EDEN Secretariat's Friends' blogs

Reflections about Collective and Independent Study by M. G. Moore

May 18, 2016 by Antonio Moreira Teixeira   Comments (0)

The upcoming EDEN16 in Budapest will be a very special conference and a milestone in our Association's long history. The European Distance and E-learning Network is celebrating its 25th anniversary and several significant related initiatives are being prepared. The underlying idea for this programme of activities is to celebrate our European legacy of know-how and expertise in open, distance and digital education by projecting it into the future. In accordance, we've invited the... Read full post

Sustainable 'Fishing' in the EU

May 11, 2016 by Antonio Moreira Teixeira   Comments (0)

The call for papers of the EDEN RW9, to be held this year in Oldenburg next 4-7 October, has just been announced. Following up on the success of the RW8, held in Oxford, two years ago, the theme is once again very exciting and thought-provoking - "forging new pathways of research and innovation in open and distance learning: reaching from the roots". The EDEN RW9 will be organised in collaboration with the Institute of Education and the Center for Lifelong Learning at Carl von... Read full post

Reinventing Universities: The critical role of leadership

April 27, 2016 by Antonio Moreira Teixeira   Comments (0)

At the start of my academic career, some 25 years ago, I had the chance of working closely with Professor José Enes (1924-2013), then the Vice-rector of the Portuguese open university, Universidade Aberta (UAb). José Enes was one of the most important Portuguese philosophers of the 20th century and I had the honour of being his «last» assistant. Although very intense, our collaboration at UAb lasted only for three years. However, soon after his retirement we continued... Read full post

Taking the Hype out of the Hype Cycle

April 20, 2016 by Antonio Moreira Teixeira   Comments (0)

The history of educational technology has been mostly dominated by an overconfident optimism and sometimes even blind faith in the future. In our circles, the majority of speakers and opinion-makers still try to show educational technology development as a coherent narrative of sequential dialectical oppositions in which the new replaces the old, to use Manuel Castells' characterization of the Information and Knowledge society. However, our real history is not a straightforward succession... Read full post

All that glitters is not gold: Current trends and future challenges for quality assurance in the fields of open learning and eLearning

March 29, 2016 by Antonio Moreira Teixeira   Comments (0)

As open education and eLearning mature and become mainstream across the world, the discussion on quality assurance emerges with a renewed importance, strength and impact in our field of practice. Although there are significant variations in how this topic is addressed in each regional context, there's an underlying feeling which is shared by all stakeholders. It relates to the urgency of establishing effective processes that positively discriminate appropriate practices in online learning,... Read full post

Openness and Education Remain the Best Answer II

March 24, 2016 by Antonio Moreira Teixeira   Comments (0)

A propos des attaques terroristes à Bruxelles et dans le monde / Over de terreur aanslagen in Brussel en in de wereld

In the aftermath of the recent deadly terrorist attacks in Brussels, the EDEN community shares once again the shock and deep sadness caused by the terrible events that have taken place in Europe and in other regions of the world during the past months, taking the lives of many innocent people. Our sympathy and solidarity goes once more to the victims, to all... Read full post

A Scholar and a Gentleman

March 14, 2016 by Antonio Moreira Teixeira   Comments (0)

This past weekend the European eLearning community was confronted with a very sad news. We have lost Erik Duval. A Professor at the Department of Computer Sciences at the Catholic University of Leuven (K.U.Leuven), in Belgium, he was one of the most brilliant scholars in our field today. His contribution to research on the topic of augmentation of the human intellect has been widely acknowledged across the academic community. In addition to this, he was also a most kind and generous human... Read full post

EDEN across generations: the importance of young researchers

March 9, 2016 by Antonio Moreira Teixeira   Comments (0)

The future of any community depends on how its members are able to understand it, by anticipating possibilities, preparing for its challenges and realising its opportunities today. The same principle applies to academic and professional communities as well. As the largest European organisation representing the open, distance and eLearning community, EDEN has always dedicated much attention to the preparation of the future in our field. One of the ways in which we conduct that effort is by... Read full post

PD in your PJs with #EDENChat

February 3, 2016 by Antonio Moreira Teixeira   Comments (0)

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The importance and impact of a major Association such as EDEN comes from its ability to give a true and powerful expression to the aspirations and concerns of the community it serves. This means to be able to represent all kinds of actors involved and convey its different voices. In the field of open, distance and eLearning, EDEN clearly stands out not only as the largest European network of institutions and individual experts, but also the one which best represents the diversity of the... Read full post

Season’s greetings

December 23, 2015 by Antonio Moreira Teixeira   Comments (0)

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The Swiss philosopher Alain de Botton suggests in The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work that however powerful our technology and complex our organisations are, the most remarkable feature of the modern working world might be one simple spiritual quality: the widely held belief that our work should make us happy. In short, our societal progress lies in an expectation that our jobs are fulfilling and not soul-destroying.

We should be, therefore, feeling very lucky and proud as our academic and... Read full post