agenda implementation

On Tuesday 25th of September 2012, the MEDEA: Media & Learning Association was formally launched at the office of Public Notary Guillaume Roberti de Winghe in Leuven.
Until the first annual general meeting of all members in December 2013 Eleonora Pantó (CSP, Italy), Gerard Casanova (Aunege, France) and Mathy Vanbuel (ATiT, Belgium) will act as President, treasurer and secretary, with Ene Koitla (EITF, Estonia), Bernard Mullarkey (IADT, Ireland) and Wim Van Petegem (DOeL K.U.Leuven, Belgium) acting as additional board members.
The MEDEA: Media & Learning Association has the statute of an iVZW and its main aims are to promote and stimulate the use of media as a way to enhance innovation and creativity in teaching and learning across all levels of education and training in Europe. In order to achieve this objective, the Association will amongst other things continue to organise the MEDEA awards and international conferences and workshops. The MEDEA: Media & Learning Association will also provide online support services including workshops and newsletters and will encourage participation of its members in national and international projects. Membership to the association will be open to all individuals and organisations that are interested in taking these objectives forward. More information on how to become a member can be obtained from the secretariat@medea-awards.com

1449 Participants from 83 countries – almost 80% of whom were African - took part in the 3rd eLearning Africa Conference which took place in the Accra International Conference Centre from 28-30 May. Wednesday 28th of May saw a well attended pre-conference programme with many workshops and sessions, the conference exhibition also opened on Wednesday and attracted lots of visitors.

On Thursday, May 29th the event was officially opened by His Excellency Alhaji Aliu Mahama, the Vice President of the Republic of Ghana. Speakers in the Opening Plenary included The Hon Prof Dominic K. Fobih, Minister for Education, Science and Sports, Ghana and Prof Osei Darkwa, Ghana Telecom University College, Ghana, who talked about “eLearning, the New Educational Paradigm, and the Promise of Open and Distance Learning”. George Siemens, Lecturer at University of Manitoba Learning Technologies Centre, Canada, who is one of the most innovative thinkers in the field of eLearning presented his thoughts on “A Narrative of Learning for a World Without Boundaries”; Aida Opoku-Mensah, Director ICT, Science and Technology Division with the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, Ethiopia, gave a very interesting presentation about the UN-led practical strategies and programmes that will help lead Africa towards the realisation of digital inclusion: “Creating the Enabling Environment for eLearning in Africa: Challenges and Opportunities”; finally Kuno Jung, CEO of the Swiss eLearning technology provider Eduvision, outlined the educational vision of his company: “The Lost Footage of Back to the Future Part II: The Classrooms in 2015”.

Thursday's Opening Plenary marked the kick-off for two more days of sessions, discussions and debates around ICT-supported education and training in Africa. 315 speakers and chairpersons from 54 countries offered an abundance of opportunities for participants to learn, share and network with colleagues from all over the world. With 4 plenary sessions, 66 sessions in 11 parallel conference strands, 48 demonstrations and best practice examples, 15 Nnobia networking sessions, 14 pre-conference events and a number of exciting new features, eLearning Africa 2008 was an important landmark in pan-African capacity building for ICT-enhanced education and training.

See the conference website for more information: www.elearning-africa.com

One of the highlights of Online Educa Berlin this year was the lively and somewhat controversial discussion that took place on Thursday 29th November between Andrew Keen and Prof. Sugata Mitra, chaired by Harold Elletson. Sugata's belief borne out through his extensive and very moving experiments in India that children with absolutely no prior knowledge of computers can make terrific strides in a short time with no support sent a very positive message to the more than 2100 people attending OEB this year. Meanwhile, Andrew set a lively debate in motion about a variety of ethical issues related to Web 2.0 and generated significant discussion and often very heated opposition.

On 27 November 2007, over 240 delegates gathered at Berlin's Technische Universitat (Technical University) for a an awards ceremony preceded by a keynote speech from Kaleidoscope's Scientific Manager, Sten Ludvigsen. The awards ceremony concluded the first day of the Kaleidoscope Symposium, a two day celebration, reflection and exploration of the major achievements of the Kaleidoscope project over four years.

All roads lead to Berlin on Wednesday 28th November for the annual Online Educa Berlin conference. With a packed agenda including several new elements, OEB07 looks set to break all previous records in terms of quality and participation. Poised to attract more than 2000 participants from 92 countries, its a good opportunity for us in ATiT to get togeher with old friends as well as meeting new people. Looking forward to seeing you there!

Researchers, policy-makers, industry and user-group representatives converge on Berlin to discuss the future technology enhanced learning research agenda!

Synergy, Excellence, Value, Impact and Continuity…
Kaleidoscope, the EU Network of Excellence which brings together European teams in technology-enhanced learning, is organising a symposium on November 26 – 27, 2007 in the InterContinental in Berlin.
The registration for this high profile event is now open for non-Kaleidoscope members.

Online Educa Berlin, which will be held this year from the 29th of November to the 1st of December welcomes all proposals, suggestions and ideas for the conference agenda which are related to the main conference themes. The closing date for submission is the 29th of April 2006. Please check the Online Educa website for the submission guidelines and conference themes.

The 11th Online Educa Berlin Conference closed its doors on Friday 2 December after 4 days of workshops and presentations, attended by more than 1800 delegates from 73 countries. Visit the Online Educa Berlin 2005 website for more impressions and information.