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Format: Panel discussion

Description: Digital learning opened new ways for society members to start early careers on a global scale, but also to seek for the possibilities to re-enter HE at different stages of life, to seek for (re-) qualification in a variety of ways. Digital and network society is the new target group of HE, which learns in new, timeless and borderless spaces. Such society members are always connected and online, sharing and co-creating knowledge, developing and co-authoring innovations themselves, and they may serve as the biggest driving force for HE, but also quite a high challenge to deal with. Digital education, teaching, learning and assessment seems to be a good solution for the transformation of HE curriculum, and many HE institutions already found their ways. But why this is again a growing issue? Why does digitalization continue raising many challenges for HE institutions? The panel discussion will focus on the digital innovations rapidly spreading in social, economic and cultural life; integration of digitalization into HE curriculum and constantly changing needs, tools and habits of learning that HE institutions must deal with.

Panel members:

• Mark Brown, DCU, EDEN EC member 

Professor Mark Brown is Director of the National Institute for Digital Learning (NIDL) at Dublin City University (DCU). He serves on EDEN’s Executive Committee and is an EDEN Fellow. Mark is also a member of the Supervisory Board of the European Association of Distance Teaching Universities (EADTU) and an Executive Committee member of the Open and Distance Learning Association of Australia (ODLAA). He is a past President of the New Zealand Association for Open, Flexible and Distance Learning (DEANZ) and previously served on the Executive Committee of ASCILITE. In November 2019, Mark is Chair of the ICDE World Conference on Online Learning that takes place in Dublin. 

• Michael Gaebel, EUA

Michael Gaebel joined the EUA (European University Association) in 2006, where he was first in charge of Global Dialogue and internationalisation, to become in 2009 Head and later on the Director of the Higher Education Policy Unit. This unit focuses on issues related to higher education learning and teaching, including the Bologna Process, lifelong learning, e-learning and MOOCs, internationalisation and global dialogue. He worked for more than a decade in higher education cooperation and development in the Middle East, the former Soviet Union and Asia. From 2002 to 2006, he was the European Co-Director of the ASEAN-EU University Network Programme (AUNP) in Bangkok.

• Elena Caldirola, University of Pavia, EDEN EC member

Elena Caldirola is Head of the Centre for E-learning and Innovation in Didactics at the University of Pavia, Italy. She has a demonstrated history of working in the higher education field. Skilled in eLearning environments, Learning Spaces, Blended Learning, Digital Corporate Training, and Lecturing. She is a member of national and international working groups and networks focused on supporting digital innovation in education.

• Sandra Kucina Softic, SRCE, EDEN President

Sandra Kučina Softić is EDEN president and Assistant Director for Education and User Support at the University of Zagreb University Computer Centre (SRCE). Her work is focused on monitoring and fostering the e-learning implementation in higher education institutions in Croatia and providing support and advice to institutions, teachers and students in implementation of new technologies in learning and teaching process.  She was appointed Croatian representative in ET2020 Working group on Digital Skills and Technologies (2016-2018) and in ET2020 Working group on Digital Education: learning, teaching and Assessment (2018-2020). She obtained a master’s degree in Digital Education at the University of Edinburgh, UK in 2014. From 2016 to 2019 she was EDEN vice-president for Open Professional Collaboration.

• Andras Szucs, EDEN Secretary General

He has been working as director of the Centre for Learning Innovation and Adult Learning of the Budapest University of Technology and Economics since 2000. He graduated as bio-engineer in 1980. After ten years of university teaching at the Budapest University of Technology, from 1990 held international posts as Director of the EU TEMPUS Programme in Hungary (1990-95), Director of the EU Phare Central-Eastern European Distance Education Programme (1994-96), Director of the European Communication Strategy Programme of Hungarian Government (1996). From 1997 till 2000 Executive Director and since 2000 Secretary General of the European Distance and E-Learning Network (EDEN), since 1998 President of the Supervisory Board of the Hungarian Association of Industrial Parks. Since January 2005 he is member of the Consultative Committee on Industrial Change in the European Economic and Social Committee.

• Margarita Teresevičienė, VMU, EDEN Fellow

The Institute of Educational Sciences, Vytautas Magnus University, Lithuania. Personal research area: adult learning, recognition of prior learning, technology enhanced learning. She supervised  15 doctoral theses on Adult learning and Technology enhanced learning. She teaches in the BA and MA study programmes in Education. She is responsible for doctoral study programme in Education sciences at Vytautas Magnus University. Has acted as an expert in the field of adult education at the Ministry of Education and Science Republic of Lithuania; expert for Research Council of Lithuania. She is also a member of a board of Lithuania Distance and eLearning Association.

• Yasmin Djabarian, Hochschulforum Digitalisierung /Stifterverband

Yasmin Djabarian is a programme manager at Hochschulforum Digitalisierung for Stifterverband. Before joining HFD, she was a research fellow at the Center for Quality Assurance and Development at the University of Mainz. Her interests include digitalisation, community platforms, and student participation.

• Martin Rademacher, Hochschulforum Digitalisierung / German Rectors’ Conference

Martin Rademacher is a studied theologian, former web developer and IT consultant and head of project in the Hochschulforum Digitalisierung for the German Rectors’ Conference. His interests include digitalisation, ethics and education politics.

• Giuseppe Pirlo / Deputy Rector Third Mission (Outreach) / University of Bari

Giuseppe Pirlo is a full professor at the  Department of Computer Science, University of Bari. Since 1986, he has been carrying out research in the field of computer science and neuroscience, e-learning and distance learning, signal processing, handwriting processing, automatic signature verification, biometrics, pattern recognition and statistical data processing. He developed several research projects and authored over 300 papers in international journals, scientific books and proceedings.