EDEN Annual Conference 2013, Oslo
University of Oslo, 12-15 June 2013

The Joy of Learning

Enhancing Learning Experience
Improving Learning Quality

Registration open!

With over 200 contributions submitted for the Call, we look forward to a great event, organised in co-operation with the Norwegian Association for Distance and Flexible Education - NADE, who will have their own strand at the conference. You can meet the Nordic e-learning community representatives, deemed one of the best in the world.

Conference spotlight

Patrick Blessinger, Executive Director of The International Higher Education Teaching and Learning Association - HETL, USA joins the list of keynote speakers for the EDEN Annual Conference in Oslo.

The EDEN Online 'Nobel Prize' Competition Workshop: The workshop starts before the EDEN conference, teams of students will compete online to create a large scale, interactive map featuring the work and biographies of Nobel Prize winners. The teams will use open tools to place pins on an online world map. Workshop participants will collaborate with the students online to evaluate their work. The Workshop will be organised by the Weizmann Institute and the Davidson Institute of Science Education.

Registration

The EDEN Secretariat is taking care of the registration for the 2013 Annual Conference. Please, visit the Registration menu on the web and use the Online Registration Form to join the event. All attendees (presenting or visiting) are expected to register.

Join the EDEN Oslo group on Facebook! The conference twitter hashtag is #EDENOslo. A curated Conference news service is collecting related information via it's Scoop.it account.

Conference Venue: Georg Sverdrups hus, Blindern. Photo: Francesco Saggio, UiO. Source

Conference Dinner Venue: Oslo Military Society Conference Centre

Airina Volungeviciene elected as Vice-President

It's our great pleasure to announce, that at its recent meeting, the EDEN Executive Committee elected Committee member Airina Volungeviciene as new Vice-President of the Association.

Airina's election was based on her commitment and continuing valuable support to the activities of EDEN further the professional and leadership experience and qualities she has been presenting. She is currently the Head of Distance Study Centre, Vytautas Magnus University, Lithuania. Find out more on Airina's background and activities on the Executive Committee page.

New members

EDEN welcomes the following institutions that have joined the Association as Member since March 2013:

• Computer Technology Institute and Press, Greece
• Universidad Inca Garcilaso de la Vega, Peru
• Graceland University, United States of America

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

EDEN Award at the IV International Conference on Quality and Accessibility in eLearning

The CAFVIR 2013 Conference took place on 17 - 19 April 2013 in Lisbon, Portugal. The EDEN Award for 'Best Paper on Quality in e-Learning' was granted to Paula Peres, Luis and Vanda Lima for their paper entitled 'Evaluating the Quality of Learning Design of an Online Course' .

This Spanish/Portuguese and English speaking conference was organized by the University of Lisbon, Virtual Educa and Universities members and associates of the European project ESVI-AL. The conference presented and discussed the latest experiences and results on how to make use of the advantages of new ways of learning, ensuring that the products, processes and services meet the needs of teachers, students and training managers.

EDEN NAP Members’ Area – Do you know how to collect the latest information?

After logging in, on the homepage you can follow the latest activities of other NAP members on the platform including blog entries, wire posts and bookmarks. At the bottom of the page you can read related news from the Secretariat.

If you choose "My Profile" on the top, with the "Edit Page" option you can decide what content you would like to share on your own page, e.g.: you can add widgets to your profile, like group memberships, friends, blogs, pages, events, files, etc. With "Edit Profile" you can add your personal information including links to organisations and projects you are involved in.

If you need any assistance, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Roadmap on Opening Up Education

The Roadmap on Opening Up Education has just been released

The main policy objective is: Strengthen the integration of digital technologies and contents in formal, non-formal and informal education and training, in order to ensure the provision of skills needed by the current and future generations of students and workers, and increase efficiency of the delivery of education and training in the EU.

In order to achieve this, three specific objectives can be raised:

• On Infrastructures: Improve and update digital infrastructures for education and training, including connectivity.
• On Content: Up-scale the creation, use, re-use and sharing of quality digital education contents, including Open Educational Resources.
• On Teaching and Learning Environments: Modernise learning, teaching and assessment practices through digital technologies and increase equity.

The Roadmap proposes different scenarios to answer identified challenges.

Making the EU more attractive for foreign students and researchers

The EU needs to attract talented non-EU students and researchers who can contribute to our growth and competitiveness with their knowledge and skills. Read more...

Brussels in Brief - EU developments in education and research 

A summary by EUA

The European Commission released the latest edition of the “She Figures” report on gender in research and innovation, while Eurostat published the latest data related to the Europe 2020 targets for education. Read more...

Communication and Social Presence: The Impact on Adult Learners' Emotions in Distance Learning

Christina Angelaki, Ilias Mavroidis

Enriching Learning for First Year Chemistry Students: Introduction of Adobe Connect

Erica Smith, Ben Greatrex, Michelle Taylor, Ieva Stupans

www.eurodl.org

Hype or useful tool in the difficult times? - Last days to join the survey!

What do you think about the potential of ICTs for

• cost reduction
• transferability of learning outcomes
• employability
• scalability of innovation

in education?

Join the short VISIR survey and share your opinion to discuss how the policy can contribute to finding solutions!

Survey is available in English, German, French, Italian and Spanish.

visir-network.eu

CareNET presentation at LINQ2013

The careNET project aims at developing a set of ICT competences in two identified ‘at risk’ target groups: low ICT skilled care-workers and older persons to promote social inclusion and improvement of quality of life. The project has identified key behaviours that require digital competences in order to define common ICT competences needed by the two target groups. This methodology led to a map of domains of competence.

You can meet the careNET project at the LINQ Conference in Rome, Italy on 16-17 May. This year’s motto of the event is: “Learning Innovations and Quality: The Future of Digital Resources”.

Stay tuned for further developments on the project's website.

www.carenetproject.eu

The Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC) appoints new Rector

Prof. Josep A. Planell has been appointed rector of the UOC for the next seven years. Internationalization will be one of the cornerstones of his term in office, for which he intends to intensify collaboration with other universities, research centres and institutions.

For further information, visit the UOC website.

MENON launched new website

The MENON Network has recently launched its new website.

MENON represents a unique integration of multidisciplinary expertise and “innovative thinking”, drawing on a comprehensive and diverse knowledge base combining research methods and their application, policy analysis and valorisation of innovative practices.

The Network has just released a policy brief: Our schools are stuck - The gap between educational policy and reality: why schools are stuck and need to change, by Dr Joe Cullen, Advisor to the MENON Board of Directors.

Online MSc in Learning Innovation at University of Leicester

On the MSc in Learning Innovation you will gain a thorough understanding of how different pedagogical approaches can be supported and promoted by the affordances of learning technologies. You will develop a detailed and critical understanding of learning, teaching and training innovation, which you can apply to their own contexts. Course will start in October 2013. More information...

Invitation to ORIOLE survey 2013

The Universitat Oberta de Catalunya and The Open University have conducted the international ORIOLE Survey 2013, as part of the Open Resources: Influence on Learners and Educators (ORIOLE) project. Lead by the OU’s Institute of Educational Technology (IET), it aims to collect and share data about how learning resources are used and sourced in higher education. Staff from UOC Virtual Library has collaborated in the design and adaptation of this survey, as well as its dissemination on the occasion of the Open Educational Week 2013.

Call for partners for CIP ICT project: Integration of Ultra High Definition Television Format into Language Courses

A German company is preparing a proposal for the actual ICT-PSP call. The goal is to develop courses for four languages with integrated pictures, animation graphics and videos in the novel Ultra High Definition Television 4K format. The courses will be made available as download apps, on DVD, Blu Ray or flashcard, Partners from education as well as from tourist associations are sought for the design of multimedia exercises preferably in English, Spanish, French, Italian and German, respectively. Read more...

Call for intern at FEDEC - European Federation of professionnel circus schools

FEDEC is looking for a French-English speaking intern in administration, communication and services to members beginning June, 3, 2013 for a period of 3 months. The deadline is Monday, May,6, 2013 12:00 AM. Read more...

OECD: Trends Shaping Education 2013

The publication is available online here.

Elsevier swoops on open science start-up Mendeley in £45M deal

Joanne O’Dea, Science|Business

Mendeley - the winner of a Science|Business ACES award and pioneering provider of social media tools that allow scientists to share and mine data - and collaborate online - has been bought up by the publishing giant Elsevier. Read more...

ESADE study: social innovation plays key role in economic recovery

Science|Business

A new ESADE-sponsored study entitled “Social Innovation: Pathways to Systemic Change" was presented at ESADE Madrid by its authors, Heloise Buckland, a researcher, and ESADE professor, David Murillo, track new developments in the social innovation field through the publication Antenna for Social Innovation. Read more...

16th International Conference on Interactive Collaborative Learning - ICL2013 and 42nd IGIP International Conference on Engineering Pedagogy

September 25 – 27, 2013, Kazan, Russia, organized by CTI Villach, Austria and Kazan National Research Technological University

Ten tips to build eLearning materials’ interactivity

Read article by Bob Little on Check.point-elearning.