Thursday 10 February 2011

Vleva Europe: eLearning the grand challenge, some ideas that were mentioned and funding tips


Interesting tip: Vleva funding guide: 'uw snelweg naar Europese subsidies: contact subsidieteam (at) vleva (dot) eu of 02/7371430 of via website: www.vleva.eu/subsidiewijzer/

(Gode)lieve van den Brande (ICT and education, spec. lifelong learning, funding possibilities)
godelieve (dot) van-den-brande (at) ec.europa.eu

Lieve is a presenter who directs herself only to one part of the audience (on her right side), but she is a fluent speaker. She wears a nice green dress and she will share her presentation afterwards (I will keep you posted once it is shared).

The text below is part of live blogging, so it might be a bit rough on the edges (rapid, live typing).

points out the shift towards Learning Society, she says the learners are pushing the shift towards the digital world.
Mentions the 'new millennium learners': who are they, what are the competencies they need... close to 2020, for this also includes the skills we will need for our jobs.

The last 7 - 8 years there was a decline in eLearning initiatives, because educational institutions could not attain the expectations from research. She says that ICT is not yet been absorbed by teaching and learning.
It is not because someone is a digital literate, it will also be an effective learner. She pushes the idea that it is the task of the educational institutions and schools to teach the learners how to get the newly needed competencies and in order to do this, the teachers need to alerted, need to be motivated to get into it as well.

Like her e-maturity approach for schools, institutes and teachers. And she emphasizes crucial importance of teacher skills development.

She gives the European Policy Framework overview, which triangulates research, innovation and education. She also mentions the Europe2020 plans for education.

She emphasizes: leadership and institutional change, digital competences, professional development, learner-centered approaches.

2015 huge need of eLearning (65% ?), competent people - yes this is the future, (note from myself: if you are looking for a job, re-school yourself to become digital competent, and get your profile out there).

digital competencies are currently not in the curricula, so how are we going to fix this? she asks.

A new policy agenda: Europe 2020
Education training is considered as a central pillar for future growth, social cohesion, competitiveness. In order to do this, we need to keep investing in the way education training happens, also in how the learning/teaching process can be innovated.
We need to attack: drop out, quality in education, equity in education. We need to see how member states take up these suggestions (these targets are not mandatory).

Digital literacy needs to be lifted for all. And we need to see how new technologies enhance the education for all.

She mentions that the universities, high schools are also not yet e-mature, similar in other training areas.

Looking for a generic model that would set up a roadmap for digital competence, in order to integrate it in curricula outcomes. Not mandatory, but suggested by EU.
Mentions peer-to-peer learning and says that the EU will make an effort to go further then counting the number of pc's in a class, but really go to capture the actual learning that is taking place in the classroom.

in 2020: strategic challenges: quality & efficiency: lifelong learning and mobility (equity and citizenship) and innovation and creativity (including entrepreneurship).

initiative taking, problem based learning, languages... having positive impact on learning and learning outcomes. We need to show it has that value in using digital competencies and exchanging that with each other.

Lifelong learning program: 2010: key activity 3 innovative practices and exchanges around the use of ICT in the Lifelong learning program! (deadline by the end of March). Go to the site to see the projects in this field and mainstreaming programs (also under Comenius and Erasmus).
(she also mentions eTwinning, but will be mentioned in the next post with Roger)

Wonders if there is occurring any learning in the informal learning environments like social media? Of course! But, the fact that she mentions this, could mean that projects with this in mind would have a bigger success to get funding.

She concludes with a clear request to share our - teachers, experts - thoughts with EU to collaboratively work towards 2020.