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EDEN Newsflash Archives

EDEN Newsflash - May 2011


Dear EDEN Member,

EDEN Annual Conference - 2011, Dublin

In the 20th Anniversary Year of EDEN, the Annual Conference will take place in Dublin, 19-22 June at the University College of Dublin.

dublin

Learning and Sustainability
The New Ecosystem of Innovation and Knowledge

Online registration is open until 10 June

There are only a few weeks left until the EDEN Annual Conference in Dublin. The detailed programme is now available online. Information about how to register for the event, Dublin highlights and Hotel Booking are available on the Conference web.

Her Excellency Mary McAleese, President of Ireland will address the delegates in a special session in the morning of the first day of the event.

Keynote Speeches:

  • 20 Years of Distance Education in the Garden of EDEN: Good News and Bad News
    Sir John Daniel, President & Chief Executive Officer, Commonwealth of Learning
  • Information, Knowledge and Wisdom in the 21st Century: Transformative Transparency and Mobile Connectivity, Implications when e-Learning Becomes the Main Way of Learning?
    Dennis Pamlin, Director, UN Global Compact, WWF Consultant, Senior associate at CASS (Chinese Academy of Social Sciences)
  • Mobile Innovations and Causing Evolution in the Education Ecosystem
    Paul Kim, Chief Technology Officer and Assistant Dean for Stanford’s School of Education
  • Technology Trends Driving Learning Opportunities
    Clare Dillon, Microsoft Head of Research/University engagement
  • Context, Authenticity and Learning in the Real World
    Graham Attwell, Director, Welsh research institute, Pontydysgu (Bridge to Learning), UK and University of Bremen, Institute of Technology and Education, Germany
  • In Headwind and Tailwind - Teaching from Arctic and Antarctica
    Liv Arnesen, Adventurer, guide, and motivational speaker; Ambassador for the Norwegian Refugee Council
  • eLearning and Sustainability: Quality over Quantity?
    Kevin C. O'Rourke, Head of eLearning Support & Development, Dublin Institute of Technology, Ireland
  • Valuing Learning for All, Everywhere and in Any Mode: A Dream?
    Alfredo Soeiro, University of Porto, Portugal

A selection of workshops to be presented:

  • The New Ecosystem of Learning in Europe: From e-Competences to e-Credits
  • EDEN – US Distance Learning Association Special Session:
    E-learning Strategies in Global Perspective
  • Twenty Years of EDEN - Professional Development, Networking and Integration from strategic perspective
  • Building a Leadership Culture: A Workshop for Emerging Leaders in Online Learning
  • Engagement in Science Education: Sustainable ICT Tools for Science Education
  • Social Software for Social Inclusion: Successes or Failures?
  • Supporting Teacher Virtual Mobility for Higher Education Modernisation and Openness
  • Effective Self-Evaluation of Technology Enhanced Learning
  • Distance Learning in a Web 2.0 World with Steve Wheeler - Social web tools in authentic teaching and learning contexts, for a personalised learning experience

Interactive demonstration sessions will present software and hardware tools with recent remarkable solutions.

The Conference Dinner on 21 June, with entertainment, will be organised in the famous Guinness Storehouse, designed in the shape of a giant pint of Guinness. The evening includes a guided visit at the end of which, on reaching the head of the pint, the Gravity Bar, you can enjoy the unique spectacular view across Dublin.

The first meeting of the EDEN Senior Fellows and Fellows will be held on 18 June in the Christ Church Cathedral (on invitation only). The outcomes will be presented at the 20 Years EDEN workshop on Tuesday.

Post conference seminars on Wednesday afternoon:

  • Implementing Open Educational Practices in an Institutional Setting: An In-Depth Practical Look (CONCEDE, OPAL, OER projects), Hosted by UNESCO
  • Joint Links-up & te@ch.us Validation & Exploitation Workshop
     Cross validation of project outcomes on the influence of Web 2.0 and Learning 2.0 on social inclusion and the transformation of educational systems

2. EDEN Annual General Meeting 2011

The 20th Annual General Meeting of EDEN will be held at 6.30 p.m. on Monday, 20 June 2011 at the venue of the EDEN Annual Conference in Dublin, at University College of Dublin. All members are invited to attend. The supporting documents with the official invitation will be sent to members in due time and will be uploaded to the NAP Members Area.

3. EDEN Website Unveils New Design and User-friendly Features

www.eden-online.org, the homepage of EDEN – European Distance and E-learning Network received a new outfit with special attention paid to enriched information access and networking support. Refreshed in the 20th Anniversary Year of the Association, the website provides easy navigation and access to Fresh News, the Members’ community portal, to Conference pages further the repository of conference papers and EURODL, the online e-learning journal.

4. New Members

EDEN welcomes the following new institutions having joined the Association as Affiliated members since April 2011:

  • National College of Ireland, Ireland
  • European Institute of Financial Directors, Latvia
  • Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, Italy
  • ISEAD Business School, Spain
  • WWEDU World Wide Education, Austria

You can check their profile at the "New Members" link on the EDEN web.

5. President's Blog

Visitors are kindly invited to read the new post on the blog.

The aim of the President's Blog is to share with EDEN members and all site visitors more about the ways in which the role of EDEN as the premier professional and practitioners network for distance and e-learning in Europe is developing, and equally to offer the opportunity to learn from the comments and suggestions of readers of the blog about the services and features of EDEN.

6. News from the European Commission - Education and Training

EU education benchmarks – good progress, but not enough

A new European Commission report, on Progress towards the common European objectives in education and training – Indicators and benchmarks 2010/2011.

New expert network supports Commission on social aspects of education and training

A new independent network of experts has been created to advise the European Commission on social aspects of Education and Training. NESET will support the Commission in analysing education policies and reforms.

Read the full article here.

7. New book: Managing Technology in Higher Education – Now Available
Authors: A. W. (Tony) Bates, Albert Sangra

This book examines how post-secondary educational institutions have tried to integrate technology in teaching and learning, and what actions and strategies are needed to ensure technology is used to support the development of the knowledge and skills needed in the 21st century.

More information about the book is available at http://batesandsangra.ca which also includes extracts from chapters, scenarios from the book, and opportunities to discuss some of the issues raised in the book. Order can be placed: direct from the publisher, or through http://batesandsangra.ca (with 20% discount).

8. EU Lifelong Learning Programme Call for Proposals

  • Raising national awareness of lifelong learning strategies and of European cooperation in education and training
  • Support for transnational cooperation in the development and implementation of national and regional lifelong learning strategies

    Deadline 30 June 2011.

9. News about EU Projects with EDEN Involvement

Webinar Wednesdays - te@ch .us project

In the frame of the teach.us project's Webinar Wednesdays series, the next session is on 25 May, with the theme of Games in Education. The webinar is organised by the MENON Network and will start at 5 pm.

Inclusive Higher Education! – European Competition for Equity
EquNet Competition 2011

Join the EquNet Campaign, share your good or bad practices in equity in higher education and win a participation to the EquNet Conference!EquNet is looking for contributions (in video or writings category) from organisations/associations actively working on the field of equity in Higher Education and willing to share their good and/or bad practice with the public.Deadline for submissions: 10 June 2011. More information can be found on the EquNet web-site.

10. Highlights from EDEN Members and Partners

Calling all providers of learning products, services and solutions - ELIG invites you to participate in the 2011 Survey on Open Education in the European Learning Industry

Research into the area of open educational practices, including the use of open educational resources, is being undertaken by the European Learning Industry Group (ELIG). The report will provide the learning industry with key indicators for how the market might respond to the growing importance of open education practices and open educational resources.

Completing the online survey will provide valuable contribution to European research.

Elearningeuropa.info launches its new user oriented platform

elearningeuropa.info, the European reference portal on education and technology, launched on May 12, its new platform. The new platform is the result of a year’s work of careful planning and design, from the elearningeuropa.info team, with a focus on developing the technological solution most suited to user requests and aimed to facilitate a better flow of ideas and interaction.

Athabasca University, Canada

EDEN member Athabasca University were recently awarded the UNESCO Chair in open educational resources (OER). The UNESCO Chair in OER is a network that focuses on capacity building on an institutional, national, and international level and undertakes research that will contribute to the growing investigation of the OER phenomenon.

Read more about the UNESCO Chairs Programme on the checkpoint-elearning site.

European University Association (EUA) publishes Aarhus Declaration: an action plan for universities developing talent in Europe

The European University Association (EUA) has published a political declaration underlining the outcomes of its recent Annual Conference held at Aarhus University (Denmark) which focused on the role of universities in developing talent in Europe.

11. Interesting Readings and Events

  • The European Commission launched a public consultation concerning the policy area of Information society, on the topic of Cloud Computing. The consultation is open until 31 August 2011.
  • IADT presents cyber.psych 2011, the Virtual Immersive and Cyber Technologies Summer School.
    Held in Dun Laoghaire, Ireland, the Summer School will run     from June 13–17, 2011
  • eTwinning School Projects of the Year Announced
    Brussels (BE), April 2011 - Now in its seventh year, the European Commission’s "eTwinning" scheme involves more than 130,000 teachers in 31 countries who are using information and communication technologies (ICT) to set up cross-border educational projects. From over 300 project submissions, the winners of the eTwinning Prizes competition in three age categories and five special categories were recently announced.

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Please, be kindly reminded that the archive of previous Newsflash issues can be found at the EDEN NAP Members’ area, further you have free electronic access to the latest EDEN conference proceedings.