ICT in education
Consultation on Opening Up Education Initiative Launched
The consultation on "Opening up Education - a proposal for a European Initiative to enhance education and skills development through new technologies", will explore the perceived need for EU action to promote the use of open educational resources (OER) in education.
From 13 August 2012 to 13 November 2012.
New technologies, in particular the internet, together with globalisation and the emergence of new education providers, are radically changing the way people learn and teach. Open access to education resources offers an unprecedented opportunity to enhance both excellence and equity in education. The EU aims to help both individual learners and education and training institutions in Member States to benefit from these opportunities and to increase their contribution to society.
In the last quarter of 2012, the Commission will present a Communication on Rethinking Skills aiming to increase the quantity, quality and relevance of skills supply for higher economic and social outcomes. This will, among other actions, announce a new EU Initiative on "Opening up Education": a proposal to exploit the potential contribution of ICTs and Open Educational Resources (OER) to education and skills development. This new EU initiative on "Opening up Education" will be the topic of a subsequent Communication in mid-2013.
View the consultation document 
[45 KB]
June 28 - LS6 Webinar: Empowering future language learners: Formal and informal language learning through social media
Invited speakers:
Pierre-Antoine Ullmo, P.A.U. Education, Barcelona, Spain
Stylianos Mystakidis, University of Patras, Greece
Pere Arcas, Catalan TV, Barcelona, Spain
Moderators:
Laia Canals, P.A.U. Education, Barcelona, Spain
Nina Timmer, P.A.U.Education, Barcelona, Spain
Join us for the special live debate (videostreaming webinar)
For free registration email now: barcelonawebinar.ls6@gmail.com
Schoolfy - a classroom management system for educators
The Schoolfy classroom management system builds upon social-networking technology to facilitate teacher planning, support online grading and enhance educators' time management.
The Schoolfy platform has been in development for more than two years and caters to the diverse needs of educators of all kinds, from school teachers to university instructors and corporate trainers.
This new social network’s technology is integrated with a wide range of tools that save time and reduce paperwork. Tasks such as assigning students to small groups and collecting dues for field trips become streamlined and digitized. Educators can also make their worksheets interactive; students can complete worksheets online and receive feedback in digital form.
The technology will be made available to the public during the summer of 2013. Educators are now invited to register for Schoolfy during the pre-launch.
Technology educational affordance: Bridging the gap between patterns of interaction and technology usage
The research paper “Technology educational affordance: Bridging the gap between patterns of interaction and technology usage” reports on an empirical and descriptive investigation into how teachers and learners use technology in three prototypical learning activities in a higher education online learning environment.
The results from the three learning activities indicated six overall educational uses of technology in an online learning environment. Moreover, the results also indicated differences in technology usage in some different patterns of educational interaction in each learning activity.
Researchers Badia, Barbera, Guasch and Espasa from the Open University of Catalonia (UOC) argue that the notion of technology educational affordance is useful as an effective bridge between the real use of technology and instructional aims. Therefore the distribution of educational uses of technology is not only related to some attributes of both technology and instruction but also to its interaction.
The European Commission's Institute for Prospective Technological Studies leads the debate on ICT and Education
The Institute for Prospective Technological Studies (IPTS) of the European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC) has guest-edited the March 2013 special issue of the European Journal of Education on “ICT and Education: taking stock of progress and looking at the future.”
The issue of the European Journal of Education provides a critical review of evidence and opens the discussion on identifying and implementing major changes in education systems to meet the challenges of 21st century learning and society. In-house research by JRC provided 3 of the 7 articles of this special number.
Continuing on this research line, the learning and skills JRC-IPTS research team is working on European Commission's recent Communication on Rethinking Education, and the initiative “Opening-up Education”. Through the Open Educational Resources in Europe project (OEREU), JRC is to provide empirical evidence to policy makers in order to guide policies on the field of Open Education.
The OEREU project is managing a call for visionary papers, several workshops, and an online debate around a dedicated blog, to come up with visions and scenarios on how Open Education in 2030 in Europe might be for Lifelong Learning, School Education, and Higher Education. It is an opportunity for the Educational community to be involved in a European expert network that could have a direct impact on European Policies, especially now when MOOC's (Massive Open Online Courses) have become a hot topic for debate.
eLearning Africa 2013 programme revealed
Sharing the best practices of sustainable classroom computing: join experts from Zambia, Lesotho and the UK in the eLearning Africa interactive session chaired by Dell's David Angwin http://bit.ly/10kBPJj.
To know the whole programme, please visit the following address: http://www.elearning-africa.com/programme_table.php
Notes for editors
eLearning Africa, 8th International Conference on ICT for Development, Education and Training
May 29 - 31, 2013
Safari Conference Centre, Windhoek, Namibia
Organisers: ICWE GmbH (www.icwe.net), Government of the Republic of Namibia
Contact
ICWE GmbH, Ms Rebecca Stromeyer
info@elearning-africa.com, www.eLearning-africa.com, Tel.: +49 (0)30 310 18 18-0
The eLearning Africa Team
eLearning Africa 2013 - Innovation or Sustainability: the Choice for African Education
Four controversial experts will take part in "a bare-knuckle fight" about priorities for African education at this year's eLearning Africa Debate. Outspoken Scottish entrepreneur and blogger Donald Clark and Namibian teacher and eLearning expert Maggy Beukes-Amiss will square up to "mobile technology crusader" Adele Botha and Angelo Gitonga of the ICT for Education Unit of Kenya's Ministry for Education at the annual war of words. They'll be arguing about whether too much attention has been paid to innovation in education and not enough to sustainability.
"It's a big issue and there'll be a bare-knuckle fight," says Harold Elletson, who will chair the debate alongside Honourable Silvia Makgone, Deputy Minister of Education, Namibia. According to Dr Elletson, "Some people think that the focus on innovation and technology has just persuaded governments and consumers to invest in equipment that soon becomes redundant. They say that the priority should be to support projects that are sustainable. Other people argue that innovation is vital to Africa's competitiveness and future economic growth. They say that it should be at the heart of the education system."
The eLearning Africa Debate has become the highlight of the eLearning Africa conference, an annual gathering of experts and decision-makers from all over Africa and beyond. Traditionally one of the liveliest and best attended events at the conference, this year's debate is likely to stir up real controversy.
"It's an issue which affects everyone and on which everyone has an opinion," says Dr Elletson. "The debate is an opportunity for conference participants to say what they think about one of the most important issues for the future of education in Africa."
The motion for debate, which will be put to a vote, is "This house believes that sustainability is more important than innovation for education in Africa". The debate will be held at the Safari Conference Centre in Windhoek, Namibia. All conference participants are welcome to attend and to take part in what promises to be a tense and exciting climax to a fascinating conference.
Information on the debate can be found at http://www.elearning-africa.com/programme_debate.php, and the full conference programme can be found at http://www.elearning-africa.com/programme_table.php%20.
Notes for editors
eLearning Africa, 8th International Conference on ICT for Development, Education and Training
May 29 - 31, 2013
Safari Conference Centre, Windhoek, Namibia
Organisers: ICWE GmbH (www.icwe.net), Government of the Republic of Namibia
Contact
ICWE GmbH, Ms Rebecca Stromeyer
info@elearning-africa.com, www.eLearning-africa.com, Tel.: +49 (0)30 310 18 18-0
ITU Young Innovators’ competition calls for innovative ICT solutions to global challenges
The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has launched the third edition of its annual Young Innovators’ Competition, offering talented social technopreneurs the opportunity to present their ideas to industry leaders at ITU Telecom World 2013 in Bangkok this November – as well as winning funding, mentorship and ongoing support.
Open to 18-26 year-olds worldwide, the Young Innovators’ Competition is looking for concrete solutions using cutting-edge technology to one of six Global Challenges developed in partnership with specialized UN agencies and leading private sector players:
- Improve employment opportunities for young people and migrant workers
- Reduce food and water wastage at individual and retail level
- Facilitate access to public services for the elderly
- Improve natural disaster prediction and response
- Improve road safety for both drivers and pedestrians
- Protect sensitive personal data and inspire the creation of local digital content
ITU is the leading United Nations agency for information and communication technology. The competition seeks pragmatic, market-oriented, scalable solutions making use of connected technologies, such as augmented reality, mobile apps, 3D printing or geospatial tracking.
Submissions may be either in the form of a concept, well-researched or documented ideas which have not yet been implemented, or a start-up, which is already up and running but in need of funding to take it to the next stage.
Ten finalists selected by a committee of experts will win the chance to attend ITU Telecom World 2013, the platform for high-level debate, networking and knowledge-sharing, as well as an ICT showcase, which will be held 19-22 November in Bangkok, Thailand, on the theme "Embracing Change in a Digital World".
The deadline for initial submissions is 30 June 2013.
19th EUNIS Congress - ICT Role for Next Generation Universities
The 19th edition of the EUNIS Congress is an ICT conference centered on the theme of higher education in Europe, which will be held in Riga (Latvia) from the 11-14 of June 2013.
EUNIS 2013 is the 19th congress in a series of conferences aimed at audiences from higher educational institutes. The following keynote speeches will be the centerpiece of this year's event:
- Richard Katz (President at Richard N. Katz & Associates) -
- "IT Leadership and Governance for Next Generation University"
- Voldemar A. Innus (Owner and principal of VAI Consulting, Pendleton, NY, USA) -
- "Innovation, incubation and the future of ICT in support of the academic mission"
- Ian Dolphin (Executive Director at Sakai Foundation)
- "The CIO and Finding the Future Technology Ecosystem Fit For Your Organization"
- Dr.Jan-Martin Lowendahl (Research Vice President at Gartner, Higher Education Strategies)
- "Opening Up Education – The European Commission initiative towards more ICT and OER in Education and Training Systems in Europe"
- Ricardo Ferreira (Policy Officer at European Commission)
- "Technological Tools for distance Collaborations"
- Greg Palmer (Executive Director at University of Pennsylvania, MAGPI (the Mid-Atlantic Gigapop in Philadelphia for Internet2))
- "Current status of Open Source and Kuali for administrative systems and the “Marketecture of Community”"
- Jennifer L. Foutty (Executive Director at Kuali Foundation)
- "Management Trends in Educational Institutions"
- Greg Mathers (RTU Riga Business School,Director of Accel Performance Consulting)
- "TERENA initiatives and the future of online video in Higher Education"
- Vicente Goyanes (Head of IT-Media technical assistance for University of Vigo & Campus do Mar, member of the TERENA Technical Committee and the Opencast Boarda)