EDEN webinar series: Education in time of a pandemic #onlinetogether #covid19 – Summary

For the last three, four months we have all become much more aware of uncertainty and the impossibility to control the events impacting our lives. We are slowly recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic, from the lockdown, from working, teaching and learning from home. Such situations and changes affect us all, and it is not easy to adapt to new situations. However, what has been the most memorable part of these challenging times has been the support of and collaboration with friends and colleagues, as well as people whom we do not know personally.

To address these questions and many others, EDEN rolled out a series of practical webinars on how to take face-to-face education online. These webinars focused on the day-to-day challenges our teachers and educators face and move on to consider other, broader institutional aspects. These #onlinetogether #covid19 webinars were especially developed for these uncertain times, featuring experts and experienced practitioners within the field of open, distance, and e-learning. These weekly, one-hour webinar sessions were held every Monday, starting on March 30, 2020. Eleven webinars with 35 speakers and moderators – experts and experienced practitioners within the field of open, distance, and e-learning – gathered more than 3500 participants from all over the world. This initiative confirmed the need for collaboration, for sharing and networking within the education community. This is why EDEN plans continuation of this initiative for the autumn, further focusing on the issues confronting education in the time after pandemic.