innovation
Emerging Practice in a Digital Age
Emerging Practice in a Digital Age explores how colleges and universities are embracing innovation and using emerging technologies to enhance learning in a climate of economic pressure, changing social circumstances and rapid technological change. Aimed at those in further and higher education who design and support learning, the guide draws on recent JISC reports and case studies to investigate how the emergence of new and more powerful technologies together with an increase in personal ownership of these technologies are changing the way we connect, communicate and collaborate, and how these changes can benefit learning. The focus of this guide is on emerging practice rather than emerging technology.
New Background Document backing Policy on Systemic Innovation (Opening Article JSIE)
Call for Papers on 'Learning and Social Networking'. Deadline approaching!
eLearning Papers seeks contributions about social networking and/or social software and/or social computing contributions to supporting learning in both sections: In-Depth and From the Field. Send us your article.
We specifically invite contributions which address one or several of the following issues:
- Innovative social computing technologies, applications, tools and environments for supporting learning
- Tools for supporting group-learning
- Case studies and best practices in social networking supported learning
- Communities of practice
- Progressive inquiry learning and other pedagogical models
- Assessment in social networking supported learning
- Gender, age, cultural issues in social networking supported learning
- Ethical issues in social networking supported learning
- IPR issues in social networking supported learning
The article submission closes on 9 September 2011. The provisional date of publication is October 2011.
For further information and to submit your article, please contact: jimena.marquez@elearningpapers.eu
Guest editor:
Teemu Leinonen, Professor, New Media Design and Learning, Aalto University
Final countdown to The EFQUEL Innovation Forum: Certify the Future...?!
The 6th EFQUEL Innovation Forum will present certification systems for higher education, discuss certification in adult education and schools, for individuals and for organisations from Europe and beyond. We would like to invite you to debate the value of certifications, to examine good practice examples of innovative ways of certification in the various educational fields and to shape a future vision of how certifications can evolve to become instruments to certify the future.
Date and location: 14-16 September 2011, Oeiras, Portugal (visit the venue page)
Programme 15 and 16 September: available here on the EFQUEL website ! Or directly download the PDF version by clicking here
Pre-Conference programme and side events: read more about the CONCEDE User Generated Conference (14th of September), the General Assembly, the dinner and other side events on the pre-conference programme and side events page.
Final countdown to the EFQUEL Innovation Forum has started, register quickly through this link
For further information, don’t hesitate to contact the EFQUEL secretariat: info@efquel.org
Links-up and Free Joint Project Seminar: Gathering for good practice sharing and networking
The Links-up (Learning 2.0 for an Inclusive Knowledge Society - Understanding the Picture) and the FREE (Fostering Return to Employment through Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Creativity) projects, two outstanding EU funded initiatives, are organising their closing events on 22-23 September 2011 at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics, in Building A (20-22 Egry J. Street, H-1111 Budapest, Hungary) to offer their audiences their highly valuable research findings, products and services. Both the Links-up and the FREE projects are co-funded by the European Commission’s Lifelong Learning Programme and will be finishing shortly after this jointly organised conference.
Web 2.0 for Social Inclusion
The Links-up Final Conference, titled “Web 2.0 for Social Inclusion: Bridging Practices and Policies” will draw a picture of the ‘landscape’ of ‘Learning 2.0 for Inclusion’ by reviewing what has been done in the academic and research field, and what has been achieved by practitioners working on the ground in projects that have been using Web 2.0 to work with disadvantaged groups. Links-up will also report on a series of ‘action research experiments’, collaborating with ‘live pilot’ projects working in the field, to evaluate the added contribution Web 2.0 can make to practices that use learning to support social inclusion. Links-up, therefore, contributes to build a grounded as well as integrated evidence base in the field of Web 2.0, Learning 2.0 and Inclusion 2.0 in order to formulate realistic and feasible recommendations for future political actions and practical interventions.
Entrepreneurship, innovation and creativity
The FREE International Seminar offers in its programme a workshop where participants will have an opportunity to carry out in depth exploration of the features and contents of the FREE Interactive Tool, developed for the benefit of counsellors, tutors, trainers and other professionals working with unemployed people interested in starting a business. This experimentation will be facilitated by the members of the project partnership. In a following round table discussion you may exchange your opinion and experiences with your colleagues about the previously discussed or other related topics.
Synergies between and beyond
The two projects join forces in offering specifically dedicated sessions, where you will be introduced to other projects and initiatives that have similar focus to that of the FREE and Links-up. Would you have something relevant to contribute or share, bring your flyers and make sure you have enough business cards to give to the colleagues you will meet during these two busy days.
Registration procedure
The participation at both events is free of charge, however only pre-registered participants may attend and the places are limited. To safeguard your attendance, please fill in the online registration form not later than 12 September 2011. Would you have any questions or enquiries about the projects and the detailed programmes of the two days, please contact Gábor Cser at cser@eden-online.org.
Priority areas for the next waves of knowledge and innovation communities. Exploration of critical success factors, alternative options and characteristics for design
In support of the Strategic Innovation Agenda of the EIT this brief proposes potential priority areas for future waves of Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs), using a two level approach. Two general potential priority areas (level 1) are proposed: sustainability through integrated design, production and consumption; and services through ICT. These general proposals are then more closely aligned with possible areas of application (level 2), leading to seven more specific proposals for priority areas. The proposals are based on a Web 2.0 consultation of the research communities in Europe and beyond, the results of which were refined in an expert workshop. This brief also sets out the critical success factors that were applied for the formulation of the priority areas proposed, as well as some characteristics for their design.
Rénovation des salles multimédia en Région Ile de France
La Région Ile-de-France a pour projet de créer et de rénover les salles multimédia au profit des établissements publics locaux d’enseignement pour une durée de trois ans.
Ces salles sont principalement pluridisciplinaires et sont utilisées pour l’enseignement des langues.
Le concept retenu pour la création de nouvelles salles réside dans l’espace multimédia. Ainsi, VXCD Tecnilab a donc été choisie avec la société LogoSapience afin de mener à bien cette opération.
Salle multimédia
LogoSapience développe et commercialise la solution LogoLAB. VXCD Tecnilab, étant un revendeur agréé de LogoSapience, a proposé pour la Région Ile-de- France, la solution LogoLAB.
Elle regroupe un magnétophone et un magnétoscope virtuels numériques de langues. Elle permet entre autre de numériser les sources audio et vidéo et de les stocker sur un serveur. LogoLAB est ainsi utilisée dans une salle multimédia pour effectuer des travaux d’audio actif comparatif (utilisation de deux pistes audio : les pistes professeur et élève), des réaliser des QCM, etc.
VXCD Tecnilab, de son côté à proposer son produit phare IDM Class. Elle est une solution complète de formation interactive permettant de transformer une salle informatique en véritable espace multimédia numérique. IDM Class ajoute de l’interactivité aux formations grâce à ses fonctionnalités : communication, diffusion, création d’activités, envois d’applications et de fichiers, mise en place de groupes de travail, personnalisation du logiciel.
Pour plus d’informations : www.vxcd.fr
Launch of Mobile Learning Challenge
The International Association for Mobile Learning (IAMLearn, www.iamlearn.org), in collaboration with Epic (www.epic.co.uk), is proud to announce the Mobile Learning Challenge.
The Mobile Learning Challenge is searching for innovative and visionary solutions for learning using mobile technologies.
Practitioners, students, and young researchers are particularly encouraged to contribute their inspiring and visionary concepts. Specific technical skills are not required for participating!
Full details here:
http://www.iamlearn.org/competition.php
The first prize
The winner of the Challenge will receive £1000 (one thousand GBP). The winning solution will be presented to the mLearn 2011 conference audience either by the winner (if present at the conference) or by the President of IAmLearn.
This prize is co-sponsored by IAmLearn and Epic.
The second prize
The runner-up will receive a prize of 5 years’ free membership of IAmLearn.
Deadline for Submissions is Wednesday, 14 September 2011
The EIT's Strategic Innovation Agenda (SIA) - Investing in Innovation beyond 2014
The European Institute of Innovation and Technology’s (EIT) Governing Board submitted the EIT’s Strategic Innovation Agenda (SIA) – Investing in Innovation beyond 2014 to Androulla Vassiliou, the European Commissioner for Education, Culture, Youth and Multilingualism on 15 June 2011. In the SIA, the Governing Board outlines the EIT’s vision for the future as an innovation impact investment institute driven by entrepreneurship. This vision underpins its proposed strategy for strengthening Europe’s innovation capacity and competitiveness.
The SIA describes how the EIT will cement its position within the EU innovation landscape by building on the successes and lessons learnt since its inception in 2008. “The EIT and our current three Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs) are proving that there is a need for a new European innovation approach. We are committed to stepping up the efforts necessary to ensure Europe remains a key competitor on the global stage” says Martin Schuurmans - Chairman of the EIT Governing Board.
The EIT fosters a culture of cooperation between the actors of the knowledge triangle (business, education and research). With entrepreneurship as its key driver, the institute capitalises on Europe’s underused potential to exploit skills, technology and business innovation. The EIT was set up to serve as a role model within the EU innovation landscape: its focus on simplification and leadership could perhaps be emulated by other EU initiatives.
Entrepreneurship is the central driving force of innovation in the EIT and its KICs. By educating a new generation of entrepreneurially minded talent, the EIT and its KICs are paving the way towards a more entrepreneurial labour force and continued growth for Europe. “The SIA presents our vision for increased EIT impact through more KICs, new themes and a wider geographical coverage” states Anders Flodström - Vice Chairman of the EIT Governing Board and Chairman of the SIA Working Group. “Through the proposed new KIC themes we do not only address today’s Grand Challenges but also provide viable and sustainable solutions”, he adds.
European innovation cannot thrive on the current contribution to the KICs and cannot afford not to significantly step up its investment. Shifting from a system based on control of expenditure towards a trust-based system, focusing on outcomes and rewarding performance is perceived as “the” next major challenge for the EIT. In the years to come and through the implementation of the SIA and its increased budget request, the EIT will focus on becoming an entrepreneurially driven innovation impact investment institute.
EIT Strategic Innovation Agenda (SIA) busuu.com wins the European Language Label for innovative projects in language learning
busuu.com is an online community for learning languages. Users can learn languages directly from native speakers around the world. In addition, it offers a huge variety of learning units for self-study purposes completely for free.
busuu.com has been awarded with the European Language Label! This prestigious award is co-ordinated by the European Commission and awared every year by the individual Member States of the European Union. busuu.com has received this prize in Spain.Here the official award notification in Spanish).
The award recognizes ”new initiatives in the field of teaching and learning languages, rewarding new techniques in language teaching, spreading the knowledge of their existence and thereby promoting good practice”.
The prize is compensated with 1,500 EUR and theyhave decided to donate this money to a NGO in Cameroon. The name from the website, Busuu, comes from a nearly extinct language from Cameroon, spoken by only 8 people. They have donated the money to the Cameroon Association for the Protection and Education of the Child (CAPEC). This wonderful NGO is involved in various projects to offer education to underpriviledged children in the region. As we from busuu.com fully believe, that education is the most effective way out of poverty, we are very pleased to support their activities. In specific, the money will be used to construct a school for children in the Nkolfoulou neighbourhood located in the Centre Province of Cameroon. If you are also interested in supporting this cause or even sponsor a child for a full school year, you find more information about their programs here.