News from the EDEN Council of Fellows

Greetings to the EDEN Community!

Indeed, keeping our EDEN members informed of developments within EDEN is a key objective of the association. As Chair of the Council of Fellows Board, I would like to take this opportunity to update you on our progress on current initiatives within the EDEN Council of Fellows.

As was announced last summer at the EDEN Annual Conference in Genoa, the community of EDEN Fellows and Senior Fellows has been rebranded as the EDEN Council of Fellows. This development stemmed from a growing need within the EDEN organization to leverage the wisdom and expertise of its Fellows and by doing so, advance collaboration, communication and awareness raising on the most strategic developments in the area of online and distance learning (ODL). Through this initiative, EDEN hopes to take advantage of its growing network of expert professionals and practitioners by engaging them in addressing many of the challenges confronting ODL and the EDEN organization today.

As a bit of background: The Council is comprised of nearly 100 EDEN Fellows and Senior Fellows, advisors, experts and professionals, who discuss emerging strategic issues in the area of open. distance and e-learning, for the purpose of fostering innovation development, suggesting strategies for realizing these innovations within EDEN member organizations (think tank), consulting with the EDEN EC and NAP, and serving as advocates for EDEN in professional, academic, but also political contexts.

Since establishment of the Council last summer, there have been two meetings – one at the EDEN annual conference in Genoa and one at the EDEN Research Workshop in Barcelona– which were meant to further refine initiatives to be addressed by the Council. From the Council meetings also emerged a variety of key initiatives, including

  • Research into EURODL as indexed journal
  • Current and future open education trends within socio-political contexts
  • Roles, responsibilities, and values of members of the EDEN Community
  • Strategic development of EDEN (2030)

At their meeting in Barcelona, the Council also established a Board of The Council, which has the purpose of leading, organizing, and positioning Council initiatives. The Council confirmed appointment of the following members to the Board :

  • Lisa Marie Blaschke (Chair)
  • Don Olcott, Jr. (Vice-Chair)
  • Deborah Arnold
  • Wim van Petegem
  • Albert Sangra
  • Christian Schumann
  • Torhild Slaato
  • Antonio Teixeira

The EDEN Council of Fellows will be meeting again at the EDEN Annual Conference in Bruges, where the Board will present the status of the ongoing initiatives and to discuss next steps. With the establishment of the Council and its Board, we hope to further capture as well as create synergies across the EDEN organization and community, while also position the Council of Fellows to serve in an advisory role for realizing these synergies.

In order to keep you informed of the ongoing developments of the EDEN Council of Fellows, we will be providing updates on the EDEN website. News from the EDEN Fellows will include information such as critical reviews of developments in the ODL field, reports from various EDEN conferences and events (such as the annual EDEN Conference in Bruges next month), updates on Council projects, and other relevant information.

We look forward to seeing you in Bruges this June!

Kind regards,

Lisa Marie Blaschke
Chair

EDEN Council of Fellows