EDEN is proudly hosting the European Online and Distance Learning Week (EODLW) for the sixth time!
The event is organised in partnership with the Open Distance Learning Association in Australia (ODLAA) jointly with Flexible Learning Association of New Zealand (FLANZ) who are launching the Asia-Pacific Online Distance Education (APODE) Week and with the United States Distance Learning Association (USDLA), who will be holding its National Distance Learning Week (NDLW). A special webinar contribution by ICDE is also planned.
This week will be an excellent opportunity to reflect on the lessons learned during the COVID-19 pandemic and to discuss how education should look like in the post pandemic era. During EODLW, you will have access to daily online webinars and panel sessions of expert scholars and practitioners, who will present best practices and expertise in online and distance education and discuss with the audience on the challenges in shaping the future of education and how we can fully harness the potential of new models of online and distance learning.
Highlights
Georgi Dimitrov, Head of Digital Education at the European Commission, Directorate-General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture (DG EAC), together with Sandra Kucina Softic, President of EDEN, will intervene in the session: ‘A Report Card on the Crisis: What is the Legacy of the Great Onlining of Higher Education?’
Students’ perspective will be addressed in the panel discussion: ‘Student Voice on the Opportunities and Benefits of Online and Distance Education during the Pandemic’ lead by Airina Volungeviciene, President of EDEN Digital Learning Europe.
Blackboard Europe will present the topic ‘Digital Leadership in Transformative Times’ that will identify common institution-wide challenges and suggest how we can consciously support innovation while keeping education’s ever-changing landscape in focus.
Many more attractive sessions will be disclosed in the final programme!
All webinars at EODLW 2021
Wednesday, November 3, 2021, 14:00-15:30 CET
Practices in Digital Education for Universities
Moderator: Vlad Mihaescu
Description:
The disruption in education due to the Covid pandemic highlighted the importance of practices in digital education and, in the end, influencing the education policies of many universities. For many university professionals, new theories and pedagogies related to digitalising education have become more actual than ever before. However, for many, there is still relevance in transferring theories into practice and offering their students the best digital educational experience.
This panel proposes a discussion on good practices of integrating digital education in higher education institutions. The speakers are going to showcase various tools, applications, methodologies, research and project results with the purpose to support those attending with the best ideas to take home in their institutions.
Speakers:
- Diana Andone
- Edmundo Tovar
- Alfredo Soeiro
Thursday, November 4, 2021, 11:00-12:30 CET
Stepping up to the plate! How technology has supported ODL during and after the pandemic
Moderator: Alastair Creelman
Description:
The pandemic caused by COVID19 brought about an acceleration in the already existing transition from traditional face-to-face classrooms to online and distance education. The initial switch to “emergency remote teaching”, in fire-fighting mode, gave way gradually to finer-grained and more sophisticated e-learning scenarios, mixing synchronous and asynchronous practices with multimodal resources. While educationalists have quite rightly been very visible during this period, supporting the different pedagogical aspects, it is without a doubt the underlying technology, robust and scalable, that has made this transition possible. The management of this process has been a challenge to the technologists working in this area. In today’s webinar we will hear from experts in the field of edtech on how they responded to the demands of teaching staff during the pandemic and how they see the online educational future from here outwards.
Speakers:
- Andrei Ternauciuc
- Jesús Boticario
- Lisa Marie Blaschke
- Annabell Busch
- Nicolas Albouze
Thursday, November 4, 2021, 13:00-14:00 CET
Student Voice on the Opportunities and Benefits of Online and Distance Education during the Pandemic
Moderator: Airina Volungevičienė
Description:
The session will have short reflections by students on how they survived the pandemic, which lessons need to be taken into the future with us in HE, and the experience and reflections on the challenges that they had, in order to foster discussions on how to facilitate online studies in the future. Besides students, we will have short intermediate presentations about student surveys implemented after the first year of pandemic that were taken as immediate and timely reflections by students on the national and institutional and/ or program level.
Speakers:
- Orna Farrel
- Sinead Lynch
- Ausra Rutkiene
- Vusala Idrisli
- Tamari Ivanidze
- Lina Kaminskienė
- Sandra Lovrenčić
Friday, November 5, 2021, 13:00-14:30 CET
You can handle you can teach it: Use of XR technologies to enhance teaching and learning methods in online higher education
Moderators: Luis Villarejo, Gizeh Rangel-de Lazaro
Description:
Over the past year, defined by the COVID 19 pandemic, we have witnessed the boom in the application of digital media to education. This has impacted traditional teaching operations, shifting to online delivery. Whether and how such activities will continue in a post-Covid 19 situation remains unclear. Apart from this are the online and open universities with a long last practice in providing flexible and innovative educational options, widening many learners’ possibilities. In this webinar, our goal is to share the experience gained, good practice, and the pros and cons of handling with 3D technologies, augmented and virtual reality resources to amplify a multimodal, active, and learner-centred method in online higher education during COVID 19 pandemic. As an example of resilience in the educational context, exploring the use made of these digital tools will allow us to understand how the teaching and learning process has been strengthened and interactively expanded.
Speakers:
- Fridolin Wild
- Pierre Bourdin
Monday, November 8, 2021, 15:00-16:30 CET
Making Higher Education 4.0: The Inside Story
Moderator: Elaine Beirne
Description:
Join us in this webinar for a unique insiders’ glimpse into a future-focused course developed on the FutureLearn platform called Higher Education 4.0: Certifying your Future. This MOOC was first offered in March 2021 in response to the so-called future skills agenda and the rapid growth of the micro-credentialing movement. It also explores how these change forces align with new models of pedagogy for new times. After a brief tour of the MOOC, the panel will share how the idea for this free online course came about, the learning design process that was adopted in developing the MOOC, and valuable lessons and critical reflections arising from the first offering of the course. The panel discussion will provide an opportunity to talk about what role MOOCs can play, if any, in the effective continuing professional learning and development of higher educators. Webinar participants will be able to view and provide critical and constructive feedback on the second facilitated offering of the MOOC which runs throughout November 2021. This is an opportunity to hear what works and why (and what doesn’t) in the design and delivery of online courses in the wider content of Higher Education 4.0. We look forward to sharing our insights with you.
Speakers:
- Mark Brown
- Mairéad Nic Giolla Mhichíl
- Conchúr Mac Lochlainn
Tuesday, November 9, 2021, 13:00-14:30 CET
Multisectoral collaboration for OER: adaptation and development to ensure quality Open, Flexible and Distance Learning (ICDE contribution)
Moderators: Anaïs Røed Malbrand
Description:
ICDE deeply believes in the potential of open education to achieve education for all. Open Education in general and OER in particular has been a continuous strategic priority and is again reflected so in the ICDE Strategic Plan for 2021-2024.
In this workshop, we will share experiences from multi-sectoral and cross-cultural collaboration related to two of ICDEs main ongoing OER projects, ENCORE + and the ICDE Francophone OER Project.
International Council for Open and Distance Education – ICDE – is the leading global membership organisation for open, flexible and distance learning. ICDE is a not-for-profit, Non-Governmental Organisation registered in Norway with more than 250 members and partners impacting 15+ million students across six continents. The organisation is in a consultative partnership with UNESCO and shares UNESCO’s key value – the universal right to education for all. ICDE has been active on the open education global agenda for two decades. In the past years, ICDE has been very involved in the consultation of the UNESCO OER Recommendation and is currently strongly supporting its implementation as a member of the UNESCO OER Dynamic Coalition since its launch in March 2020.
Speakers:
- Jacques Dang
- Alan Masson
- Ebba Ossiannilsson
Tuesday, November 9, 2021, 19:00-19:45 CET
Global Perspectives Panel
Joint association webinar in the frame of USDLA National Distance Learning Week
Join this session to learn from senior executives of our peer organisations around the world.
Speakers:
- Mr. Eric Jones, President-Elect of the United States Distance Learning Association
- Dr. Mark Brown, Vice President of the Open and Distance Learning Association of Australia (ODLAA)
- Dr. Josep Duart, President of the EDEN Digital Learning Europe
- Dr. Simon Paul Atkinson, President of the Flexible Learning Association of New Zealand (FLANZ)
Wednesday, November 10, 2021, 12:00-13:30 CET
A Report Card on the Crisis: What is the Legacy of the Great Onlining of Higher Education?
Moderator: Sandra Kučina Softić
Description:
In this session we will reflect on the present situation in higher education in post pandemic times by asking several key questions. How well did we cope and what lessons did we learn? How are those lessons reflected in future planning? What now? We plan to discuss how we can take this opportunity and the legacy of a crisis to rethink traditional models of teaching and learning. What should stay and what needs to change? Will higher education ever be the same again? Will we be able to retain the advantages and benefits of gaining more experience in online education, or will we feel compelled to get back to “normal” times? Why did we need a pandemic as the catalyst for the digital transformation of higher education? What is the role of the Digital Education Action Plan in contributing to shaping a new European Education Area? Has the future of online education been endangered by emergency remote teaching? What are some of the debates and challenges we need to address in establishing the place of online education in the higher education ecosystem? So, join us in this lively conversation and share your views and reflections.
Speakers:
- Georgi Dimitrov
- Josep A. Planell Estany
- Mark Brown
- Airina Volungevičienė
- Alfredo Soeiro