KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

Jan Elen

KU Leuven, Center for Instructional Psychology and Technology, Belgium

Jan Elen

Jan Elen is a full professor at the KU Leuven, Center for Instructional Psychology and Technology. He was the head of the educational support office of the KU Leuven, coordinator of the expertise network School of Education of the Association KU Leuven, and vice-dean Education of the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences.

He is currently the academic leading the teacher education program in behavioural sciences. He has been the coordinator of the Special Interest Group on Instructional Design of the European Association for Research on Learning and Instruction and is the current editor-in-chief of ‘Instructional Science’. His research mainly pertains to instructional design and higher education. He teaches courses on educational technology, the design of learning environments and didactics for behavioral sciences.

Learn more about him here.


Nell Watson

Engineer · Educator · Tech Philosopher

Nell Watson

Nell Watson is an engineer, educator, and tech philosopher who grew up in Northern Ireland. Nell founded Poikos (now QuantaCorp). This original, patented technology enables fast and simple 3D body measurement from only two planes (front and side), which enables fast and accurate personalization services in telemedicine, mass customization, and retail.

Today, Nell Watson educates others in how to implement such technologies, for example, by creating video coursebooks for O’Reilly. She is also Co-Founder of EthicsNet.  This community acts as role models and guardians to raise kind AI, by providing virtual experiences, and collecting examples of pro-social practices. Nell Watson lectures globally on (humanizing) Machine Intelligence, AI philosophy, Human-Machine relations, and the Future of Human Society, serving on the Faculty of AI & Robotics at Singularity University.

Learn more about her here.


Ilkka Tuomi

Founder and Chief Scientists, Meaning Processing, Finland

Ilkka Tuomi

Mr. Tuomi is Chief Scientist at Meaning Processing, an independent public research organization located in Helsinki, Finland. He is an internationally known expert in organizational learning, organizational cognition, technology-enabled learning, innovation research, and anticipatory systems theory. He has written five books, chapters in 25 books, over 60 scientific articles, and numerous scientific reports.

His recent publications include Vygotsky meets backpropagation: Artificial neural models and the development of higher forms of thought (AIED 2018);  Dialogical ethics in AI: Towards an adequate theory of agency in the age of machine learning (FTA 2018); The Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Learning, Teaching and Education: Policies for the Future (European Commission, 2018); and Artificial Intelligence—A European Perspective (European Commission, 2018). At present he leads the EC-JRC “Artificial Intelligence for and with Teachers” -project that co-designs future AI practices and policies with teachers and digital education experts.

Learn more about him here.


Bert Wylin

e-Learning and e-assessment expert

Bert Wylin

Bert Wylin has both an academic as well as a business profile. He works at the KU Leuven since 1993: first at the Continuing Education service, where he started up the distance education department and the Open University. Since 1996, he led the Education Innovation Centre, leading to a growing expertise in integrating technology and the Internet in university education. In 1997 he co-wrote and published the first Dutch-language book about the integration of Internet in the classroom and in education.

In 2001, he founded a KU Leuven university spin-off company, developing and servicing educational technology projects. In 2008 this company merged with another company to become the current Televic Education.Today, Bert Wylin is responsible for all e-content projects, for e-assessment and e-learning.

In research, he now focuses on assessmentQ, an online tool for learning, practising and testing, and the analysis of the results from that tool.

Learn more about him here.


Steve Wheeler

Learning Innovations Consultant and former Associate Professor of Learning Technologies at the Plymouth Institute of Education, UK

Steve Wheeler

Steve Wheeler is a Learning Innovations Consultant and former Associate Professor of Learning Technologies at the Plymouth Institute of Education where he chaired the Learning Futures group and led the Computing and Science education teams. He continues to research into technology supported learning and distance education, with particular emphasis on the pedagogy underlying the use of social media and Web 2.0 technologies, and also has research interests in mobile learning and cybercultures.

He has given keynotes to audiences in more than 35 countries and is author of over 150 scholarly articles, with more than 7000 academic citations. An active edublogger, his blog Learning with ‘e’s is a regular commentary on the social and cultural impact of disruptive technologies, and the application of digital media in education, learning and development.

Learn more about him here.


Yves Punie

Senior scientist and Deputy Head of Unit at the European Commission Joint Research Centre in Seville, Unit Human Capital and Employment

Yves Punie

Yves Punie is a senior scientist and Deputy Head of Unit at the European Commission Joint Research Centre in Seville, Unit Human Capital and Employment. He is leading its research and policy activities on “ICT for Learning and Skills”. The research area started in 2005 with the aim to provide evidence-based policy support to the European Commission on harnessing the potential of digital technologies to innovate education and training practices, improve access to lifelong learning and to deal with the rise of new (digital) skills and competences needed for employment, personal development and social inclusion. Recent work on capacity building for the digital transformation of education and learning, and for the changing requirements for skills and competencies has focussed on the development of digital competence frameworks for citizens (DigComp), educators (DigCompEdu), educational organisations (DigCompOrg) and consumers (DigCompConsumers). A framework for opening-up Higher Education Institutions (OpenEdu) was also published in 2016, along with a competency framework for entrepreneurship (EntreComp). Some of these frameworks are accompanied by (self-) assessment instruments. Additional research has been undertaken on Learning Analytics, MOOCs (MOOCKnowledge, MOOCs4inclusion), Computational thinking (Computhink) and policies for the integration and innovative use of digital technologies in education (DigEduPol).

Before joining the IPTS in 2001, he was interim Assistant Professor at the Free University of Brussels (VUB). He holds a PhD in Social Sciences.

List of publications, see https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Yves_Punie


Tracy Tan

Director of the MicroMasters Program at MIT

Tracy Tan

Tracy Tan, Director of the MicroMasters Program at MIT will give a special keynote speech at the Annual Conference in Bruges introducing delegates to the MicroMasters programs.

MicroMasters programs are a series of graduate level courses from top universities designed to advance learners’ career. They provide deep learning in a specific career field and are recognized by employers for their real job relevance. Learners may apply to the university offering credit for the MicroMasters certificate and, if accepted, can pursue an accelerated and less expensive Master’sDegree. She drives the strategy and growth of the MicroMasters programs offered by MIT and help shape and build MITx MicroMasters global ecosystem, including strategic engagement with partner universities, collaborating companies, and MicroMasters learners.

Learn more about her here.


Angeliki Dedopoulou

Adviser to the European Commission for ESCO and the Digital Labour Market

Angeliki Dedopoulou

Angeliki Dedopoulou is an EU Affairs adviser to DG Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion of the European Commission for the European Skills, Competences, Qualifications and Occupations (ESCO) and the Digitally Signed Credentials of the new Europass.

The European Commission initiated the development a framework for digitally-signed credentials. The technical approach designed for this framework allows for identifying, issuing, storing, sharing and verifying digitally-signed credentials. The Europass framework and the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs & Inclusion is expected to support the implementation of this framework by developing a European Digital Credentials Infrastructure.

Learn more about her here.