EDEN Network of Academics and Professionals (NAP)

1. EDEN 2007 Annual Conference
The preparations for the conference to be organised 13-16 June in the Citta della Scienza, Naples are well in progress. The response to the Conference Call was overwhelming, with over 250 papers submitted. An excellent portfolio of up-to-date best practices and professional experience will be presented, including most interesting workshops, as well.
The list of keynote speakers is now complete. You can listen to and ask in Naples the following outstanding experts:

- Paul Clark, Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Learning and Teaching), The Open University, UK
- Erik Duval, Professor, Katholieke Universiteit, Leuven, Belgium
- Anne Kirah, Acting Dean, 180° academy, Denmark
- Maruja Gutierrez-Diaz, Head of Unit, DG Education and Culture, European Commission
- Teemu Arina, CEO, Dicole Oy, Finland
- Eric Bruillard, Professeur en Informatique, IUFM de Creteil, France
- Michael Moore, Professor of Education, The Pennsylvania State University, USA
- Gordon Freedman, Vice President Education Strategy, Blackboard Inc.
- Grainne Conole, Professor, The Open University, UK
- Nicholas Allen, Provost, University of Maryland University College -- UMUC, USA
- Claudio Dondi, President, SCIENTER, Italy
- Ge Daokai, Professor, President, China Central Radio & TV University, China
- Song Gilsun, Professor, Institute of Higher Education and World Class Universities, China

2. We are glad to inform that a number of new articles have been released in the European Journal of Open and Distance Learning:

Magdalena Jara, Harvey Mellar: "Exploring the mechanisms for assuring quality of e-learning courses in UK higher education institutions"
Tomás Ward, Karl Monaghan, Rudi Villing: "MyVLE: A case study in building a universal telematic education environment for a small university"
Vitor Cardoso, Jose Bidarra: "Open and Distance Learning: Does IT (Still) Matter?"
James G Gallagher: "Online Learning: Strategy or Sophistry?"
You can check them at the EURODL website.

3. EDEN welcomes the following new institutional members in the Association:

The Herne Group, CeMAP Training, UK
Siauliai University, Distance Education Study Centre, Lithuania
You can check them at the "Welcoming New Members" link on the EDEN web.

4. Regional University-Industry Strategies Network RUISNET, will organise its II European Convention on 26-27 April in Brussels.
The I European Awards of University-Industry Cooperation with Regional Impact will be presented during the convention. The prizes have been conceived to award excellence in good practices that, throughout Europe, fall in the categories below, following the three specific areas enforced in the Lisbon Agenda:
- SMEs, Innovation and Territory
- Training and Labour Market
- Entrepreneurial Spirit and Knowledge Based Enterprise Creation
During the Open Event on 27 April, interested professionals will have the opportunity to attend the roundtable of presentations and participate in the debate about the awarded cases.

5. "Horizontal e-Learning Observation System": HELIOS
HELIOS is aimed at establishing a sustainable observation platform for monitoring the development of e-Learning in Europe and at generating scenarios of e-Learning in future years, co-funded by the European Commission. The consortium have conducted already five thematic surveys and is now inviting you to contribute to the last survey with the specific subject -relationship between e-learning and innovation of learning systems. By visiting the project web site you will benefit from the interesting results of former surveys that can be viewed there. You will also be able to read detailed information about different seminars organised in frames of the project and the Thematic Reports prepared in frames of the project.

6. Open Educational Practices and Resources - OLCOS Roadmap 2012
The report is based on the OLCOS project's research work, expert workshops and consultations with many international projects that promote the creation, sharing and re-use of Open Educational Resources (OER). The road mapping work was conducted to provide decision makers with an overview of current and likely future developments in OER and recommendations on how various challenges in OER could be addressed.

INSTITUTIONAL members of EDEN can also order the hard copy from the Secretariat free of charge. Please, send your request by e-mail with the subject: "OLCOS Roadmap 2012 request" to cser@eden-online.org.

7. 3rd Interdisciplinary EduMedia Conference, 16th -- 17th of April 2007, Salzburg, Austria
How does self-directed, lifelong learning benefit from open eLearning content, open source educational technologies, social software and common good licences? Salzburg Research Forschungsgesellschaft and St. Virgil Education and Conference Centre invite you to participate in the interdisciplinary congress on Open Educational Resources for Lifelong Learning. Keynote-speakers like Brian Holmes (Education, Audiovisual Executive Agency, EU), Bernie Dodge (founder of the WebQuest-Method, San Diego State University, USA), Niall Sclater (The Open University, UK) and Guntram Geser (Salzburg Research, A) as well as many other specialized lecturers will contribute to the success of the Conference. EDEN invites you to check the programme and register to the event.

8. Summer School on Multigrade Teaching
NEMED, a transnational network bringing together educationalists and researchers sharing an interest in multigrade education invites teachers, teacher trainers, careers officers, educational guides and counsellors, managers of schools offering adult education for a Summer school entitled "Multigrade Teaching: New Educational Methodologies for the "Standard" and Multigrade Schools" in Rhodes from 20 to 28 July, 2007, supported by the European Commission's Comenius programme. To apply, please contact the host, Prof. Costas Tsolakidis , University of the Aegean. For more details, please visit the event's homepage .

9. EDEN Member, Estonian e-University invites you to take part in its international conference, entitled "E-Learning in an E-country: Strategies and Technologies" , to take place on 12-13, 2007 in the Tartu University Library conference centre. The conference focuses on strategic developments in Estonia and abroad, as well as the role of e-learning in the internationalisation of higher education.