LINQ, the leading annual European conference on learning innovations and learning quality, has already attracted submissions from throughout Europe, as well as Asia, America, and Africa. This year thus shows a continuation in the high level of interest which made LINQ 2012 such a successful conference in Brussels last year.

“We are pleasantly overwhelmed with the response to this year’s call for papers and call for projects,” says Christian M. Stracke, LINQ Conference Chair and international ISO Convener for learning quality from the University of Duisburg-Essen. “Through this extension we intend to even more greatly expand the diversity of both practical and theoretical approaches to the issue of digital repositories in lifelong learning, as well as learning innovations and quality.”

This year LINQ 2013 and its motto "Innovations and Quality: The Future of Digital Resources" addresses and invites experts active in the field of Innovations and Quality in Lifelong Learning (LLL). Potential points of access to this field include 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.

The LINQ 2013 call for papers invites all experts and practitioners to contribute to LINQ’s dialogue through the submission of high-quality papers describing fully-developed results, on-going work or innovative concepts related to the following topics:

•      Innovations and future trends in Learning, Education and Training (LET)

•      Quality improvement and learning outcome orientation in LET

•      Harmonization of innovations and quality development in LET

•      Digital resources, online repositories and metadata for online objects

•      Web 2.0, Social Media and Online Communities for LET

•      Open access, open educational resources and user-generated content

•      Technology‐Enhanced Learning for schools, universities and lifelong learning

•      Learning quality in vocational education and training and HR

•      Implementation of learning innovations and quality improvements

•      Knowledge, innovation and ideas management in LET contexts

•      Standardisation of LET design, production and services

•      Quality management, standards, and certification in LET

•      Competence and skills development in lifelong learning

•      Quality and standardization of learning assessment and evaluation

Submissions of papers related to the conference (max eight pages) must be sent by March 4th, 2013, using the official LINQ template. All papers will be reviewed by the international scientific LINQ Programme Committee through double-blind peer review. Submitters will be informed of their acceptance by the 20th of April 2013. All accepted papers can be presented at the LINQ conference, will be published in the official proceedings of the European conference (with ISBN) and distributed to all conference participants as well as throughout Europe. Specific guidelines and requirements can be found on the conference website at www.learning-innovations.eu.

Attendance at the European conference "Learning Innovations and Quality" (LINQ 2013) is subject to a conference fee (early bird rate: 90 €, after 31 March: 150€) and requires registration through the LINQ website, as places are limited. The conference fee includes all provisions including a warm 3-course lunch, the coffee breaks, the conference bag, and the official conference proceedings. At least one author has to register for the publication of an accepted paper.

Overview of the important dates:

-          Paper submission deadline: 4th of March 2013

-          Notification of acceptance: 20th of April 2013

-          Camera-Ready copy due: 31st of April 2013

-          Conference date: 16th and 17th of May 2013

For the latest information on the conference, please visit and like the LINQ Conference Facebook page at www.facebook.com/LINQConference and follow the LINQ Conference Twitter account at www.twitter.com/LINQ_Conference. 

Please send full papers and direct enquiries to the LINQ Conference Manager Mrs Anne-Christin Tannhäuser, at the University of Duisburg-Essen (UDE), Germany, via e-Mail to: anne.tannhaeuser (at) icb.uni-due.de

The 2013 Validation awards aims to:

• Showcase the best VNIL practices
• Highlight the excellence of existing projects
• Spread the awareness about VNIL initiatives among professionals in this area
• Help citizens eager to have their learning outcomes and skills recognised and validated

By highlighting and publishing best practices in the area of VNIL, the Validation Prize contributes to changing society's mentality in the education and employment sectors towards the recognition that learning can also take place outside the formal structures and produce valid learning outcomes.

The 2013 Validation awards focuses on three distinct categories:

1. The Bottom-Up Approach - the role of grassroots initiatives in supporting VNIL, and strategies towards their mainstreaming
2. The New Profession - the competence profile required for VNIL professionals
3. Work-Based Competence Development and Recognition - the implementation of VNIL in the workplace

Target group

Trade unions, companies, sectoral/branch organisations, training funds, professional groups or individual workers, NGOs, VET schools, universities, public authorities, institutions of LLL, civil society organisations, social partners, VNIL professionals and researchers are invited to submit their best cases in one or more of the three categories.

he goal of eSG is to develop, deploy and assess experimental pedagogical plans based on appealing and instructive SGs for stimulating entrepreneurship in university students (a short course will be implemented for all the 3 levels: Bachelor, Master, PhD), with an aim to reduce the gaps among education, research and innovation. An online planning tool will also be developed. The project is highly innovative because it brings to the Higher Education (HE) sector (also through teacher training) the results of ongoing research on SGs, in particular through GaLA, which acts as a hub at EU level.

On the other hand, the outcomes from the eSG’s extensive deployment – the first one of this type in EU, to the best of our knowledge – will provide precious experimental information to researchers, that lack real data on using SGs in real HE settings. Moreover, innovation is guaranteed by the focus on new technologies and entrepreneurship, so that students are stimulated and given competences/skills, in order to apply in the real world of business the innovative knowledge they are gaining in university studies.