networks
International Council for Open Research and Education (ICORE) to be launched in Rome
The International Council for Open Research and Education (ICORE) is a new association bringing together interested experts and stakeholders from the fields of open education and open research. The association will be officially launched on May 16 in Rome (Italy) during the Learning Innovations and Technology (LINQ 2013) conference.
ICORE is a non-profit and requires no membership fees to join. Open to both representatives of organisations as well as individuals, it aims to promote open research and open education as a fundamental social objective. This promotion of these goals will be accomplished through the fostering of collaboration between relevant stakeholders in open research and education, such as national, European and international policy makers, researchers, educators of all levels, students, non-profit educational providers as well as commercial educational providers, among others.
The association's activities will include the administration of an online community portal for information exchange, the organisation of scientific and educational events (conferences, summer schools, etc.) and the establishment of creative partnerships between ICORE members to advance open research and open education internationally.
Interested applicants can register easily at the ICORE website, where the complete first public draft of the association’s statutes can also be found. Joining before the first official meeting of ICORE on May 15 allows new members to be recognized as co-founders.
Tools for Monitoring Urban Integration: UNITE Project
The UniteEurope project provides Social Media tools and makes software available to policymakers working on integaration of third-country nationals. Users of the UniteEurope tool can save, monitor and track specific integration cases to measure impact and to predict the effect of future decisions.
UniteEurope takes citizen generated content, mass data related to integration issues, and existing platforms, but then acts as an intelligent filter. Its aggregation architecture delivers relevant information for policy makers to support sustainable social integration.
Its grid model with multi-layer logic patterns is used for consistent categorisation of relevant integration areas (e.g. education, business, culture) in cities. Coherent layers with multilingual semantic tags, significant sources and parameters form the basis of this tool, and are supported with information on web-based dashboards and intuitive visualisations.
Additionally, identified target groups and policy makers at a European level are provided with aggregated data and key figures to monitor urban integration in Europe and identify good practices for specific areas of integration. UniteEurope supports operational integration measures and strategic policy development at regional and pan-European level.
The UniteEurope team consists of system architects, software developers, E-Government, Social Media and integration experts from leading universities, competence centres, companies and three European cities considering integration an agenda priority.
QuadBlogging - Connecting pupils through Quads
QuadBlogging is a free online collaborative teaching tool created by British Primary School educator David Mitchell. The idea connects students with readers around the world, bringing together classes with blogs into a “quad” over four week cycles. Since its launch in September 2011, more than 100,000 pupils have been involved in QuadBlogging from 3,000 classes in 40 countries.
The idea developed by David Mitchell, who teaches at Haworth Primary School, in Bolton, is based on the fact that a blog needs an audience to keep learners engaged. Too often blogs wither away leaving the learners frustrated and bored. Quadblogging gives students’ blogs a truly authentic and global audience.
The system is quite simple: teachers sign up online, and shortly after their class will be allocated a quad with other four schools/classes. Students will then start commenting on each other's blogs in an organised fashion.
Each week one blog is the focus blog, with the other three classes visiting and commenting during that week. Over the course of a month, every blog gets read and commented. Along the way, students learn about respectful online communication. The four week cycle is then repeated. However, this time, pupils know what is coming and they will work harder to have interesting content in their blog.
QuadBlogging has been mentioned very highly in recent OfSTED Reports in the UK and praised for offering opportunities for “profound impact in developing pupils’ team working, communication and problem-solving skills.”
Join the first LinkedUp Challenge: Veni
The first of three LinkedUp Challenges is now open! 'Come' participate in the Veni competition, which promotes the innovative use of linked and open data in an educational context.
Researchers, students, developers and businesses...and anyone interested is invited to the first installment of the LinkedUp Challenge: 'Veni'. Participants must build prototypes, demos and innovative tools that exploit, use, integrate or analyse large scale web data for educational use.
unX: Learning Network for Ibero-American Entrepreneurs
unX is the first Ibero-American community that offers collaborative and open learning to digital entrepreneurs. Through unX, entrepreneurs can access MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) relevant to their career needs.
Assessment of Learning in Digital Social Networks
This paper summarizes ATC21S assessments for ICT Literacy, including a description of data (collected in Fall 2011 studies in Australia, Finland, Singapore and the U.S.) and discussion on how assessment outcomes can be reported. ATC21S aims to help educators around the world equip students with 21st century skills to succeed in career and college goals, including problem-solving, digital literacy and working together in learning communities.
CeBIT 2013
Learning languages by talking about nature
This project aims at developing English language skills among students and teachers, break down cultural barriers and stereotypes, and help young people find where they belong in the modern world, with special attention given to educational and job prospects.
We intend to achieve the above-mentioned aims by undertaking a project on the history of the local communities, while putting a strong emphasis on the role the minerals extracted in the area play - the stone "Pińczak" in Pińczów and oil in Ploesti, which have been important in shaping the history of both towns and have had a profound influence on their development and the lives of their inhabitants.
Various aspects in relation to extraction and processing of the natural resources will be examined: economic development of the towns from the earliest years, settlement and migrations determined by the presence of the minerals, trade exchange with the outside world, everyday life, customs, culture and art of the people belonging to the stone or oil trade.
The project is intended to implement joint undertakings in the form of practical and open-air activities, both in Pińczów and Ploiesti. It includes getting to know local natural environment, industrial centres and historical places connected with the local minerals. We will be meeting people whose professional lives (stoneworkers, research centre and university workers) and artistic lives (sculptors) are bound up with stone and oil.
The project is aimed at pupils aged 13-15. Implementation of the project will be based on using modern information technologies: Power Point and Movie Maker presentations, interactive whiteboards, real-time Internet text messaging (chat rooms), blogs and social network services.