EDEN Annual Conference 2014
10-13 June 2014, Zagreb, Croatia

From Education to Employment and Meaningful Work with ICTs

E-learning at work and the workplace

The EDEN 2014 Annual Conference will take place under the patronage of His Excellency Mr Ivo Josipović, President of the Republic of Croatia. The President has accepted our invitation for the Conference Opening on the 11th June.

Registration open

The EDEN Secretariat is taking care of the registration. Please visit the Online Registration Form to join the event.

Keynote speakers

• Alan Tait, Director, International Development and Teacher Education, The Open University, United Kingdom
• André Richier, European Commission, DG Enterprise and Industry
• Jeff Haywood, Vice-principal, Knowledge Management at University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom
• Blaženka Divjak, Vice Rector for Students and Studies at the University of Zagreb, Croatia
• Terry Anderson, Director, Canadian Institute Distance Education Research (CIDER), Athabasca University, Canada
• Olaf Zawacki-Richter, Professor of Educational Technology, Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg, Germany
• Jim Devine, DEVINE Policy | Projects | Innovation, Ireland
• Fabrizio Cardinali, SVP Global Business Development, sedApta Group, LACE Project, Workplace Learning, Italy

Social events

• Welcome Reception: 10 June, in the Botanical Garden of the University of Zagreb
• Book and Wine Party: 11 June
• Conference Dinner: 12 June, in Restaurant Okrugljak

A sightseeing will be organised for the EDEN participants in the city of Zagreb. This includes a 1,5-2 hours walking tour. More information will be available soon on the conference website.

Social web

You may follow conference updates via Facebook and Twitter (#eden14). A respective Group on the NAP Members Area is also accessable for updates and discussions.

www.eden-online.org/2014_zagreb.html

In collaboration with

EDEN and EADTU Presidents' meeting in Brussels

On the occasion of the 2nd EADTU-EU special Summit on open and flexible higher education in March 2013, EDEN President, Professor Antonio Teixeira and EADTU President Anja Oskamp, Rector Magnificus of the Open Universiteit of the Netherlands met in Brussels. Their meeting was attended by George Ubachs EADTU Managing Director, Fred de Vries, Policy Advisor to the Rector at OUNL and Dr Andras Szucs EDEN Secretary General.

The meeting which was convened after few years of interruption in the continuing co-operation, was characterised by open and productive atmosphere, good ideas raised, mutual recognition of complementary interests and potential joint actions. It is hoped that a new era will start in the collaborative relations of the two organisations in the near future. EADTU's Annual Conference and EDEN's 2014 Research Workshop will both be organised in October, in Cracovia and Oxford respectively. Linking the two events and ensure the flow of information between the conferences is now on the agenda.

Anja Oskamp, Antonio Teixeira in Brussels

Results of NAP Steering Committee elections

We are pleased to inform you that the following NAP members have been voted to join the Steering Committee (in alphabetic order):

• Helga Dorner, Central European University, Hungary
• Don Olcott, University Maryland University College, USA
• Ebba Ossiannilsson, Lund University, Sweden
• Antonella Poce, University of Roma III, Italy
• Alfredo Soeiro, University of Porto, Portugal
• Steve Wheeler, University of Plymouth, UK

The Steering Committee members will elect their Chairman and the Committee will be in touch with all members in the near future regarding the developments for NAP activities.

Call for Contributions: 8th EDEN Research Workshop
27-28 October 2014, Oxford

Challenges for research into Open & Distance Learning:
Doing Things Better: Doing Better Things

As a founding member of EDEN the Open University is pleased to be hosting and sponsoring EDENRW8 which will be held in Oxford on 27-28 October 2014 ('zero day' 26 October). The theme and scope reflects the current challenges facing researchers and the intersection of their work with ‘doing better things’ for key stakeholders.

We invite all interested professionals to take part and discover the Workshop Themes by submitting their proposals. For details visit the Call for Contributions and the Submission Guidelines.

Incentives from the NAP Area

Latest blog post: 3 Questions for New EURODL Chief Editor Ulrich Bernath

Erasmus+ Dissemination Platform

With the launch of the new Programme Erasmus+ the EVE platform has been replaced by another dissemination platform - http://ec.europa.eu/programmes/erasmus-plus/projects/ All the information about the previous LLP projects have been transferred to the new platform and are therefore available. Information on the LLP projects which started in 2014 will be published in June.

Survey for ePlatform for Adult Learning in Europe (EPALE)

The European Commission is currently setting up EPALE, the Electronic Platform for Adult Learning in Europe (EPALE), which targets adult education stakeholders (providers, teachers, trainers, policy-makers, media, researchers, etc.).

To ensure that EPALE answers the needs of the adult learning community as closely as possible, an online survey has been launched (http://ec.europa.eu/epale). Your input will contribute to shaping the platform. The survey is available in all EU languages, until 15 May 2014.

EURODL News: New Chief Editor and Hosting Agreement

The EDEN Executive Committee assigned Dr. Ulrich Bernath as Chief Editor of the European Journal of Open, Distance and E-Learning – EURODL. Dr. Bernath gives an insight to his vision for EURODL:

„EURODL is one of the leading learned journals in the world and provides publishing space for scholarly works in the thematic areas of distance education, open, flexible, online, technology-enhanced, and e-learning. It is outstanding in practicing open access policies. It is my duty to steer the editorial process towards highest possible quality levels and recognition in the respective scientific community.“

Dr. Bernath is Chair of the "Foundation for Research in Open and Distance Learning", Senior Fellow of EDEN. He has been working for the journal as Acting Chief Editor since June 2013. He gave a short interview on the occasion of his assignment.

Versita/DeGruyter signs up to ICT services for EURODL

EDEN is pleased to inform that an Agreement is now signed between EDEN, as owner of EURODL and the Versita/De Gruyter Open company, providing publishing services for over 400 journals.

Thanks to the Agreement, EURODL will now be hosted by this sophisticated electronic content hosting and distribution platform with numerous valuable functionalities, like automatic creation of active reference links, delivery of abstracts to abstracting databases, easy integration with library systems and user authentication. With the marketing services inlcuded, EURODL will have increasing visibility, ensure growing citation, impact factor and reference linking, reach more readers and potential authors and further enhance the global availability of the Journal. Read more on the EURODL web.

www.eurodl.org

Ulrich Bernath, Chief Editor

Join the VM-Pass Living Lab

The VM-Pass - Implementing Recognition of Virtual Mobility and OER Learning through a Learning Passport - project is organising three face-to-face recruitment seminars in the framework of the following European conferences in the coming months:

• OCWC Conference in Ljubljana on 25th April,
• EIF Conference in Crete on 9th May, and
• EDEN Conference in Zagreb on 11/12th June.

The seminars serve as opportunities for interested institutions to receive information on open learning recognition as a concept, the latest developments in recognition in HEIs, the Recognition Clearinghouse and the learning passport, and give a chance of joining the Living Lab that VM-Pass organises.

http://vmpass.eu/

Learning Analytics Data Sharing – i-KNOW14 Workshop

During the i-Know conference co-located with EC-TEL in Graz, Austria, September 2014 the LACE project is organizing a workshop on Learning Analytics Date Sharing.

Deadline for submissions: 26 May 2014. More information: http://www.laceproject.eu/iknow14

www.laceproject.eu

ICDE SCOP 2014: The Presidents Summit

Leadership challenges: Approaches towards successful positioning Open Education models

19 - 21 November, 2014, Bali, Indonesia hosted by Universitas Terbuka

The ICDE invites: Presidents and Vice Presidents, the leadership of institutions, leaders and heads of ODL/flexible education/online/elearning departments in conventional higher education institutions and dual mode institutions.

Presidents of the Regional Associations are also invited. The next meeting in the ICDE Consultative Committee will be organised during SCOP 2014.

More information, visit this site.

Building together the Future of Learning - EUCIS-LLL Manifesto

The European Civil Society Platform on Lifelong Learning - EUCIS-LLL lauched a Manifesto “Building together the Future of Learning” (available in (EN) (FR) (DE) (NL) (PT) (PL) (TR) (IT) (CRO) (SER)) containing 12 principles for lifelong learning and encouraging its stakeholders to use it as a basis for debating on the challenges of the field.

Improve your skills in literacy: “Literacy, Adult Education and Citizenship” workshop

2-6 June 2014, Arcos de Valdevez, Portugal

The goal of the European Grundtvig workshop "Literacy, Adult Education and Citizenship" is to improve the general qualifications of teachers, trainers and other education professionals associated to adult training in order to teach literacy skills, through sharing practices and methodologies, strategies and teaching materials used within several European countries. The language of the workshop is English.

Workshop Organiser: Escola Profissional do Alto Lima, C.I.P.R.L.

For more information, contact: Rua Dr. Joaquim Carlos Cunha Cerqueira info@epralima.pt or ct@epralima.pt or visit www.epralima.pt

Guide to Quality in Post-Traditional Online Higher Education

Working with Academic Partnerships, Sir John Daniel and Stamenka Uvalic-Trumbic have released a Guide to Quality in Post-Traditional Online Higher Education. This is a follow up publication to the well-received Quality in Online Learning report published in 2013. This second Guide addresses quality in MOOCs, OER, Open Badges and more, and has been authored by Neil Butcher from South Africa. Download report here.

‘Changing Landscapes in Learning and Teaching’: Report from the EUA Annual Conference

Around 350 university leaders and representatives from the higher education sector gathered on 3-4 April for the EUA Annual Conference, hosted by the Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB) in Belgium. Read more on the EUA website.

How to Design an Innovative Course

There is a lot of pressure these days on faculty members and instructors to be 'innovative' in their teaching. Read article on the Contact North website.

Survey Analyzing the Impact of Video on Education

Kaltura Inc., an open-source video platform, has published the inaugural "State of Video in Education Report", the most definitive and comprehensive international study to date on the use of video in education. Read article on the Check.point-elearning website.

Towards a New Pedagogy of Engaged Learning

The importance of student engagement as a success factor in learning has long been recognized. With all the tools and resources available in the 21st century to extend and support this engagement, we need to revise our understanding of teaching and learning – what we refer to as pedagogy. Read article on the Contact North website