Invitation | Themes | Call for Contribution | For Authors | Venue | Schedule and Deadlines
Invitation
Our current age has been framed by the concept of the ?information age?. Sometimes also known as the ?computer age?. In a networked society as ours, digital technology has touched and changed many aspects of day-to-day life. For example, many long-standing societal, business and institutional systems have either lost their relevance or have transformed beyond recognition, the music, banking and travel industries being excellent examples. Education does not stand untouched and we observe emerging and declining paradigms, changing expectations from society, our students now framed as consumers, with new and emerging types of informal learning experiences (take MOOCs for example) and all too frequently operating in unstable economic and policy environments.
The powerful combination of the ?information age? and the consequent disruption caused by these unstable environments provides the impetus to look afresh and identify new models and approaches for education (e.g. OERs, MOOCs, PLEs, Learning Analytics etc.). For learners this has taken a fantastical leap into aggregating, curating and co-curating and co-producing outside the boundaries of formal learning environments – the networked learner is sharing voluntarily and for free, spontaneously with billions of people.
How do we as a community of educators respond to these directions? What could it mean for learning and the changing socio-economic demands of society?
We are set a challenge to really understand our learning environments. To create and invent responses that are possibly not even thought of yet. Perhaps there are new business models, new policies, different ways to understand technological influences, new ways to interpret the collaborative and social-networked society that we live in: the learning environment, in its widest sense.
Following up on the results of the EDEN Research Workshop (RW8) in Oxford in 2014 and the Barcelona 215 Annual Conference, a clear focus has been awarded to the expansion of emerging learning scenarios, identifying an ongoing shift towards greater attention to the importance of context in the learning process. The EDENRW8 report from Tony Bates highlighted that openness needs to go beyond the content-centered focus. What is driving the need for new approaches is the massification of higher education and the need to find new ways to create openness, which requires a greater focus on the contexts of learning. This implies an integrated approach to online education and the various ways of openness in education which are now developing.
More present core questions include the tension between human and machine approaches to learning ? raising the important question of what in education is best done by humans and what by machines? New knowledge is also needed regarding how to combine scalability with personalisation, as well as about learning context and contextualisation.
The social and socio-economic context is more important than ever. Society itself can be understood as a learning environment, with questions of learners? connection with the community and the empowerment of the practitioners.
In the new learning environments, the core players and stakeholders ? learners, educators, government bodies, educational and learning institutions ? increasingly acknowledge the chance for constructive and positive changes.
How do we as a community of educators respond to these directions? What could it mean for learning and the changing socio-economic demands of society? What can we, the community of experienced educators, say about this?
Let?s evaluate and invent better responses regarding these changing socio-economic demands, the functioning of institutions, the new tools and their usability, the collaborative learning cultures, digital pedagogy and more? In other words the learning environment in its widest sense.
EDEN 25
We are extremely proud, as a continuously strengthening and developing European association in the field of open, distance and e-learning, learning modernisation and innovation, to have reached our 25th Anniversary in 2016.
The coherent efforts of the professional community have created values and collaborative virtual spaces, which establish professional cultures around them.
The historical perspective from the start has been conceived as a dialogue between experience and imagination. Some celebration is only natural, but what EDEN would like to use this very special occasion for is to combine past and future in synch with the concept of the anniversary conference, to explore and highlight the major results created by our academic and professional community ? achievements worth acknowledging as mainstream and sustainable.
We have the experience and power to look for and identify the new patterns and sense of things in the transforming learning environments.
In this anniversary year, the conceptual and strategy-building work will continue during the Research Workshop in October 2016 at the University of Oldenburg.
Themes
- Visions, concepts about how the new learning environments could be
- Research about experiences of MOOC participants
- Evolution of the concepts of openness and scalability in education
- Citizenship, social approach and historical approach to new learning environments
- Opening up education:
- initiatives, policies,
- projects, examples of good practices,
- new business models and policies,
- different ways to understand technological influences, new ways to interpret the collaborative and social-networked society we live in
- learning and the changing socio-economic demands of society
- the potential of the professional and academic digital community to contribute to breakthrough of modernisation
- Learning environments ? in their widest interpretation: digital, physical, networked, pedagogical, social, cultural, economic?
learning environments and learning organisations - PLEs and blended learning environments.
- “e-competences and e-skills” – Competences for learning and working in an open, connected world
- learning environments being broader than the educational context – society as a learning environment itself
- how tradition-based theory and practice can influence the new developments, and what their role may be in the new learning environments
Call for Contribution
The responsibility of the scholarly community includes widening the concept of learning and its role in society and exploiting transformative knowledge to drive social change.
We need renowned reflections of practice that support paradigm-changing transformations based on systematic knowledge.
Join the Conference in Budapest to tell
about your research, projects and experience!
Networking and interactivity, sharing and discussion will be core aspects of the conference experience, focusing on what you can learn from and with your peers.
Submissions that relate to the Conference Scope and one or more of the Conference Themes are welcome in paper, poster, workshop, training, demonstration and synergy formats.
Submission Categories
Paper presentations can be submitted presenting research results or reviews of existing results including empirical or theoretical studies, policy reviews, comprehensive case studies, and presentation of project results, if they are in their conclusive phase.
Posters are welcome about work-in-progress, achievements of initial research, projects in early stages of development, case studies, etc. Poster presentations will be themed and moderated in related sessions and published in the Proceedings.
A limited number of workshops ? introducing a comprehensive theme from different perspectives, focused sessions on a particular topic, debates, discussions ? are invited. Priority will be given to workshop submissions which foresee integrated virtual participation (organised by the authors) via webinars.
Please note that the workshop category is usually rather competitive.
A limited number of training sessions focusing on a particular topic, setting clear training objectives, competency areas and/or skills to be acquired by the participants? are invited. Priority will be given to training initiatives foreseeing integrated virtual participation (organised by the authors) via web communication channels.
Demonstrations can showcase practical innovations, products, technologies and tools, to encourage the early exhibition of prototypes, focusing on user experience. They will offer opportunity to show and discuss, to exchange ideas and collect feedback from expert users.
Take advantage of the special Synergy format and the prospect of meeting fellow project managers and researchers and share and discuss your EU projects and initiatives – preferably that display thematic cross sections with the Conference Themes – with your peers in the frame of the Synergy Strand.
Please consult the Submission Guidance about procedures and format requirements.
Selection
Evaluation of submissions is done by double peer-review. Decisions on acceptance will be based on originality, innovation and quality of contribution, on the proposal?s relevance to the conference themes, further the proven experience of the author(s). Contributions not matching the conference themes will meanwhile also be considered if they bring new knowledge and benefit to delegates.
At the time of submission, authors will also be asked to express their preference for a presentation format. The reviewers and the program committee can also make recommendations as to the format. Presentation format will be assigned in order to maximize the interactive conference experience, balanced by considerations of the nature of the work, author preferences, and the program committee?s review process.
Acknowledgement of quality and excellence
The tradition of awarding the EDEN Conference Best Research Paper will be continued. The selection process takes place in collaboration with the Ulrich Bernath Foundation for Research in Open and Distance Learning.
Publication
Proposals should be written in English, please make sure that your document is spell checked and proofread before submission. Proposals are expected to make relevant contribution to the field and meet customary academic requirements. Full text submissions are awaited – abstracts are not required in advance.
Accepted contributions (with the exception of workshops, training and demonstrations) will be published in the electronic Conference Proceedings and their summary in the Book of Abstracts.
Please note that all fully registered conference delegates (with payments received) will gain electronic access to the pdf version of the Proceedings, the CC licensed Book of Abstracts (including the Book of Projects) two weeks before the conference.
Young Scholars Support
We are pleased to announce that EDEN’s support scheme to young scholars will be offered again at the 2016 Annual Conference.
Two young researchers‘ attendance at the Conference will be supported with ?600 each. The colleagues awarded should have a submission (paper or poster) accepted for presentation at the Conference.
Conditions:
- author of an accepted paper or poster submission,
- full time regular or PhD student under 35 years and
- sending the evidence on the student status and the applicant’s age to the Conference Secretariat by 15 February.
Conference services for corporations
Corporate Showcases can be submitted, enabling companies to present recent developments and applications, informing on future directions and showcase their products and services. Showcases may be accompanied by small exhibitions to display companies? latest offerings of hardware, software, tools, services and books, if the company wishes to reserve an exhibit booth/stand for an extra fee.
For details about conference services for corporations, please contact: budapest@eden-online.org.
Guidance for Authors
How to contribute?
Proposals should be submitted as MS Word doc files, through the online submission form.
Paper proposals should not exceed six A4 pages, including figures and references, using the format guidelines.
Poster submissions should not exceed four A4 pages, using the same format guidelines as above. Authors of posters accepted for presentation will be required to prepare a max. A0 (1189mm*841mm) size poster for display.
For workshops, please use this template to provide a thorough description of the theme, the presentation structure and speakers.
For training sessions, please use this template toprovide a thorough description of the theme, the presentation structure and speakers.
Demonstration submissions should not exceed two A4 pages, and they must include a title, a short description, a summary of its novel characteristics, the features to be demonstrated and a statement of the contribution’s significance within a selection of conference themes, using the paper format guidelines. Web address to access the demo or visual aids (e.g. screen-shots) are welcome.
Synergy submissions should be fitted into a specific template, not exceeding 1,5 A4 pages, including all data, information and illustrations.
Notice
For all accepted submissions, publication and insertion in the conference programme will be subject to at least one author conference registration and payment. In case an institution / organisation wishes to introduce multiple projects, combined delivery can be arranged, but only within the Synergy Strand. To avoid clashes in timing, we advise that every submission (i.e. paper, poster and demonstration) has one designated author or multiple possible presenters registered.
The expenses of attending the conference (travel, accommodation and conference fee) are the responsibility of the author(s) or presenter(s) of accepted papers. EDEN does not offer funds to assist prospective authors. Reduced fees will apply meanwhile for authors of accepted papers. For students – full time studies, age limit 35 years – special fees may be available. Please send a short ?motivation? letter to the Conference Secretariat at budapest@eden-online.org.
Contact
Would you need further assistance, do not hesitate to contact the Conference Secretariat at budapest@eden-online.org.
Venue
There is history and art everywhere, if you grow tired of one, there is always the other. Eight bridges to cross the river connecting hilly Buda with the flatter Pest. With a unique, youthful atmosphere, a world-class classical music scene as well as a pulsating night life increasingly appreciated among European youth and an exceptionally rich offering of natural thermal baths, Budapest is one of Europe’s most delightful and enjoyable cities. Due to its scenic setting and its architecture it is nicknamed “Paris of the East”.
Budapest is famous not only for the monuments reflecting its own 1,000-year-old culture, but also for the relics of others who settled here. Remains from both Roman occupation and much later ruled by the Turks can still be seen in the city. After the Ottoman Empire the union with Austria has a particular influence on the city’s form and style.
Suburban Buda and its historic castle district offer medieval streets and houses, museums, caves and Roman ruins. The dynamic Pest side boasts the largest parliament building in Europe, riverside promenades, flea markets, bookstores, antique stores and café houses.
Budapest’s extensive World Heritage Site includes the banks of the Danube, the Buda Castle Quarter, Andrássy Avenue, Heroes’ Square and the Millennium Underground Railway, the second-oldest metro line in the world. This vibrant and lively city attracts about 4.4 million tourists a year, ranked as “the world’s second best city”.
Hungarian food deserves to be praised and often is mentioned among the country’s main prides. Budapest restaurants reflect diversity, with menus carrying traditional regional cuisine, fusions of various culinary influences, or innovating in the leading edge of new techniques.
The conference venue is the Budapest University of Technology and Economics, for the first time listed in Times Higher Education World University Rankings, ensuring inspiring atmosphere for the networking of conference delegates.
