We complete today the special series of guest blog posts by former EDEN Presidents on EDEN’s 25 years of service to the open, distance and eLearning community. For the conclusion of this memorable cycle of reflections, I have the privilege and the pleasure of sharing with you the contribution of our former President Erwin Wagner. He was the leader of our Association from 2000 to 2003.
Erwin was the President who drove EDEN into the new Millennium and celebrated the Association’s first decade (1991-2001). This symbolic milestone is not just a happy coincidence, but a good metaphor for his Presidency’s legacy. To borrow the words of my dear friend Ulrich Bernath, the chief editor of EURODL, Erwin made a substantial contribution to the consolidation of EDEN as the leading European association in our field. It was under his vision and leadership that the Association adopted his current name: European Distance and E-Learning Network, instead of the original European Distance Education Network. This was the result of a bold and expertly organised effort of modernisation, which included the refreshing of the brand and raising its profile. He was also responsible for strengthening the Association by strongly emphasising the necessity of professional and academic development.
Although I didn’t experience those exciting days in EDEN, I can relate to the enduring legacy of Erwin’s Presidency. My personal view about Erwin is that of a kind and generous colleague whom I’ve learned to deeply respect and appreciate.
In this final post of the series, Erwin looks at EDEN from a very interesting and original perspective in which he shares a very insightful analysis on how EDEN has evolved since the start of the Millenium. Erwin highlights factors of major importance in our Association’s more recent transformation, namely, EDEN’s new global leading role. He finally claims that EDEN is already part of the history of our field. This is quite true indeed and we’re very proud to carry this great legacy which resulted also from the work of such visionary leaders as my good friend and past president Erwin Wagner.
I wish you’ll enjoy reading as much as I did this delightful post by Erwin.
António
