Lifelong Learning and Learning Cities
On 26 April 2013, the Commission for Education, Youth, Culture and Research (EDUC Commission) of the European Union’s Committee of the Regions held the International Conference on Pioneering Europe 2020 Smart Regions, in Espoo, Finland. The purpose of the Conference was for experts from city authorities, universities and industry to discuss how research and innovation can foster the development of ‘smart regions’ in Europe. About 80 members of the EDUC Commission (all of them members of city/regional councils in Europe) participated in the Conference. Moreover, experts from industry and universities exchanged knowledge about instruments and projects for developing smart regions. Given the relevance of the International Platform for Learning Cities (IPLC) to the promotion of smart regions in Europe, UIL was invited to participate in the Conference.
In his presentation on Lifelong Learning and Learning Cities, Mr Jin Yang showed that learning cities have become effective instruments in promoting lifelong learning for all in the international community. In addition, he explained how UIL, in collaboration with interested national, regional and international organisations as well as the private sector, took the initiative to establish the IPLC. All presentations at Conference are available at: http://euparl.net/. Read more...
Festo Didactic agrees to be a partner of UIL’s initiative for learning cities
Festo Didactic, a world leader in industrial education solutions, has agreed to support the UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning (UIL) in establishing the International Platform for Learning Cities (IPLC) and preparing for the International Conference on Learning Cities in Beijing from 21–23 October 2013. In a meeting with Dr. Nader Imani, Head of Global Education at Festo Didactic, on 15 July 2013, both organisations reaffirmed the role of learning cities in addressing urban development issues such as sustainable industrialisation, youth employment and social inclusion. Read more...SOLIDAR publishes a briefing on recognition of non-formal and informal competences of workers´ representatives
The publication is released in the framework of the project "Promoting the Agenda for New Skills and Jobs: Strengthening individual learning pathways by developing skills assessment tools for workers". "Recognition of non-formal and informal competences of workers´ representatives" briefs on arrangement that validates skills, competences and knowledge acquired through learning in non-formal and informal environments. Read more...
EUCIS-LLL sets up a task force on validation of non-formal and informal learning
The European Civil Society Platform on Lifelong Learning - EUCIS-LLL - has been advocating for validation as a key tool for lifelong learning for years and has now set up a task force to further tackle the issue. EAEA is a member of EUCIS-LLL.The task force will look at the implementation of the 2012 Council Recommendation on the validation of non-formal and informal learning, as well as the current revision of Cedefop 2009 European Guidelines for validating non-formal and informal learning and 2010 European Inventory on validation. Read more...
Shaping European identity through movies
By Raffaela Kihrer. EAEA GRUNDTVIG AWARD 2013. EAEA hands out the yearly EAEA Grundtvig Award to a successful European learning partnership. This year´s theme for the award was "Active citizenship and transnational solidarity - Adult Education as a tool against nationalism, chauvinism and xenophobia".Film storytelling, as a form of art, has always enjoyed a privileged status regarding its relationship with life. Moving images have the power to create meaning and expose and hide multiple realities. They can also be shared easily through new media, as films are easily shared, downloaded and commented in the virtual community. Read more...
Building the Badges for Lifelong Learning Movement
By Sheryl Grant. By any measure, the HASTAC/MacArthur Foundation Badges for Lifelong Learning Competition--our fourth Digital Media and Learning Competition--has been our most ambitious and most potentially transformative initiative. Collectively, we took an idea as old as badging, layered it on top of learning, and plugged it into the Web. And by collective, I mean "standing on the shoulders of giants" kind of collective. It’s taken a lot of people, a lot of organizations, and a lot of giants to get here. And most importantly, it's taken Connie Yowell, Director of Education at the MacArthur Foundation, to be the bold thinker mapping the way for us. Read more...
Mapping Digital Humanists, in Spanish
By Ernesto Priego. My colleagues Élika Ortega and Silvia Gutiérrez have launched a site for their Mapa HD project. (HD stands for 'humanidades digitales', needless to say 'digital humanities' in Spanish). This is a project that originated during the DíaHD (Day of Digital Humanities in Spanish and Portuguese). Élika and Silvia are working together across borders and time zones mapping who and where digital humanists are through a survey and visualisations of the survey results. Read more...
Digital Humanities and the Study of Intermediality in Comparative Cultural Studies
By Steven Tötösy de Zepetnek. Digital humanities and the study of intermediality in comparative cultural studies is about how intermediality influences the negotiation of culture(s)—in theory and application—and how, cultural practices shape the use of (new) media and their social significance. The notion of intermediality—a concept of old, but with renewed perspectives and practices in digital humanities—raises a number of issues including social and cultural practices, pedagogy, aspects of globalization, the cultural industries, the publishing of scholarship online, etc. Read more...Schadenfreude for the MOOC Is Not Joy for the Higher Ed Status Quo
By Cathy Davidson. Two important things happened this week in the world of Massive Online Open Courseware (MOOCs) and the larger world of higher ed: first, came the announcement (not very well contextualized) of a more than 50% failure rate of the for-credit students in the pilot Udacity-San Jose State University program offering three introductory and remedial courses (algebra, intermediate algebra, and statistics) online to both traditional and non-traditional (not admitted) SJSU students. While the courses had a remarkably high completion rate of 83% (most MOOCs have a 10% completion rate and even most face-to-face remedial classes at community colleges and state universities have about a 25-55% completion rate), the failure rate is, of course, unacceptable. SJSU and Udacity have announced a six-month hiatus in the program while they study the data, interview the students and the profs and tutors, and redesign instruction to address this problem and, ideally, remedy it. Read more...
The Arts & Humanities in the Workplace: Why Great Leaders are Joining the Dialogue
By Christine Henseler. "The Arts & Humanities in the Workplace: Why Great Leaders are Joining the Dialogue" is an online project that gives voice to not only humanists, but also employers and leaders from fields as varied as engineering, biology, nanotechnology, social work, business administration, economics, environmental studies, entrepreneurship, physics, government or medicine. The goal of this project is to demonstrate that an education in the arts and humanities -- from kindergarten to higher education and beyond -- has concrete benefits on individual lives and careers and on global economic competitiveness, advancements in innovation, and civic engagement and responsibility. Read more...
