Formation Continue du Supérieur

The dates for the 26th ICDE World Conference have been changed to 14-16 October 2015 to accommodate venue availability.
Meanwhile, registration is open for the ICDE International Conference to be held in Moscow in the Russian Federation in September 2014.
And you can get a flavour of the Balinese welcome delegates to the 2014 ICDE Standing Conference of Presidents (SCOP) meeting may expect in a short introductory video. More...

ICDE and partners in LangOER, a 3-year network project supported by the EU Lifelong Learning Programme, are looking for your input on the role of Open Educational Resources and Open Educational Practices in less used languages.
How can less used languages, including regional and minority languages benefit from Open Educational Practices (OEP)? How can Open Educational Resources (OER) foster linguistic and cultural diversity in Europe? What policies are favourable to the uptake of quality OER in less used language communities? Answers to these questions will be sought through LangOER, a 3-year network project supported by the EU Lifelong Learning Programme. To aid in this, you are asked to contribute by answering five very short questions on your experience of OER and less used languages. More...

By Terri Macdonald. The Australian Law Reform Commission’s (ALRC) report entitled Copyright and the Digital Economy was tabled in the Parliament of Australia on 13 February.  Copies of the full report and a summary can be downloaded from ALRC website. The report makes a number of important policy recommendations about the way copyright law works in Australia. The most important recommendation is to introduce a general fair use exceptions regime to replace our existing specific purpose fair dealing exceptions. The ALRC is also recommending changes to statutory licences that apply to educational institutions. More...

By Terri Macdonald. On 22 June 2013, the Attorney-General’s Department asked the Sex Discrimination Commissioner, on behalf of the Australian Human Rights Commission to conduct a national review on the prevalence, nature and consequences of discrimination in relation to pregnancy at work and return to work after parental leave.
The significant number of complaints received by the Australian Human Rights Commission and Fair Work Australia indicate that discrimination against pregnant employees and against men and women returning to work after taking parental leave continues to be a problem in Australian workplaces. More...

Targeted at various stakeholders, the eLearning papers that you can now find on the new Open Education Europa portal stimulate reflection on open educational resources and in general new technologies and education in Europe. The latest eLearning Papers item discuss how Learning Analytics uses the learners’ digital trail to gain a better understanding of and improve the learning process. The articles propose a teacher-led design inquiry of learning and expose the benefits of combining learning analytics and open linked data research. The Papers also propose four case studies introducing assessment in basic maths, concept mapping for reflection, an analysis of the teachers’ learning process and real-time visualisation of discussion activities in a MOOC.

In December 2013 EUCIS-LLL held in the European Parliament its Lifelong Learning Week, gathering various educational stakeholders around key moments of reflection of the European agenda in education and training. One of them was the roundtable “Making the case for European civic education” on 4 December, jointly organised with the European Civic Forum. More than ever we need to create a dialogue about Europe in our schools, associations and in public spaces. It is about the common values of Europe such as tolerance, human rights and democracy that are linked to issues such as xenophobia, racism and gender equality. The role of educational institutions and civil society in that sense were discussed during the event, from which you can find the full report on our website. More reports from the LLL Week coming soon!

From 17 to 21 February the UNESCO will hold its flagship Mobile Learning Week, which focuses on how mobile phones can improve access to education material in the poorest areas of the globe. This year, the emphasis will be put on teachers as the pillars of our education systems and key actors in the digital revolution to promote inclusive and better learning everywhere. Several key challenges and opportunities will be discussed, such as ensuring equity of devices, online safety, limited mobile-friendly content and the need for teacher training. As UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova puts it “On its own, technology is not enough. Empowerment comes from skills and opportunities to use them. It comes from quality content that is inclusive, that draws on local languages and knowledge systems”. See also EUCIS-LLL position paper on Opening Up Education.

On 24 January the European Parliament Committee for Culture and Education gave an input on the EU citizenship report 2013 for the Committee on Petitions. The opinion, drafted by MEP Morten Løkkegaard (ALDE, DK), supports the Commission’s initiative to raise citizens’ awareness on their rights and reminds how crucial it is to increase their participation in EU democratic life. It also recalls the importance of creating a “structured framework for European civil dialogue” as a means to concretise participatory citizenship and underlines the role of organised civil society in that sense, calling for less administrative burden and adequate funding for them.

On 6-7 February the European Commission and the Greek presidency of the European Council held a conference to launch the European Social Fund 2014-2020. New investment priorities under the various cohesion policy thematic objectives such as “Investing in education, training and vocational training for skills and lifelong learning” (see Common Provisions Regulation) were discussed but also new levers for actions. Education was indeed one of the key areas for reform mentioned by Commissioner László ANDOR while opening the conference. The European Code of Conduct on Partnership (see Regulation and best practices), recently adopted and involving key stakeholders in the design, implementation and evaluation of the new structural funds, will also be debated. The Commission has for the occasion developed a thematic paper on Good Governance where the involvement of civil society is enhanced as a key success factor for an effective ESF intervention.

“Key to Europe” is the European Students’ Forum (AEGEE) Annual Review. Discover the 2012-2013 edition that summarises all the actions that AEGEE has undertaken in the past year in the field of personal development, inclusion of minority or youth participation. You can notably find out more about AEGEE’s 2014 campaign “Y vote” to tackle the challenge of low turnout among young Europeans during the European elections next May that includes local activities, bus tours, etc.