After an intensive and rich Spring semester, which started with a discussion on the new, but very significant and forward looking EU Education policy, the European Commission adopted the initiative of the Digital Action plan.
This was followed by the preparation of EDEN actions and contribution suggestions towards its implementation – such as the Paris Peer Learning Activities, the Sofia Plenary meetings, several research activities, EDEN representing Europe in global Open Education Week with hundreds of followers online, the Bulgarian Presidency Conference in April, and several more events with participation of EDEN board and Presidency.
With EDEN Genova conference, AGM and EDEN Fellows’ meeting, the reflection on the Spring events helps to recall EDEN strengths and potentials that contribute to the implementation of the Digital Action plan in Europe, as well as to the preparation for the meeting with the think- tank of EDEN, the EDEN Seniors and newcomers in Genova, personalising and customising the agenda to meet the EDEN community expectations.
But what are the worries and concerns of the EDEN professional community?
There are various concerns, but they all lead towards the reflection on how we will implement the new policy initiative, and in general, how our decisions are made in applying technologies in education, and the importance of human values in this process.
The Eastern philosophy says: our mind, our body and our soul should be in agreement and peace to what we do, what we think, what we say and how we live with our decisions.
Let’s take a micro thinking on small, but very important detail in our lives – digital education, digital learning and teaching. What do we think of it? What our actions tell about our choices? What our decision are? How do we feel about them when we look back?
We have new tools creating possibilities for us to recognise our learners without seeing them in person – in multiple formats – text, video, audio, keystrokes and more…
We have tools letting us follow our learners online, tracking their behaviour, success and failures…
We have tools allowing us to validate the process of education, to make it transparent, measurable, visible and clear as ever, involving all global actors that we want, customising learning and teaching, creating flexibility or limits where we want!
We have the tools for sharing, feeding back, explaining, visualizing, translating into different languages and forms.
We have a lot of tools to help us learn and teach better – faster, slower, individually or in groups, transnationally or locally, with the teacher or with a robot.
How do we choose? – How do we support our decisions? – How will we feel, how will we live with our choices?
If we should negotiate the decision among our mind, our body and our sole, we should measure the impact of the decision to our society, our colleagues and our children in decades!
Let’s think what leader’s role is in the decision process: to strive for the frontiers and leadership in technology application or to moderate a dialogue and discussion among all stakeholders on the potential impact of application of technologies in education? What characteristics of leaders do we need, and which decisions will help us to be proud of our micro steps towards the macro actions – successful learners and happy teachers in future digital learning landscape.
EDEN Genova conference is the 27th annual event of EDEN dedicated for this kind of discussion, inviting delegates to navigate on micro, mezzo and macro levels. EDEN is calling for micro thinking and macro actions for digital learning and teaching in Europe.
