ELIG 2011 Annual Meeting

The ELIG Annual Meeting will address the question of sustainability for learning markets as a three dimensional one:

• Is the learning industry itself at a sustainable level? Is it now fully matured - is it emergent still or has it already peaked and become subsumed by the wider, more traditional academic and training sector? What is the impact of its current level; has it changed the established academic and training sector and has elearning been over-hyped or under-valued?
• Is the market for learning sustainable? Is there enough passion for learning; is it a commitment to continual access to learning opportunities or has the economic crisis driven learning off the agenda in a quick cost-cutting exercise? We see both Governments and Corporates across Europe, targeting learning as a major area for disposable costs - rather than an essential investment in people to ensure the suitability of future workforces and to address social inequalities. How will this impact on the overall markets for learning products and services.
• Is the technology sustainable? Given the breakneck speed of change, can anything to do with technology ever be considered sustainable or will it always be transient? Has the shift to mobile and handheld devices really been accommodated within the current learning models in a valuable and sustainable way? How can the learning industry on one hand fund research and development into emerging technologies whilst at the same time be required to deliver the ‘same old, same old’ by clients grounded in learning models of the last century? Is our ability to absorb technological change into societies’ structures for learning itself running slower than the rate of technology development?

Confirmed speakers include:

Anne Morrison, Director BBC Academy; Dirk Burkamp, Learning Technology Head, PwC Germany; Professor Teemu Leinonen, Aalto University, an expert on open source learning tools and platforms; Professor & Head of Design Factory, Kalevi Ekman, on the innovative learning approaches adopted by the Aalto Design Factory; Riitta Vanska, Senior Manager of Mobile and Learning Solutions, Nokia; Martin Dougimas, founder of Moodle

Contributors to the discussion session include:

Laura Overton, Director, Towards Maturity, on workplace learning trends; Piers Lea, CEO LINE Communications, on engaging with senior leadership taems on the elearning value proposition and Liina Munari, from the European Commission DG Information Society.

The draft agenda looks like this:

6th October:

1200 Registration opens followed by Networking lunch sponsored by McGraw-Hill

1400 Meeting opens

1430 The learning industry: a users perspective (Keynote addesses)

1615 Experiencing an alternative: The Aalto Design Factory

1900 Drinks Reception followed by Dinner 

7th October

0900  Parallel Sessions:(a)Marketplace Trends & Challenges (b) Public Policy, Innovation & Research

1045 Mapping out future marketplaces: open debate

1215 Closing Session followed by Networking lunch sponsored by McGraw-Hill

1400 - 1600 ELIG Working Groups in session (optional)