quality
Die MEDEA Awards 2011 geben neun herausragende Beiträge für die Finalrunde bekannt
Am 28. Oktober 2011 wurden die neun Finalisten der MEDEA Awards 2011 bekanntgegeben. Sie lauten (in alphabetischer Reihenfolge): Armi di distruzione di massa von ITIS Avogadro di Torino (Italien), Changing Lives von Drogheda Special Olympics Club (Irland), IMPRINTING von Scuola Secondaria di Primo Grado “Brofferio”, Asti (Italien), INgeBEELD von CANON Cultural Unit (Belgien), Monkey Tales von Die Keure and Larian Studios (Belgien), The European Chain Reaction von Qworzó Primary School (Belgien), The Merchant of Venice von University of Education Salzburg (Österreich), Twig by Twig (GB) und Werner Heisenberg von INTER/AKTION GmbH (Deutschland).
Der Gesamtsieger wird auf der MEDEA Awards-Preisverleihung bekanntgegeben, die im Rahmen der Media & Learning-Konferenz 2011 am Donnerstag, dem 24. November, in Brüssel stattfindet.
In diesem Jahr zog der Wettbewerb 115 Beiträge aus 28 Ländern an. Die Teilnehmer konnten wählen, ob sie ihren Beitrag als Produktion eines professionellen Unternehmens oder semi-professionellen Teams oder als Produktion einzelner Lehrender, Schüler, Eltern, Professoren, Mitarbeiter oder Einrichtungen aus allen Ebenen und Bereichen der Bildung einreichen. Das heißt, dass es dieses Jahr zwei Hauptpreise geben wird – einen in jeder Kategorie – und dass jeder Sieger eine MEDEA-Statuette erhalten wird. Es werden auch noch zwei weitere Preise verliehen: Der eine ist der Preis für Europäische Zusammenarbeit, der vom Programm für Lebenslanges Lernen der Europäischen Kommission verliehen wird. Für diesen Preis wurden 26 Beiträge eingereicht. Der andere Sonderpreis ist der Award 2011 für Bildungsmedien zur Förderung der Freiwilligentätigkeit, der im Rahmen des Europäischen Jahres der Freiwilligentätigkeit 2011 (EYV) eingerichtet wurde. Sponsoren der Preise in diesen Kategorien sind Adobe und Smart.
Zusätzlich zu den Finalisten möchte das Organisationskomitee noch 13 weitere herausragende Beiträge hervorheben. Diese lauten: Aula365: Didattica interattiva per la scuola 2.0 von Silva ICT (Italien), Cloudstreet Classroom von Showtime – EA (Australien), Différentiation sociale en situation de confinement physique et social von Vidéoscop Université Nancy 2 (Frankreich), Digestive System Animation Projects von der International School of Tanganyika (Tansania), E-book by Kindergarten Children von Terakki Foundation Schools (Türkei), eduSensus: Complete Solution for Early and Special Needs Education von Young Digital Planet (Polen), eTwinning:all inclusive von der Schule Rogatsboden (Österreich), Hubblecast vom European Southern Observatory (Deutschland), Medienportal der Siemens Stiftung von der Siemens Stiftung (Deutschland), MyWorld: A digital literacy tutorial for secondary students von Media Awareness Network (Kanada), podcASTIng: podcast in libertà von Scuola Secondaria di Primo Grado “Brofferio”, Asti (Italien), Serwis edukacyjny e-zadania.pl von Szkoła – Nauczyciel (Polen) und Simply Music - Technology Inspired Music in Education von Simply Music (Irland).
Alle Beiträge, die in die Finalrunde kommen bzw. eine besondere Empfehlung erhalten, werden in die Showcase-Galerie der MEDEA Awards aufgenommen, wo herausragende Beispiele für den Einsatz von Medien im Bildungswesen präsentiert werden.
Die Finalisten wurden von einer Jury aus 75 Experten aus dem Bildungs- und Medienbereich aus 15 Ländern gekürt, die Ende September bis Anfang Oktober die Beiträge zu den MEDEA Awards bewerteten. Alle Finalteilnehmer werden am Donnerstag, dem 24. November, an der Preisverleihung teilnehmen, die einen Höhepunkt der Media & Learning-Konferenz bildet, und Präsentationen aller Finalisten werden Teil des Konferenzprogramms sein.
Weitere Informationen über die MEDEA Awards finden sich unter: http://www.medea-awards.com/de
Weitere Informationen zur Media & Learning-Konferenz finden sich unter: http://www.media-andlearning.eu
Kontakt
Nikki Cortoos, MEDEA Awards Sekretariat
Addresse: ATiT, Leuvensesteenweg 132, B-3370 Roosbeek, Belgien
Tel: +32 16 284 040, Fax: +32 16 223 743
E-mail: secretariat@medea-awards.com
2012 Adult Learners’ Week nominations open
Nominations are now open for the 2012 Adult Learners' Week Awards. People can nominate someone they teach, a colleague, a relative or a friend and give them the recognition they deserve for their outstanding learning achievements.
Every year, NIACE receives around 1,500 nominations from colleges, workplaces and other adult education providers.
Adult Learners' Week (12 - 18 May 2012) Awards identify people who have used learning to help them transform their lives, often beyond what they ever thought was possible. Awards are also given to innovative projects that give adults the opportunity to learn and improve their lives and the lives of their families and communities.
Neil Scales, OBE, Chief Executive and Director General of Merseytravel, said:
"Merseytravel is passionate about learning, because we know that it has so many diverse benefits for the individuals and for the organisation as a whole. When people learn new skills they also gain confidence, improve their job prospects, develop new insights into the world around them and can take great pride in their achievement. Other people around them become motivated by this example, and so one person's success can inspire many others to follow a similar path. This is one of the reasons Merseytravel is always keen to nominate learners for awards - their success is a beacon to others both inside and outside the organisation."
John Curry, Course Leader, BSc Computing, City of Bath College, said:
"As a lecturer I often feel humbled by the sheer determination of some students to strive to achieve. To these individuals, each setback is merely another challenge to be overcome. I nominated such an outstanding student, Fran Bunce, in 2011. The short video clip of her story in her own words has been used hundreds of times as part of the recruitment process for our computing course and we believe it has helped inspire some non-traditional learners to make that leap of faith and enter higher education."
David Hughes, NIACE Chief Executive, said:
"The nominations we receive each and every year tell the many and varied stories of adults who have the motivation, desire and dedication to improve their lives through learning. Whether that's for a new job or career, to help their children or grandchildren with their schoolwork or simply to learn more about something they're interested in."
"The Adult Learners' Week Awards celebrate the remarkable achievements of adults, giving them the recognition they deserve. And, in turn, the winners become inspirational role models, encouraging many more people to take up learning. So, if you know an outstanding adult learner, nominate them for an Adult Learners' Week Award."
All awards categories are open to learners living in England only.
The closing date for nominations is 5pm, Friday 27 January 2012.
EIT launches its first Entrepreneurship awards
As a driver and key element in combining the different areas of the knowledge triangle and in developing new innovation models, entrepreneurship is at the very heart of the EIT vision and activities. Boosting and encouraging individuals and companies to embrace innovation and take it to the market is among the EIT’s top priorities. As such, the EIT is pleased to announce its first EIT Entrepreneurship Award competition which it is organising in close collaboration with its three Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs): Climate-KIC, EIT ICT Labs and KIC InnoEnergy.
The 2012 Entrepreneurship Awards will put the spotlight on and encourage entrepreneurial ventures within the 
Knowledge and Innovation Communities thematic areas (climate change adaptation and mitigation, the future of information and communication society and sustainable energy) and help them develop in a successful and sustainable way.
“Mentoring is key for emerging companies. The connection to powerful executives in European industry will give credibility to entrepreneurs. It will hopefully help them get access to new clients, markets and to think big! This is how the EIT wants to leverage its network and help expand companies, which were born in KICs: born-to-be-global” says Daria Tataj, Member of the EIT’s Governing Board’s Executive Committee.
The selection of the nominated ventures is driven by the three KICs and each KIC will put forward three ventures that will be invited to do a business pitch at a high-level conference, where the three EIT Entrepreneurship Award winners will be selected. The finalists will be given the opportunity to attend a training course on how to successfully present their businesses and will also be given the opportunity to meet with leading entrepreneurs who will provide them with guidance on how to prepare for the scaling up of their businesses.
The high-level conference where the three winners of the EIT Entrepreneurship awards will be selected, is the EIT Entrepreneurship Awards 2012 / ACES Academic Enterprise Awards and Conference organised in cooperation with 
Science|Business, that will be taking place in Brussels on 21 February 2012. The ACES awards, now in their fourth year, are a separate contest open to all university spin-outs across Europe, and are judged by the Science|Business Innovation Board AISBL, a Belgian non-profit association to promote innovation in Europe.
To give the opportunity to meet the finalists for the 2012 EIT Entrepreneurship Awards prior to the competition in February 2012, more information on the nine ventures selected by the three KICs will follow soon
Poland's best learning mobility projects awarded in Sopot
"Mobility from Childhood to Seniority" was the theme of the EDUinspiration Awards, which was organised by the Polish National Agency for the Lifelong Learning Programme. In the category "institutional mobility" the first prize went to "Giving Heart to European Senior Citizens", a Leonardo da Vinci project from Nowy Sącz which partly focused on home-care for elderly people. In the category "individual mobility" the first prize was given to "Creating E-learning Courses – Hands-on Tools and Practical Tips" which allowed Beata from Poland to do a Comenius in-service training in Malta.
The aim of the competition was to highlight successful cross-border learning projects which received support from Comenius, Erasmus, Leonardo da Vinci and Grundtvig. These programmes offer the opportunity to acquire new competencies, learn languages, exchange experience and good practices. The end result will be higher quality of education across Europe.
The laureates were selected among 134 eligible Polish projects carried out between 2008 and 2010. The jury awarded six EDUInspiration prizes evaluating candidates in terms of effectiveness of the project, efficiency, impact, sustainability of results. In addition, the experts decided to award 12 honourable distinctions for the projects which demonstrated innovative approach in dissemination of the achieved results.
The awards gala was held on 18 October 2011 during the Mobility Conference in Sopot, Poland. Each award winning project received a statuette and a diploma.
The winning projects are:
Institutional Mobility
1st Prize
Giving Heart to European Senior Citizens
Jadwiga Wolska Post-Secondary School for Medical and Social Workers in Nowy Sącz
Project coordinators: Agata Piwowar, Barbara Kafel
Leonardo da Vinci (vocational education and training) - Initial Vocational Training
2nd Prize
Amazing Europe
No.1 Integration School Compound in Łódź, No. 67 Janusz Korczak Integration Primary School in Łódź
Project coordinator: Julita Skulimowska-Wilk
Comenius (school education) - Multilateral School Partnerships
3rd Prize
Community Based Rehabilitation in Neurology - Training Programme
EU Sp. z o.o.
Project coordinator: Anna Czernuszenko
Leonardo da Vinci (vocational education and training) - Partnerships
Individual Mobility
1st Prize
Beata Stępień
Creating E-learning Courses – Hands-on Tools and Practical Tips
No 1 Primary School with Integration Forms in Racibórz
Comenius Programme (school education) - In-service Training
2nd Prize
Iwona Przemyk
ICT for Collaborative, Project-Based Teaching and Learning
School and Preschool Compound in Studzienice
Comenius (school education) - In-service Training
3rd Prize
Piotr Sikora
Triple T – Theory, Teaching, Technology: Teaching and Learning with ICT
Municipal Office in Tarnowiec
Transversal Programme – Study Visit
Here is a short story of each of the projects.
The power of education to transform lives - access, investment and development
The International Council for Open and Distance Education (ICDE) held its 24th biennial world conference in collaboration with The Open University (Universitas Terbuka), Indonesia from 2-5 October 2011. The conference, which looked at new approaches to learning, took place on the island of Bali and was attended by over 600 delegates representing 49 countries.
The importance of creative solutions for education
In opening the conference, the Minister of National Education of the Republic of Indonesia Muhammad Nuh praised Universitas Terbuka for its work in overcoming challenges in the provision of access to education: “We have to be creative – open and distance learning has to be used as widely as possible to narrow social gaps”.
A personal story about educational opportunity
Hal Plotkin, Senior Policy Advisor in the Office of the Under Secretary of Education, United States Department of Education drew on his own life story to highlight the opportunity that distance education can bring to underprivileged sections of society. On the verge of losing the family home, 17-year-old Plotkin left high school to work as a waiter until a newspaper article about school dropouts provoked him to write a reply, the beginning of a career as a writer and journalist. His formal education came through the US community college system which has no requirements for previous formal education: “Only 5% have real opportunities to enter higher education and among the other 95% could be geniuses capable of finding the cure for diabetes and solutions to the world’s economic challenges – open education is the only tool to unlock talent and capacity and to extend economic growth”.
Investments in access to education
Plotkin reported on massive investments in open education being made by the Obama administration in the United States through the federal Online Skills Laboratory, an initiative to build open resources for learning. The Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career Training Grant Program (TAACCCT) will invest $2 billion over the next four years in initiatives including free to access materials.
Keynote speaker Duk Hoon Kwak of the Korea Educational Broadcasting System (EBS), a public television network dedicated to lifelong public education noted similar investments planned in Korea for 2012-2015. All Korean students will be provided with digital textbooks by the end of this period.
Access challenges in developing countries
Onno W Purbo an IT evangelist from Indonesia spoke of how 6 million children enter school annually, but only 600,000 graduate from higher education. While learning materials are ever more freely available, the predominance of English language creates barriers, though Google translate is widely used. Students and teachers use USB memory drives to overcome the problems of slow internet connection, while kitchen utensils are used to extend the range of Wi-Fi hotspots.
From a Brazilian perspective, Stavros Xanthopoylos spoke of the challenges to creating and distributing free educational content when quality education is only available through private universities and colleges: “the value chain is based on profit and this goes against what they are about”.
Academic perspectives
Lawrence Lessig, lawyer, activist and founder of Creative Commons, an initiative to provide certificates for the licensing of scientific and educational materials spoke passionately about the injustices of commercial scientific publishing which restricts access to knowledge to the most privileged: “copyright is 18th century rules in a 21st century world”.
Respected academics working with open educational resources including Gráinne Conole from the University of Leicester, UK, and Rory McGreal from Athabasca University, Canada spoke on the role of technology in learning. McGreal advised colleagues to create educational materials for mobile devices first: “a third of the world’s population can only access the Internet from mobile devices”.
Conference website: www.ut.ac.id/icde2011
For information about the International Council for Open and Distance Education (ICDE): www.icde.org/en/about
Contact: Gard Titlestad, Secretary General, ICDE, Mobile: +47 48 10 80 96, titlestad@icde.org
2011 WISE Awards: Six High-Impact Projects Now Selected
The Jury reviewed a pool of applicants from all regions of the world and all fields of education. The Winners were selected for their innovative approaches and positive impact upon societies and education, within the perennial theme of Transforming Education: Investment, Innovation and Inclusion.
Joining the ensemble of winning projects from 2009 and 2010, this year’s Winners once again highlight the growing significance of sharing knowledge through new information and communication technologies. Three of the WISE winning projects indeed provide wide access to materials and tools for teaching and learning through open source platforms. Dynamic inter-sectoral partnerships and innovative approaches to teaching through problem-solving and creative thinking are also well represented in the Jury’s choices.
WISE is delighted to welcome the first project from the MENA region to the Awards community of innovators, driven by the Al Jisr organization in Morocco. For the first time also, an initiative dedicated to children with disabilities is among the winning projects, highlighting the value of inclusiveness towards communities of learners with special needs.
Transformation of education occurs as educators and other stakeholders are able to share good ideas, effective practices and lessons learned. By joining the WISE Awards community, these winning projects can reach an even broader global audience. These Winners will be celebrated at the next WISE Summit to be held in Doha, Qatar on November 1-3, 2011.
Find out more about the Winners and their remarkable impact:
Project: Al Jisr School-Business Partnerships (Morocco)
Reach: Morocco
Project holder: Mhammed Abbad Andaloussi
Organisation: Al Jisr
Project: BBC Janala (UK)
Reach: Bangladesh
Project holder: Mohammad Ashrafuzzaman
Organisation: BBC World Service Trust
Project: Connexions (USA)
Reach: Global
Project holder: Richard Baraniuk
Organisation: Rice University
P
roject: Creative Partnerships (UK)
Reach: UK
Project holder: Paul Collard
Organisation: Creativity Culture and Education (CCE)
Project: SueñaLetras (Chile)
Reach: Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Uruguay, Costa Rica and Spain
Project holder: Ricardo Rene Rosas Diaz
Organisation: Center for the Development of Inclusion Technologies - CEDETI
Project: Teacher Education in Sub Saharan Africa (TESSA) (UK)
Reach: Sub-Saharan Africa
Project holder: Freda Wolfenden
Organisation: The Open University
To view the list of the 20 Finalists selected in June by the Pre-Jury click on the link below.
> Learn More about the Criteria Used to Select WISE Awards Winners
Open Educational Resources in Lithuania: State-of–the-Art, Challenges and Prospects for Development
The publication opens the series of case studies summarizing best practices in OER in non-English-speaking countries. The publication will be of help for educational decision makers and practitioners as it identifies and offers solutions to the challenges that countries usually encounter on the way of promoting open content to raise accessibility and quality of education.
Qualitätspakt Lehre: 5,45 Millionen Euro Fördermittel für Verbundantrag der niedersächsischen Hochschulen – »eCULT« verbessert den Einsatz digitaler Lerntechnologien in der Lehre
Die erste Antragsrunde des Bund-Länder-Programms für bessere Studienbedingungen und mehr Qualität in der Lehre ist entschieden. Darunter ist auch ein Verbundantrag, der bundesweit die meisten Hochschulen in ein Gesamtkonzept zusammengeführt hat: Elf niedersächsische Hochschulen und zwei weitere Verbundpartner erhalten 5,45 Millionen Euro für ihr Verbundprojekt »eCompetence and Utlilities for Learners and Teachers« (eCULT).
Dies ist nach Ansicht der Niedersächsischen Ministerin für Wissenschaft und Kultur, Professor Dr. Johanna Wanka höchst erfreulich. »Niedersächsische Hochschulen haben seit Jahren gezeigt, wie die Qualität der Lehre durch geschickten Einsatz innovativer Lehr- und Lerntechnologien erhöht werden kann. Beeindruckend ist insbesondere die konstruktive Zusammenarbeit einer Vielzahl von Hochschulen, die den Erfolg des Projektes erst ermöglicht hat.« Zwischen den niedersächsischen Hochschulen gibt es seit langem intensive Arbeitskontakte, nicht zuletzt im Rahmen des E-Learning Academic Network (ELAN e.V.). Diese jahrelange Einsatzerfahrung hat offenbar geholfen, einen überzeugenden Verbundantrag zu formulieren, der zeigt, wie man durch Vernetzung und Kooperation das erreichte Niveau noch weiter verbessern kann.
»Das Projekt ›eCULT‹ bietet die einmalige Chance, die vielfältigen Spezialisierungen und Kompetenzen der niedersächsischen Hochschulen durch Einsatz von digitalen Lerntechnologien gegenseitig nutzbar zu machen und dadurch gemeinsam die Qualität der Lehre zu verbessern«, freut sich der Koordinator des Verbundprojekts Dr. Andreas Knaden von der Universität Osnabrück. Der Präsident der Universität Osnabrück und Vorsitzende des ELAN-Vereins, Prof. Dr. Claus Rollinger, fügt hinzu: »Diese Bandbreite kann keine Hochschule allein bieten, das können wir nur gemeinsam leisten«.
Neben dem standortübergreifenden Erfahrungsaustausch prägen vier Leitgedanken den Verbundantrag:
- Die Vermittlung didaktischer Kompetenzen beim Einsatz digitaler Lerntechnologien braucht eine fachdidaktische Fundierung.
- Wesentlich ist, dass werkzeugbezogene didaktische Szenarien an guten Praxisbeispielen vermittelt werden.
- Gleichartige E-Learning Werkzeuge müssen für Lehrende an jedem Hochschulstandort ohne großen Aufwand verfügbar sein und entsprechend betreut werden.
- Die bereitgestellten Lerntechnologien müssen erprobt sein und dem aktuellen Stand der Technik entsprechen.
Das auf fünf Jahre angelegte »eCULT«-Projekt soll durch verstärkten Einsatz von Didaktikern, didaktisch orientierten Fachwissenschaftlern und Informatikern die Rahmenbedingungen an den beteiligten Hochschulen entsprechend dieser vier Leitgedanken nachhaltig verbessern; es startet im Wintersemester 2011/2012. Neben der federführenden Universität Osnabrück übernehmen in der Koordinationsgruppe die Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg, die Leibniz Universität Hannover und der ELAN e.V. leitende Aufgaben. Zu den weiteren Verbundpartnern gehören: Hochschule für Bildende Künste Braunschweig, Technische Universität Clausthal, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Hochschule Hannover, Hochschule für angewandte Wissenschaft und Kunst (Hildesheim), Hochschule Osnabrück, Universität Vechta, Ostfalia Hochschule für angewandte Wissenschaften sowie der Stud.IP e.V. (Göttingen).
Das Vorhaben eCULT wird ab 01.10.2011 mit Mitteln des Bundesministeriums für Bildung und Forschung gefördert (ELAN e.V.-Förderkennzeichen: 01PL11066I).
Submissions invited to OPAL Awards
The OPAL Awards for quality and innovation through open educational practices recognize outstanding achievements in OER policy, promotion and use which have resulted in the improvement of quality and innovation in educational organizations. Submissions are invited in three categories; bodies which influence policy, institutions and learning contexts.
The OPAL Awards are developed by the Open Educational Quality (OPAL) Initiative, a consortium which works to promote open educational practices – practices which support the production, use and reuse of open educational resources (OER). Open educational practices help learners, educational professionals, organizational leaders, and policy makers improve quality in higher education and adult education and training.
Winning entries
Winners and highly commended entries will be selected by juries of prominent experts and will be announced at Online Educa Berlin, Germany, 30 November – 2 December 2011. Award winners will receive a plaque and a contribution of EUR 300 to make a short film which will be shown at the awards ceremony and may be used for self-promotion. Award winners and highly commended submissions will receive significant international exposure through the OPAL Initiative website and publications, and through the networks of each of the consortium members. They will also receive a unique logo and animated graphic for self-promotion.
The deadline for submission of entries to the OPAL Awards is midnight CET on 23 October 2011.
The OPAL Awards Secretariat is hosted by the International Council for Open and Distance Education (ICDE) and the OPAL Initiative is being implemented through a consortium including UNESCO, ICDE, the European Foundation for Quality in E-Learning (EFQUEL), and a number of European universities. The Lifelong Learning Programme of the European Commission is the main funding body for this initiative, which is lead by the University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany.
European indicators and ranking methodology for university third mission
The aim of this project is to generate a comprehensive instrument to identify, measure, and compare Third Mission activities of HEIs from a wide perspective. This will be achieved by creating indicators on Third Mission activities and by giving a new approach on the concept of ranking methodologies.
here is a growing recognition around the world of the role universities can play towards economic growth and social development in the modern "knowledge society" as lay out by the Lisbon Strategy. University activities have traditionally been understood as two missions: teaching and research. However, more recently policy makers have been keen to encourage all the other contributions of universities to society, their Third Mission.
While several ranking systems exist for the First and Second Missions, the Third Mission lacks any cohesive methodology. E3M will address this need.
First, a set of standard indicators for three dimensions of the Third Mission that we believe to be indicative of the Third Mission as a whole will be developed and validated. These dimensions are Continuing Education, Technology Transfer & Innovation and Social Engagement. Second, a ranking methodology will be created to assess the performance of European Third Mission providers, benchmarking excellent practices, and helping to create a common European area of higher education institutions. These tools will be built into a web based platform to provide access for project stakeholders, along with a range of case studies of excellent providers.
E3M will involve several leading European Higher Education networks to ensure a broad and sustainable dissemination of the project's outputs. The project will enable Third Mission providers to assess their own performance, share best practices and build relationships with other European Third Mission providers. This will lead to more effective and efficient services being provided to society and industry as institutions seek to improve their standards, improving the quality of their lifelong learning provision and other services. Funding bodies will be provided with a tool to understand Third Mission performance, rewarding excellence and rectifying lower standards.