EDEN Progress 2021
The EDEN Executive Committee is delighted and proud to announce that the Jury for the ICDE Prizes of Excellence 2021 has decided to award EDEN for:
ICDE Prize of Excellence: The Institutional Prize officially announced by ICDE during the Closing Session of the ICDE Virtual Global Conference Week October 2021
EDEN thanks to all its members and partners for their support and co-operation in this great achievement!
Publishing
EDEN has always dedicated much attention to keep the professional community up-to-date on the latest results of the Open and Distance Learning field by the regular online publications The European Journal of Open, Distance and E-Learning (EURODL).
The EDEN Executive Committee has unanimously agreed to assign Wim Van Petegem to the Editor-in-Chief position for three years (which is extendable). The elected Editor-in-Chief is in charge of the new editions from January 1st, 2021.
The former Editor-in-Chief of EURODL, Dr. Ulrich Bernath (Oldenburg University and Foundation for Research in Open and Distance Learning, Germany), acting since 2014 has largely been supporting the journal’s distinguished role in the field.
EDEN greatly appreciates all contributions of Ulrich Bernath during the years leading to the current rank of EURODL, being acknowledged among the major Journals in Europe and worldwide in the open-distance-digital learning field.
Dr. Ulrich Bernath and Professor Alan Tait were offered with the Senior Editor Emeritus title for their invaluable contributions to the progress of EURODL. Their names will be respectively permanently highlighted in the header of the Editorial Board list of the Journal.
Articles of the last 8 years’ EDEN Conference Proceedings were processed, have been provided with Digital Objective Identifier (DOI) and published via the Open Journal System for enhanced indexing. All EURODL and EDEN Conference Proceedings volumes can be consulted free in the Central and Eastern European Online Library page upon registration.
EDEN also published a Short Paper Book “Lessons from a pandemic for the future of education” (ISBN 978-615-5511-31-8) of selected conference presentations and the papers of the Synergy session of the 30th Anniversary Annual Conference, not included in the Proceedings.
Policy works — Shaping EU Policy in E&T
DELTA WG membership
The direct forum for EDEN policy shaping is the European Commission’s DELTA Working Group. In September 2021 EDEN UK ‘s successor, EDEN Digital Learning Europe (EDEN DLE) submitted its application to become member organisation of the EU Working Groups contributing to achievement of the European Education Area and the Digital Education Action Plan (2021-2027).
Sandra Kucina Softic, EDEN President was elected as representative of EDEN DLE to the WG on Higher Education, Airina Volungeviciene as representative of EDEN DLE, former EDEN President, current EDEN DLE board member is now member of the WG on Digital Education: Learning, Training and Assessment.
This is a valuable recognition of our efforts to carry on the continuity with the legacy and achievements of EDEN in the EU environment.
CONTRIBUTION TO THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE EU E&T POLICY – EU LEVEL
HEInnovate Working Group, Digital Transformation
Timothy Read EDEN VP represents EDEN in the HEInnovate, which is an initiative of the European Commission, DG Education and Culture and the OECD LEED Forum. He contributed with 2 statements to the ‘HEInnovate Guidance notes – Digital Transformation and Capability’.
Statement 2: The HEI invests in, manages and continuously improves a fit-for-purpose digital infrastructure | HEInnovate
Professional discussions
At the Annual Conference, EDEN dedicated a special Workshop to the European Digital Education Hub (EDEH), a key action of the Digital Education Action Plan 2021-2027 to support education and training in their digital transformation journey in the aftermath of the crisis and for recovery.
A Panel discussion entitled ‘A Report Card on the Crisis: What is the Legacy of the Great Onlining of Higher Education?’ was organised within the framework of the European Online and Distance Learning Week (EODLW). The participants reflected on the current situation of the higher education in post pandemic times.
The President of EDEN was invited to the Budapest Eurasia Forum (18-19 November) to participate in their panel, and EDEN became a partner organisation in Online Educa Berlin (1-3 December 2021). Sandra Kucina Softic, the President of EDEN was panelist on the topic of importance of learning communities of practice, shared our knowledge and know how accumulated during the time of pandemic.
INFORMING MEMBERS ON THE LATEST DEVELOPMENT OF THE EU E&T POLICY
Keynote speech at the EDEN Annual Conference
EDEN traditionally dedicates special attention and secure distinguished opportunity for the European Commission representative to meet the large audience of E&T field including policymakers.
At the EDEN Annual Conference, Georgi Dimitrov, Head of Digital Education, European Commission hold a keynote speech entitled DIGITAL EDUCATION FOR EU’S DIGITAL DECADE.
Informing the professional audience
EDEN monthly Newsflash has more than 10.000 subscribers. The EU Policy corner reports on the latest policy developments, initiatives, events of the E&T field.
EDEN’s impact on the European scene and globally its 30 years of existence is summarized here.
30th Anniversary
2021, EDEN’s 30th Anniversary year was special on so many levels.
The official EDEN30 website has been set up. Nevertheless, the webpage is continuously enriched and upgraded, extended with substantial, meaningful content.
You can follow the history of EDEN via the timeline, the organisational development, publishing activities, events, awards and many other important. You can find interviews with some outstanding personalities of the EDEN community. Look up our common memories – you will surely find some photos about your favorite EDEN-moments in the gallery.
A special event of the 30th Anniversary was the “Opportunity knocks” –President’s event in the frames of the 30th EDEN Annual Conference), you can rewatch the session here.
On the EDEN30 website you can see the real power and the impact of our community and its 30 years of history.
Message from our President
EDEN’s motto is “smart network for the professional community and professional community for smart learning” – and I believe we have justified it! For 30 years, EDEN has had a strong presence in the international education area by providing space for collaboration and networking for academic professionals and everybody interested in education. EDEN was always a place where you feel you belong somewhere, where you can share, discuss and interact with peers, learn new things, address interesting and important topics and get ideas in a friendly and creative atmosphere. I am happy that now, in these challenging times, EDEN and its members have promptly offered expertize and support in shaping education for the future we all wish for.
Message from our Secretary General
“We’re living through the most challenging and exciting times in Europe and in our own field” – EDEN President Professor Antonio Teixeira wrote in his introduction to the volume published in 2016, on the occasion of the 25th Anniversary Year of EDEN and continued: “I believe EDEN is well prepared to support our community in exploring the emerging opportunities. Most surely, the best of EDEN is yet to come”.
EDEN’s 2021 webinars in numbers
13273 registrations
4165 live participants online
5719 recording views
172 presenters and moderators
Open Education Week #OEW
Open Education Week is a celebration of the global Open Education Movement. Its goal is to raise awareness about the movement and its impact on teaching and learning worldwide, the free and open educational opportunities that exist for everyone, everywhere, right now. It is coordinated by The Open Education Global. From 1 March, 2021 EDEN organised seven webinars, with 1070 participants, and over 1012 viewers during and following the event altogether.
During the Open Education Week, EDEN offered the following online events:
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EDEN NAP webinars
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EDEN webinar series: Time for Action in Shaping HE 4.0
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EDEN 2021 Virtual Annual Conference: #eden21
21-24 June 2021
Open Classroom Conference
Co-organised by Ellinogermaniki Agogi, the Institute of Educational Policy, the European Distance and E-Learning Network and the EDEN Digital Learning Europe in the framework of the Reflecting for Change project, the aim of the Open Classroom Conference 2021 “Real change takes place in deep crisis” was to explore the idea of “Open School” as an engaging environment that effectively introduces novel methodologies, tools and content by re-designing learning to accommodate and include difference and by bringing together families, community groups, local businesses, experts, universities, into an innovation ecosystem.
European Online and Distance Learning Week #EODLW
EDEN thanks all the participants, moderators, panelists, organisers and partner associations who supported us in hosting once again an insightful European Online and Distance Learning Week. We welcomed a total of 700 online attendees at 8 webinars, with 36 moderators and speakers. This year we renewed our partnership with USDLA, ODLAA and FLANZ. We had a special contribution from ICDE and Blackboard.
Students’ voice was represented in the session lead by Airina Volungevičienė.
We closed the EODLW series of webinars with a motivating discussion lead by Sandra Kucina, featuring Georgi Dimitrov, Josep A. Planell Estany, Mark Brown, Airina Volungevičienė and Alfredo Soeiro.
This week represented an excellent opportunity to reflect on the lessons learned during the COVID-19 pandemic, with the aim to identify and pursue the good practices in online teaching and learning. Among the topics, MOOC, XR technologies, OER and microcredentials were discussed by experts in these fields.
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Recognition
Since 2008, EDEN has been continuously granting the Best Research Paper Award at the EDEN Annual Conferences as well as at the bi-annual EDEN Research Workshops. A high-quality standard selection process guarantees the branding of a distinguished and reputable award for scholarly conference papers in the field of open, distance and e-learning. The selection process of 67 conference papers submitted took place in collaboration with the Ulrich Bernath Foundation for Research in Open and Distance Learning.
Members of the Jury:
- Lisa Marie Blaschke (Chair of the Jury), Program Lead, Learnlife HomeHub, Chair EDEN Fellow’s Council;
- Timothy Read, Senior Lecturer, Department of Computer Languages and Systems, UNED, Spain, Vice-President EDEN;
- Tuğba Öztürk, Assoc. Prof., Faculty of Educational Sciences, Ankara University, Turkey, Member of the the Editorial Board EURODL;
- Ulrich Bernath & Thomas Hülsmann, Trustees and Directors of the Ulrich Bernath Foundation for Research in Open and Distance Learning, Germany.
Laudatio: This year’s Jury was faced with a significant challenge in choosing the paper worthy of receiving EDEN’s best research paper award. Six highly exceptional papers emerged to form the final list. The Jury then began the arduous selection process for the award. After a meticulous analysis of the papers, during which the Jury worked painstakingly through the process of aligning their reviews with the criteria established for the award, the Jury ultimately and unanimously voted for two papers to share the honour of this year’s EDEN Best Research Paper Award.
EDEN Best Research Paper Award 2021 were bestowed to
EMERGENCY RESPONSES TO THE COVID-19 CRISIS IN EDUCATION: A SHIFT FROM CHAOS TO COMPLEXITY
Barbi Svetec, Blaženka Divjak, Faculty of Organization and Informatics, University of Zagreb, Croatia and
DIFFERENCES IN ACADEMIC RESILIENCY WHEN THE PANDEMIC FORCED COURSES ONLINE: WAS PRIOR ONLINE COURSETAKING PROTECTIVE?
Claire Wladis, City University of New York, United States,
Alyse Hachey, University of Texas at El Paso, United States,
Katherine Conway, City University of New York, United States
EDEN Young Scholar Grant 2021
Three young scholars or teams of young scholars were awarded a grant of 300 Euros for submitting a significant contribution (Full paper) to the EDEN 2021 Annual Conference. The grant is supported by the Ulrich Bernath Foundation for Research in Open and Distance Learning.
Eligible for the Young Scholars Grants are degree-programme and doctoral students who individually or in teams submit original research papers to the EDEN 2021 Annual Conference in Madrid.
The evaluation follows five standard evaluation criteria:
(i)The paper deals with a research question;
(ii) rigorous examination/research methods are applied;
(iii) findings, results and outcomes are convincingly presented and critically examined;
(iv) conclusions are thoroughly discussed (including aspects like applicability, transferability, and further research;
(v) literature is reviewed against the state of art.
The 2021 grantees are:
1 USING PADRISEUP AS A COLLABORATIVE WRITING TOOL IN HIGHER EDUCATION EFL CLASSES
Beyza Öz Dal, Dilek Güler, Istanbul University,
Ezgi Tufan, Mentora Education Group,
Aysegul Liman Kaban, Bahçeşehir University, Turkey
2 USING VIRTUAL LABORATORY ENVIRONMENT FOR SCIENCE EDUCATION IN DIFFERENT EDUCATIONAL SETTINGS
Athanasios Sypsas, Evgenia Paxinou and Dimitris Kalles, Hellenic Open University, Greece
3 RECONSTRUCTING SUBJECTIVE STUDY EXPERIENCES DURING SHUTDOWN IN PANDEMIC TIMES
Ulf-Daniel Ehlers and Laura Eigbrecht, Baden-Wurttemberg Cooperative State University Karlsruhe, Germany
EDEN 2021 Young Scholars’ Best Paper Award
was bestowed to:
USING PADRISEUP AS A COLLABORATIVE WRITING TOOL IN HIGHER EDUCATION EFL CLASSES
Beyza Öz Dal, Dilek Güler, Istanbul University,
Ezgi Tufan, Mentora Education Group,
Aysegul Liman Kaban, Bahçeşehir University, Turkey