Very soon, European winegrowers will have access to a language learning programme especially conceived for them and catering to their specific needs.
The project VinoLingua will provide winegrowers with a series of language manuals, focused on their professional needs, which will prepare them to carry out wine tastings, take visitors on a guided tour of their vineyard, present their wine cellar at a wine fair, or just sell their own wine; and, all this, in a different language!
Languages offered are German, French, Italian, and Spanish, and, at the same time, each one of these languages will be represented by a wine-growing region through which students will manage to discover the culture associated to the wine and its region: Lower Austria and South Tyrol, for German; Burgundy, for French; Tuscany, for Italian; and, for Spanish, the Toro region. Each of these four languages is, at the same time, the target language —that is, the language our students wish to learn— or the winegrowers’ mother tongue, which potentially accounts for twelve different language combinations.
From the beginners’ level, this method teaches the language of wine, rather than language in general. Moreover, materials for study are organized following a “spiral” shape, that is, presenting the same communicative situations on several occasions all along the course; firstly, using simpler linguistic structures, and then, progressively, introducing more complex structures as the programme unfolds. Thus, for instance, wine tasting features six times, and work in the vineyard, as well as the description of work in the cellar and wine trading, appear on three occasions. At the A1 level, students learn how to manage themselves in these situations using “chunks”, that is, fixed expressions they can easily memorize (in the mouth, there is …). Later on, a series of customized flashcards are introduced to teach winegrowers how to describe their own wine. Finally, at the B1 level, learning is based on authentic audio/video materials related to wine.
The VinoLingua method, financed by the European Union through its Leonardo da Vinci Program, has been conceived as a set of self-study materials. Nevertheless, we are certain these materials can also be used at professional winemaking schools. In fact, the latter are an integral part of the partnership, composed of winegrowers, linguists, winemaking instructors, and language teachers. Thanks to this project, Europe will likely turn into a crowd of “vinolinguist winegrowers” who will manage to communicate either amongst themselves or with any other wine lover in any language!
More on Vinolingua.

In which European country is the total amount of annual taught time for the 2012-2013 school year highest? How many hours do students spend on specific subjects, such as mathematics or natural sciences?
A new Eurydice publication on recommended annual taught time during compulsory education gives quick answers to these questions. More precisely, the publication contains annually updated facts and figures on the amount of time allocated to core subjects by grade/stage in full-time compulsory education. Information in the publication is divided into the amount of time allocated to individual subjects, such as literacy learning, mathematics, or physical education and also by country. The report also covers the number of taught days and weeks per year, as well as the number and length of the class periods.
The full report can be downloaded from the facts and figures area of the Eurydice network website: Recommended annual taught time in full-time compulsory education in Europe.

Call for Submissions - MOOCs and Beyond: eLearning Papers Issue 33

The Education Competencies represent many of abilities required for successful job performance in education. The competencies were created in in 2006 and adapted for education.
Schools and districts around the country are using these tools in a variety of ways. If you are interested in learning more about the Education Competency Wheel please consider attending the Microsoft Institute.
The Education Competencies represent many of the attributes, behaviors, areas of knowledge, skills, and abilities required for successful job performance. Each Education Competency includes a definition, four levels of proficiency, sample interview questions, activities and resources to develop skills, and examples of overdoing the competency.

In a world of Open and Distance Learning, how exactly do we discover open resources? How can we connect resources located in different repositories? Furthermore, how can we  relate these resources to the context, interest, cultural and technical environment of the learner? This study broaches these and more topics relevant to Open and Distance Learning (ODL).
The Semantic Web has the potential to dramatically change Open and Distance Learning through the use of Linked Data. This report analyses Linked Data, making the case for sharing and interlinking mechanisms to be used in relation to Open and Distance Learning documents and entities.
This study examines how Linked Data is currently being used and ow organizations can adopt it in their quest of using the Web of Linked Data for ODL. It includes how technology can be applied to solve problems and considers a number of case studies that are specific examples of the benefits of using Linked Data in this context.
URL http://www.col.org/resources/publications/Pages/detail.aspx?PID=420.

The Open University (OU) has produced an interactive eBook about ROLE, which provides an introduction to Personal Learning Environments (PLEs) and Self Regulated Learning (SRL).
A selection of widgets that have been developed by the ROLE project are also demonstrated. Readers have an opportunity to try these widgets through a set of interactive learning activities included in the eBook. The content of the eBook has been adapted from the ROLE online courses available in OpenLearn (http://labspace.open.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=7898 and http://labspace.open.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=7433).
The eBook is available for iOS devices (iPads and iPhones) and can be downloaded from http://projects.kmi.open.ac.uk/role/ibook/ROLE.ibooks. It will also be available soon on the Apple iBook store, published by the OU.

This paper outlines high-priority 21st-century skills, with examples of how they apply to real-world situations. It also delves into examples of assessment tasks and scoring rubrics that would provide evidence of students’ levels of mastery.
This paper synthesizes research on the role of standards and assessment in promoting learning, describes the nature of assessment systems that can support changes in practice, Illustrates the use of technology to transform assessment systems and learning, and proposes a model for assessing 21st century skills.
Large-scale assessments should be only part of any system to support student learning, Assessments at each level represent a significant opportunity to signal the important learning goals that are targeted by the broader system as well as to provide valuable, actionable data for policy and practice. Moreover, they can model next generation assessments that can support learning. Read more...