digital

The 2nd European Conference on "Learning Innovations and Quality" (LINQ) has published a call for papers for its upcoming conference in Rome on the 13th and 14th of May 2013. LINQ is the leading annual European Conference on learning innovations and learning quality: organized by the University of Duisburg-Essen, LINQ attracts participants throughout Europe and the successful LINQ 2012 in Brussels was also able to welcome experts from Asia, America and Africa.

This year, LINQ 2013 and its motto “Innovations and Quality: The Future of Digital Resources” addresses and invites experts active in the field of Innovations and Quality in Lifelong Learning (LLL): potential points of access to this field include new learning methods and design, Technology-Enhanced Learning (TEL), quality standards and certification, human resources development, competences and skills, digital resources, learning materials, and online collaboration and communities. Through these themes, LINQ 2013 will bring together an international audience of various academic and professional backgrounds, providing the foundation for a rewarding exchange of knowledge and experience. Interested researchers and organizations are thus welcome to submit their best work on the conference topics (in detail below) by the 4th of February 2013 (paper submission deadline).

“The dialogue at LINQ 2012 in Brussels demonstrated several critical points of potential development regarding the relationship between learning quality and innovation,” says Christian M. Stracke, LINQ Conference Chair and international ISO Convener for learning quality from the University of Duisburg-Essen. “This year’s motto emphasizes the importance of digital repositories and their usage in lifelong learning and improving learning innovations and learning quality. We look forward to meeting researchers and practitioners from Europe and all over the world interested in sharing and presenting their inventive approaches!”

The LINQ 2013 call for papers invites all experts and practitioners to contribute to LINQ’s dialogue through the submission of high-quality papers describing fully-developed results, on-going work or innovative concepts related to the following topics:

•      Innovations and future trends in Learning, Education and Training (LET)

•      Quality improvement and learning outcome orientation in LET

•      Harmonization of innovations and quality development in LET

•      Digital resources, online repositories and metadata for online objects

•      Web 2.0, Social Media and Online Communities for LET

•      Open access, open educational resources and user-generated content

•      Technology‐Enhanced Learning for schools, universities and lifelong learning

•      Learning quality in vocational education and training and HR

•      Implementation of learning innovations and quality improvements

•      Knowledge, innovation and ideas management in LET contexts

•      Standardisation of LET design, production and services

•      Quality management, standards, and certification in LET

•      Competence and skills development in lifelong learning

•      Quality and standardization of learning assessment and evaluation

Submissions of papers related to the conference (max eight pages) must be sent by February 4th, 2013, using the official LINQ template. All papers will be reviewed by the international scientific LINQ Programme Committee through double-blind peer review. Submitters will be informed of their acceptance by the 20th of March 2013. All accepted papers can be presented at the LINQ conference, will be published in the official proceedings of the European conference (with ISBN) and distributed to all conference participants as well as throughout Europe. Specific guidelines and requirements can be found on the conference website at www.learning-innovations.eu.

Attendance at the European conference "Learning Innovations and Quality" (LINQ 2013) is subject to a conference fee (early bird rate: 90 €) and requires registration through the LINQ website, as places are limited. The conference fee includes all provisions including a warm 3-course lunch, the coffee breaks, the conference bag, and the official conference proceedings. At least one author has to register for the publication of an accepted paper.

Overview of the important dates:

-          Paper submission deadline: 4th of February 2013

-          Notification of acceptance: 20th of March 2013

-          Camera-Ready copy due: 31st of March 2013

-          LINQ Conference days: 13th and 14th of May 2013 in Rome

For the latest information on the conference, please visit and like the LINQ Conference Facebook page at www.facebook.com/LINQConference and follow the LINQ Conference Twitter account at www.twitter.com/LINQ_Conference. Direct enquiries and full papers can be sent to the LINQ Conference Manager Mrs Anne-Christin Tannhäuser, at the University of Duisburg-Essen (UDE), Germany, via e-Mail to: anne.tannhaeuser (at) icb.uni-due.de

Underpinning the conference theme, “The Joy of Learning”, the EDEN 2013 Annual Conference includes three days of keynote speeches, paper presentations introducing high quality scientific research and applied solutions, hands-on interactive workshops often blended with webinars, short on-the-spot poster sessions with visualised practices and project presentations. EDEN's community of members and partners that are driving innovation in TEL, e-learning, open and flexible learning meet every year to discuss the latest developments in this fast growing field.

Prof. Sugata Mitra is Professor of Educational Technology at the School of Education, Communication and Language Sciences at Newcastle University, UK. He is best known for his "Hole in the Wall" experiment, and widely cited in works on literacy and education. Prof. Mitra is a leading proponent of Minimally Invasive Education, a solution that uses the power of collaboration and the natural curiosity of children to catalyze learning. During his most known experiment, 'Hole in the Wall' conducted first in 1999,  a computer was placed in a kiosk created within a wall in a slum at Kalkaji, Delhi and children were allowed to use it freely. The experiment aimed at proving that children could be taught by computers very easily without any formal training. This experiment inspired Vikas Swarup, an Indian diplomat to write Q & A, the novel adapted into the multiple Oscar-winning movie Slumdog Millionaire. See his TED talk on the experiment here.

Dr. Bernard Luskin, President-Elect for the American Psychological Association (APA) Media Psychology Division is widely known for his major study 'Media Psychology and New Technology'. Dr Luskin was central to the launch of Jones International University, the first accredited fully online university in the USA and the Mind Extension University, a precursor for many of the online university programs of today, including what are now being called emerging MOOC strategies. Dr. Luskin has received lifetime achievement awards from the UCLA Doctoral Alumni Association, University of Florida, California State University, Los Angeles, Long Beach City College, the Irish Government and European Commission. Read his blog 'The Media Psychology Effect' featured on 'Psychology Today'.

The partnership of the Norwegian Association for Distance and Flexible Education guarantees the smart involvement of the national distance and e-learning community and effective liaison with the Nordic stakeholders.

About EDEN

Established in 1991 as an international educational association and not-for-profit organisation, EDEN is open to institutions and individuals dealing with e-learning, and – more broadly speaking – open and distance education. It’s aim is to share knowledge and improve understanding amongst professionals in the field and to promote policy and practice across the whole of Europe and beyond. With more than 200 institutional members and over 1200 members in the Network of Academics and Professionals (NAP), EDEN assists a wide range of institutions, networks and individuals to become involved in professional information and networking activities. It does so through the organisation of acknowledged European conferences, its publications and information services, and by taking an active role in a wide range of important EU projects. EDEN has also proved successful with thematic activities such as the Open Classroom Working Group (school level distance education), and by contributing to, and promoting, ‘cutting edge’ research in the field. In addition, EDEN has also provided extensive secretarial support to the European Journal of Open, Distance and E-Learning (EURODL).

Further readings:
EDEN website
Conference Website
EURODL
Hole in the wall official website
The Child-Driven Education, TED talks 2010
'The Media Psychology Effect' blog
Norwegian Association for Distance and Flexible Education
University of Oslo

This article examines how adolescents are using digital video production in school to express emotions, deal with personal and community problems and even draw on their multimedia compositions as a form of healing. In this sense, youth are using literacy to help them to make sense of their lives while attempting to make changes within themselves and their communities.

The data for this paper comes from a two-year ethnographic study in two high schools. Field observations, interviews, video data, pre-production texts (storyboards, scripts, screen plays etc.) and student films were analyzed to understand what language and literacy look like when students use digital video production and distribution in school to tell stories.

Drawing on a New Literacy Studies theoretical framework, the author argues that the literacy practices in this study allow students to make sense of issues and emotions in their lives and cope with their life circumstances by showing their stories to real audiences both within and beyond their schools.