Having celebrated its 25th anniversary, EDEN continues its mission to serve the outstanding network of academics and professionals who keep working to develop and improve open, collaborative, technology enhanced and enabled learning environments for education.
EDEN RW9 returned to Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg after 12 years, to recall the development of ODL, to measure the progress of key research issues, to reflect and compare research questions raised in 2004 and 2016, and to identify new research questions for ODL and TEL. Outstanding contributions followed the track of the development of methodology of the research in ODL, socio – economic aspects of technology enabled learning, validation of learners, learner characteristics and learning needs, mobile learning and learning for inclusion, open education strategies, cases of modernization of education, emerging virtual exchange practices and much more. The Oxford debate exploited the characteristics of personalization of learning, creating discussions in informal conference surroundings.
EDEN Governance felt discussion should continue without waiting for another EDEN regular event, but on European level. Having thought this, the Oldenburg conference dinner was the best spot to spread around the idea of organizing European Distance Learning Week, in partnership with the United States Distance Learning Association (USDLA)! The Oldenburg surroundings served as the best setting again!
After a productive collaboration with USDLA in preparation for its National Distance Learning Week (NDLW), EDEN successfully launched the initiative of European Distance Learning Week (EDLW), which took place on November 7 – 11, 2016, for the first time in Europe!
The contributions of outstanding experts, European policy makers, and European networks and associations and the active participation of global partners made this week a great success: we discussed recent innovations in education, success cases and lessons learnt, diverse European models of online learning, quality assurance issues arising, open education perspectives and open learning recognition, as well as digital skills development programs and initiatives. No doubt, EDLW also set the agenda for the upcoming year and in support of open professional collaboration in Europe. (The recordings of the daily webinars are available at the EDEN website.)
The experience and value of EDEN members is growing with a tempo that does not allow EDEN Governance to slow down and take a break – and EDEN members greatly supported the initiative of open professional collaboration via their local and international events. This experience continues to grow and be shared through partners, collaborators, global organizations and their events, in particular with great contributions from the EDEN Executive Committee members (here are just some of them)
- Presentation “Opening up of Organizations by ICT” at Unesco IITE series of Open Lectures in St. Petersburg, September 5-6, 2016 (record at Youtube)
- Current trends in quality in open, online and flexible learning at University of Nicosia, Cyprus, September 14-15, 2016)
- Current trends in quality in open, online and flexible learning, at Luxatia International Annual Innovative Learning Spaces summit in Prague, Czech Republic, September 22-23, 2016
- The National MOOC Investigation, and what happened afterwards? SWERD, October 14, 2016
- Presentation “Open Professional Collaboration at EDEN” at EADTU international conference in Rome, October 19-21, 2016
- Quality in MOOCs at EdTech Sweden, October 20, 2016
- Presentation “European Policy and practice in Digital skills and Competencies- reflections on the workshop at EDEN conference in Budapest” at ET2020 WG DSC 3rd meeting on October 28, 2016
- Presentation “OER adaptation, development and use” at Unesco IBE, IITE, NCERT and GOOGLE ICT Forum in New Delhi, India, October 31 – November 4, 2016
- Presentation “The role of EDEN organisation; Open Education in Croatia; ET2020 WG on Digital Skills and Competencies” at the online event “Across the German borders: Digital Higher Education in the EU”, November 7, 2016
- D-TRANSFORM workshop, Barcelona, 14 to 16 November, 2016: “Learning Analytics and student support”.
- A global view on quality in digital learning, at EUCEN Annual Conference in Barcelona, November 24-25, 2016
- OEB16 Panel discussion “Digital transformation: an Opportunity or a Treat to Quality in higher education?”, December 2, 2016
- EDEN Executive members took active and leading part in EDEN Partner initiatives:
- ICDE Webinar series “Challenges for quality in open and distance learning”, December 13, 2016
- EDEN – ASCALITE research activities
- Online Learning Consortium (OLC) Accelerate conference in Orlando, the United States
- ICDE annual President’s Summit in Sydney
- One of the major and great examples is EDEN contribution to USDLA National Distance Learning Week – great partnership and great outcomes for our communities!
The EDEN NAP Steering Committee also contributed through its numerous online events.
The #EDENchat discussion series is now in its third year, and takes place on Twitter periodically, usually in a Wednesday 1900 (GMT) time slot. #EDENchat is organised and moderated by EDEN NAP steering committee members (Antonella Poce and Steve Wheeler). It regularly attracts participants from across the globe, and discussion is archived via Storify on the EDEN website. The most recent #EDENchats have featured topics including digital competencies, the future of the university, innovation in teaching, and social media for informal learning.
Besides the external webinars promoted by EDEN within its network (e.g. the ASCILITE one on The Perspectives of the European instructional designer, held on October 26th 2016), the EDEN NAP SC started a webinar series. The first one on Critical thinking and technology was presented by Antonella Poce, NAP SC member, on December 7th 2016. . In order to enlarge and improve the variety of services offered to its membership, the EDEN NAP SC will continue to offer the webinars in 2017 on the topics of: ICT-facilitated inclusion (by Elsebeth Korsgaard Sorensen – NAP SC), TALOE – Time to assess learning outcomes in e-learning (by Alfredo Soeiro – NAP SC,) and also How to organise effective webinars (by Alastair Creelman – NAP SC). In fact, one of the leading ideas behind the decision to offer webinars is to make the most of such tools and use them in the most interactive way possible. Thematic questions and the direct involvement of attendees represent the structure of the event, and active participation is considered the measure for successful presentations.
We can see – the snowball effect is here. EDEN operates and performs through the members — both individual and institutional — through the Executive Committee, through the EDEN Network of Academics and Professionals, and through our extensive cooperation and partnerships with other ODL organizations. And we – the network – enjoy, thrive, and flourish through this development. Sometimes we want it to move slow, but our sharing and our open professional collaboration shines on, as we share the load. We share everything and every lesson, because we feel a great need for that.
To be continued in 2017 – with new energy and with great colleagues and friends – EDEN Academics and Professionals!
EDEN Presidency
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