Informal learning
Learn Languages with Audio Lingua
Audio-Lingua offers an extensive library of mp3 recordings in a number of different languages. Visitors to the website can listen to everything from a tutorial on how to use Skype, in French, to how to make flapjack pancakes, in English.
Audio-Lingua is from the GEP (a Group of Pedagogical Experiments) of the Regional Centre of Pedagogical Documentation (C.R.D.P) in the Académie of Versailles. Mp3 resources can be listened to online, or downloaded, in order to practise oral language comprehension skills.
XII Congreso Internacional EXPOELEARNING 2013
EXPOELEARNING es un Congreso y Exposición que permite estar al día sobre la planificación, diseño, dirección y la implementación del e-learning y RRHH. EXPOELEARNING tendrá su Congreso central, con dos días de conferencias en los que intervendrán expertos en e-learning, representantes de la Aministración Pública y empreas, que presentarán iniciativas en e-learning con gran proyección internacional.
Keynote Speakers of EDEN 2013 Annual Conference Revealed
The first list of keynote speakers for the 2013 EDEN Annual Conference unveiled right before the Holiday season includes Prof. Sugata Mitra, Dr. Bernard Luskin, Anna Kirah, Ana Carla Pereira, and a representative of the Norwegian Nobel Committee.
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. Read his blog 'The Media Psychology Effect' featured on 'Psychology Today'.
Anne Kirah, is currently Senior Design and Innovation Anthropologist of Steria, Norway. She served previously as a design anthropologist for MSN leading field and laboratory research, national and international, intended to influence software and service designs to improve humans’ interaction with technology. She holds an advanced graduate degree in social and cultural anthropology, as well as undergraduate degrees in social anthropology, the sociology of education and developmental psychology. She also holds a master’s degree in psychology from the University of Washington.
Ana Carla Pereira, Head of Unit for Skills and Qualifications, Commission Directorate-General Education and Culture will talk about the developments with the European Union new generation education programmes.
Our Norwegian hosts invited a high level representative of the Norwegian Nobel Committee to speak.
The Nordic Voice
Distance education has been an important part of adult education in the Nordic countries for the last hundred years. Today, in Scandinavia, online education with advanced digital learning resources are widely accessible. A best practice presentation from all the Nordic countries will take place.
Call for Contributions
Underpinning the conference theme, “The Joy of Learning”, the EDEN 2013 Annual Conference will include paper presentations, interactive workshops often blended with webinars, on-the-spot poster sessions with visualised practices and project presentations in form of short demonstrations.
Contributions should relate to the conference themes. The Call is open until 5 February. Submissions will be double peer reviewed and accepted contributions published in the electronic Conference Proceedings with ISBN and their summary in the printed Book of Abstracts.
For details on submission categories, on how to submit your proposal and format guidelines, please visit the conference website and the Call for Contributions menu.
Online and Social
The Conference will be supported and accompanied intensively by social networking, sharing, online and virtual presence and involvement possibilities. You are invited to share on Twitter, Facebook, Slideshare and Youtube. The conference hashtag is #EDENOslo. A curated Conference news service is collecting related information via it's Scoop.it account.
The EDEN Oslo Facebook group is already active.
About the Conference
E-learning, open and distance education have been important fields of intellectual excitement and innovative development. Challenges posed by the new technologies are permanent, and students constantly keep teachers under pressure to develop. Individual and collective motivation, enhancement of the learning experience and overall improvement of learning quality are gaining ever-increasing traction.
How can we do our best to make learning a thrilling experience for learners, including providing a sense of joy in the virtual classroom?
The EDEN 2013 Conference will discover and present the latest best practice in this field, share progressive concepts, inventive solutions, and promote joint-thinking and collaboration.
Digital Literacy 2.0
This project follows a train-the-trainer and qualify-the-users approach. It sets out to develop and implement training programmes for staff in non-formal learning settings such as Public Libraries, community centres and care centres. Once they are trained, these staff members will enable new users of the Internet to develop skills and knowledge needed to make full and safe use of the World Wide Web as both users of content and creators of online content.
With DLit2.0 we aim to...
- enable adult education staff in Europe for the provision of ICT-Training courses.
- enable learning distant adults to make use of Web 2.0 for acquiring knowledge and participating in social life in an autonomous, confident and critical manner.
- promote the key competence Digital Literacy for continuing education among poorly educated adults.
- encourage and stimulate collaboration between educational and social organisations and promote professional exchange and cooperation on European level in lifelong learning for marginalised and disadvantaged citizens in general.
- enhance the use of ICT for lifelong learning.
- stimulate the dialogue on the training of the trainers in non-formal and informal education in Europe.
We will work towards these aims by implementing a two-step strategy based on a structured curriculum and learning materials which can be used in non-formal learning settings.
LanCook:The European Digital Kitchen
LanCook: The European Digital Kitchen involves constructing and trialling digitally enhanced portable kitchens that communicate with learners in 7 languages and instruct them in how to cook a typical dish of that country or language.
We’ve named our project, LanCook, which is short for ‘Learning languages, cultures and cuisines in digital interactive kitchens’: This EU-funded project develops language learning materials for European languages and cuisines: English, German, Spanish, Catalan, Italian and Finnish.
The project involves partners throughout Europe: Newcastle University (UK), Università degli Studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia (Italy), Helsingin yliopisto (Finland), Universität Paderborn (Germany) and Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (Spain).
Our project will demonstrate both the utility and potential of the materials to promote genuinely situated language learning. We will also develop the first truly embedded sensing environment that can be used for complex real world tasks that comprise meaningful activities that people are highly motivated to engage in, such as cooking.
The materials are represented in terms of a ‘portable digital kitchen’, made up of tablet PC with touch screen and a set of utensils with embedded sensors and additional sensors for other kitchen equipment. This portable digital kitchen can function in any existing kitchen setup, ideally where there is access to kitchen equipment such as a counter, sink and an oven etc.
The pedagogical materials are stored as a software programme in the unit and comprise of an integrated suite of materials for pre-task, during cooking task and post-task use. Each set of pedagogic materials will be produced in 5 different EU languages. Take a look in our gallery where you can see samples of the portable digital kitchen set-up.
Learning Technologies eXchanges 2013
This is the second year that Learning Technologies and Learning and Skills are hosting an official eXchange to give the learning and development community a chance to meet, network and collaborate at the event. eXchanges will provide a unique opportunity to get up close and personal with speakers from the conference.
The eXchange provides an opportunity for L&D practitioners who are visiting the show to directly meet the conference speakers to exchange practical ideas and experiences around themes being discussed in the conference.
A chance to get up close and personal with conference speakers!
The feedback that we received last year was unanimous: What a great idea! Like all great ideas, it's simple and straight forward, but incredibly effective. Each eXchanges will take the form of an informal, face-to-face group conversation looking at answers to practical questions that will stimulate innovation and creativity in learning and development. The eXchanges will last over an hour and their USP is that each one will be lead by an industry-leading expert who is speaking at the conference.
Every eXchange will give you unprecendented access to much respected industry leaders and conference speakers. Here's your moment to air your questions, problems and even solutions to your e-learning colleagues.
Practica Español
Completísima web para practicar la lengua castellana y aprender todo lo necesario para hablarla y escribirla correctamente.
OBSERVAL-Net launches the announcement of the 2013 Validation Prize
The Validation Prize is an award given in three categories to the most innovative and promissing initiatives in the area of Validation of Non-formal and Informal Learning (VNIL) in all sectors and levels of education in Europe.
The 2013 Validation awards aims to:
- Showcase the best VNIL practices
- Highlight the excellence of existing projects
- Spread the awareness about VNIL initiatives among professionals in this area
- Help citizens eager to have their learning outcomes and skills recognised and validated
By highlighting and publishing best practices in the area of VNIL, the Validation Prize contributes to changing society's mentality in the education and employment sectors towards the recognition that learning can also take place outside the formal structures and produce valid learning outcomes.
The 2013 Validation awards focuses on three distinct categories:
- The Bottom-Up Approach - the role of grassroots initiatives in supporting VNIL, and strategies towards their mainstreaming
- The New Profession - the competence profile required for VNIL professionals
- Work-Based Competence Development and Recognition - the implementation of VNIL in the workplace
Target group
Trade unions, companies, sectoral/branch organisations, training funds, professional groups or individual workers, NGOs, VET schools, universities, public authorities, institutions of LLL, civil society organisations, social partners, VNIL professionals and researchers are invited to submit their best cases in one or more of the three categories.
Education Today 2013. The OECD Perspective
Organised into eight chapters, this report examines early childhood education, schooling, transitions beyond initial education, higher education, adult learning, outcomes and returns, equity, and innovation. The chapters are structured around key findings and policy directions emerging from recent OECD educational analyses. Each entry highlights the main message in a concise and accessible way, with a brief explanation and reference to the original OECD source.