EDEN Network of Academics and Professionals (NAP)

1. EDEN President Ingeborg Bø and Vice President Ulrich Bernath visited China between 6-12 November on invitation of the China Central Radio & TV University, CCRTVU, the largest dedicated distance teaching institution in the world with over 2 million students. CCRTVU reaches out to these large numbers of students via traditional and electronic media and students are supported on line as well as with face-to-face tutorials in study centres all over the country.
CCRTVU and 44 provincial/local RTVUs form a network that provides access to education and in particular for students in remote areas of the country.

The EDEN delegation met the new President of CCRTVU, Prof. Dr.GE Daokai in Beijing and top representatives of the provincial RTVU in Shenyang and on the municipal level the RTVU in Dalian in the Northeast of China. Ingeborg Bø gave a presentation about EDEN and "Trends of European Distance Education and E-Learning" for the academic staff at the central office. The visiting program was organised by Prof. Li Yawan, the Director of the International Office of the CCRTVU in Beijing, who was keynote speaker at EDEN’s annual conference in Vienna in 2006.

The representatives of CCRTVU expressed their interest in closer and continued co-operation with EDEN and the professional community in Europe.

2. EDEN was invited to give a presentation at the Sloan Consortium Conference, held 8-10 November in Orlando, US about “Asynchronous Learning Networks”. Martine Vidal, member of the Executive Committee held a presentation in a Fetaured Session on “International Partnerships and Perspectives”, providing an international perception on developments in online learning as seen through the EDEN Network. At the event, besides leading personalities of the Sloan-C, she also met representatives of JALN - Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks with whom discussed the 2008 journal project on “What is the Role of distance Education in the Implementation of the ‘Right’or ‘Access’to Education?”with possible special tracks for them.

3. EDEN is delighted to welcome The Open University of Israel as new institutional member in the Association, the first affiliate member of EDEN.
This new membership category was introduced at the Annual General Meeting this June, to encourage EDEN Member national associations to nominate their member institutions to EDEN, thus allowing them to benefit directly from membership services. You can read details and conditions in the EDEN Constitution.

The interesting list of new members can be read at the "Welcoming New Members" link on the EDEN web.

4. EDEN will be present at the Online Educa Berlin Conference this year again, in several different ways. We shall have a shared exhibition stand with EuroPACE, where EDEN will also highlight the currently running EU funded projects that will also be featured in different presentations at the event: REVE, KITE, eTTCampus, NEMED and Authentication and the staff will be available to fill in the interest of conference participants with details of the mentioned above projects or other EDEN activities.

5. REVE Manual on Virtual Mobility

This online manual, developed as deliverable of the REVE - Real Virtual Erasmus project (with EDEN participation) is giving a better understanding of the benefits of collaboration through ICT as well as guidelines for a more effective integration of ICT in education on a technical, pedagogical and organisational level. For higher education institutions it offers an overview of concrete and working scenarios, models and implementation procedures as well as best practices and pitfalls. Students, trainees and lifelong learners can gain a better understanding of the benefits ‘Virtual Erasmus’enriching ‘traditional Erasmus’.

To find out more, please visit the REVE homepage

6. The Observatory on Borderless Higher Education based in London and providing a strategic information service for university managers and policy-makers, is launching its third international survey of online learning in higher education. The aim is to collate international data from a wide range of universities. Respondents will receive an analysis of the survey results. To take part in the survey, please click here. The deadline for submitting the survey is 8 December 2006.

7. We are pleased to announce that the Master of Distance Education (MDE) program jointly offered by the University of Maryland University College (UMUC) and EDEN-member Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg in Germany has recently been awarded the EFMD CEL program accreditation for technology-enhanced learning.

The MDE, launched in 2000, has granted over 100 degrees and almost 300 certificates. Ulrich Bernath, Vice-President EDEN, has been the co-founder of this program.

8. We would like to draw your attention to the Conference on "Learning Regions - Learning Cities", January 18-20, 2007 in Rovaniemi, Finland, organised by LlinE–Lifelong Learning in Europe Journal. The conference puts in focus the developments in and demands on visions and cooperation across different borders - regional, country and community ones.

9. The second annual conference Chais Research Center for the Integration of Technology in Education at the Open University of Israel will be held in February 20, 2007 in conjunction with EDEN. Abstracts of the papers presented in the Chais conference will become available to all EDEN members.
In order to promote collaboration between EDEN’s and Chais’researchers, a Chais-EDEN collaboration forum will be launched on the 12 February 2007. In the forum, presenters of the Chais Conference will post invitations for collaboration on their research projects with EDEN members. A special announcement will be sent around January, 2007.

10. EDEN-member Jan Gejel from The Social and Health Care College in Aarhus, Denmark invites you to the conference organised by his institution about the Danish and Scandinavian social and health care service and training model, to take place 24-26 May 2007. To see the detailed information, please click here. Those interested are kindly asked to express an informal interest to the conference co-ordinator, Thorsten Braun: sskatbr@sosuaarhus.dk.

11. Michael Auer from Carinthia Tech Institute, member of EDEN, is inviting all interested to the International Conference on Interactive Computer Aided Blended Learning, 7-9 May 2007 in Florianopolis, Brazil. This interdisciplinary conference aims to focus on the exchange of relevant trends and research results as well as the presentation of practical experiences gained while developing and testing elements of interactive computer aided learning.

EDEN Members are kindly encouraged to send relevant brief news for the next issue of EDEN Newsflash.