Juha-Matti Arola’s blog

Matti Sinko

The new partnerships for learning - linking communities and non-formal/informal education

Intro: 

Michelle Selinger, Education Strategist, Cisco Systems Inc

- Informal learning just happens on-the-way, learning and picking-up the things, non-formal community-based learning, if not run by a training institution

- Why the reinventing the wheel? Why? Normally countries do their own, not learning from others, therefore the strategic partnerships are important

- Are we having the learning the same in different places?

- learning at home in your own time, learning how to learn etc.

- discontinuity of learner path (kingergarten teacher, secondary, higher etc.)

- the key is learn how to learn, the Danish thing changed from learn to learn back to the curriculum based, perhaps too early adapters.

- partnership with community: gardens for life - growing, cooking, nutrition, commerce skills, geography of food, inter-connected lives, diets vary

- role of the private sector in formal education: curriculum for 21st century, teaching and learning schools, demos of the possible, partnership

-  Cisco networking academy program: 150+ countries, 30000+ instructors, 1.6 million+ 40million+ examinations

- partnership with industry: learning from each other

- a lot of tools existing: chat, VOIP, flickr, mailing lists, media sharing, wikipedia

- wikipedia, secondlife.com, games

- Cisco using a lot of informal tools rather than formal tools

New curriculum and the new assessment

- the new curriculum is the curriculum of the relevance

- assessment of what is done rather than how to the knowledge is absorbed

Fostering creativity

Three statements:

1. We must challenge and change the status quo

2. We need to form partnerships including the best of learning paradigms

3. Power tools help people to take responsibility for their own learning and link learning to make it lifelong learning

Group 1:

Formal education - what is in there needed?

Three level discussion: - collection of bees representing formal education. Existing because of legacy system for old-world needs.

Feedback mechanism is needed for the formal education, because human beings are needing natural learning.

Formal education system should be rest-in-peace, because of bureaucracy and old patterns.

We need formal education system, but better feedback mechanism, eagerness to learn should be preserved like a child

Group 2:

It’s started with the idea of blogs, then informal / individual views do create communities. Now the second group challenged that because the learning culture, target groups and topics you need more methods and tools. 

Rich power tools are the future, but we are still living old times, so we should introduce. The US has won the world cup, because the most of the players have an university degree. The formal education system, because of its structure, could not cope with the change.

Group 3:

We have to change and to start to use new tools, taking the necessary tools and relevant tools. The teachers and their organisations should start to take the tools in use, but lack of support or motivation do exist. It’s much easier to take the tools, gradually into the use little by little. Tools are only means, but the goals are more important. Tools have been created for a certain use, so do not use to drill the hole with the hammer. Keeping the interactiveness alive is important.

Group 4.

Quality of the tools, partnership was talked. What is the real-time partnership? How to plan the partnerships for a mutual benefit.

Challenge of formal & informal like medical learning formal & informal blended.  

Group 5.

Reaching a disagreement. We must challenge the status quo, the timetables should be removed. We talked about the values, there should be a visibility issue addressed. Individual responsibility should be taken into account. No matter what methodology is in use the performance is that matters.

What is important? Is the results/outcomes or the learning process? What are we really doing in formal learning? Informal learning needs infrastructure, supporting structures needed etc.

Questioned informalizing formal learning or vice versa. Methodology power. Do we support existing structures? Successful learner only supported? Nothing happens, because those, who are successful are in power. Accessibility is an issue, so investments into free information services should be introduced.

Dr. Song Gilsun, School of Continuing Education, Tsinghua University

Tsinghua University, Professors 1069, 26000 students in 14 schools

TU School of Continuing Education, the chief unit of the national eLearning coordination organization in China, including 470 staff, 1400 part-time teachers

- from teaching to learning, fostering innovative people, collaborative learning and information accomplishments (metadata related) supporting the learning society concept of China

- 250 e-Learning centers, CERNET 150 enterprise learning stations, 100 poverty reduction teaching centers (free-of-charge) - 21000 registered students

- 100 courses for enterprises, for others 100 learning centers in 100 counties, using Internet and satellite 10000 hours of training

China

- telephone users (1st ranking), internet users (2nd ranking in the world, but 10 % only using it now), electronic information industry (3rd). Now eLearning market in China about 180 Million EUR.

Government is using internet establishing the learning society. 1999 68 pilot universities participated into the programme, whenever in 2000 Tsinghua was elected into its leading role.

Expansion of pilot universities in e-Learning. Web institutes will be supported by eLearning enterprises and learning support centers. No new institutes added while stressing quality. From 966 centers (2001) into 2500 centers (2005) reaching 3000000 persons !

Current challenges in China: Insufficient connectivity, no standards for management, limited sharing of knowledge

New policies: strengthen international eLearning collaboration,

eLearning countryside, community, military and enterprises. From county learning centers into town learning center and village multimedia playing spot.

eLearning and ICT for learning and skills development: the knowledge gap on learning innovation

A round-table discussion moderated by Claudio Dondi, Doctor, MENON Network & Scienter

Panel discussion:

Ingeborg Bø, President of Eden, Executive Director of the Norwegian Association for Distance Education

- EDEN, European Distance eLearning Network, networking 160 institutional members with 700 institutional individuals. Last year EDEN the conference was held in HUT Dipoli. Two weeks in Vienna was introducing roughly 200 papers sharing the knowledge. eLearning has been seen as fragmented, so let’s make it unite. I have seen the development of ICT coming to an important role of transmitting the knowledge. We have the people, education system and the working environment as separate issues. eLearning is a new way of learning, so the question is how? In EDEN we try to make bridges between researchers, society and companies.  

Maruja Gutierrez-Diaz, Head of Unit, European Commission, DG Education and Culture

- In education & innovation, innovation is the motor and the most important for growth. There will be the formulation of the innovation strategy during the Finnish presidency. Information policy should be linking the research, ICT and learning creating the ecosystem together. The fact is the researcher, practically, a successful innovation policy needs a solid basis training system. Particularly the European universities is the main concern while linked to research and to business. Also the key competences will be identified. ICT for education, I still do not feel that the change is not discussed among the training conferences and actual training work. There are good tools for learning and innovation.

Todd Korth, Regional Director EMEA Education and Research, Sun Microsystems

Markku Markkula, EuroPACE & Helsinki University of Technology, Lifelong Learning Institute Dipoli

- A primary trend we should be doing the break-trough concepts. Identifying the well-working issues, then actors and roles. Currently we do not implement, what should be completed. We need still the fundamental change for active learning. The most of the cases, the researchers do not  act as they are knowing. Briefly we can closely see that the applications are currently causing that the teachers are learning and students are training teachers, so the role of facilitator is a key in the future. Learning regions, just not only learning cities, should be implemented into a real value. Earlier we have the Europace at the end of 80’s the best expertise sharing via video the knowledge, now the knowledge sharing still will be important using new tools and methods 

Andre Richier, Principal Administrator, European Commission, DG Enterprise and Industry

- eLearning industry is now recovering. A new way is being prepared. In business the ICT is always an investment. The conclusion is that we should have a new industrial policy promoting ICT as an investment. Investment of private sector and right portion are a key for a fruitful result. We should establish a forum how to promote competences. There are big pradadigm shifts are occuring. We are developing benchmarking initiatives and scenarios for 2015. A model should be created after the project is finished in order to have suitainable business model. Who is doing what and when will be completed in October in Thessaloniki, Greece.

Richard Straub, Advisory to the Chairman IBM Europe, Middle- East and Africa, President of eLIG

- Highlighting the current state of fragmentating, eLearning and support for lifelong learning it is treated more silo-way, but who seeing across the silos. The lack of the transferring focus. When the focus is broader, you do not cure minor detail symptoms. As a backbone you need technology, but the technology should be managed and how use it. We need money for innovation, but it is not existing, introducing new applications rather than technology. Therefore we are proposing centers of competence to be established like including the living labs concept getting into iteration and immediate feedback from end users.

David Vincent, Pro-Vice-Chancellor Open University, UK

- Running out of people in Europe, the amount of elderly is growing

- lifelong learning will be coming extra for additional for normal learning system. most of the European universities now use the eLearning.

- traditionally openness have been creating the attractiveness among the learners. We should now thinking informal the public concept. One third of the broadband users in US has become the content producers. We should changing our traditional universities more towards into informal and lifelong learning by means of eLearning 

Voting:

- EU results were not communicated well

- EU project proposals should be clarified when rejected

Café owner: Tapio Koskinen, Senior Advisor, Helsinki University of Technology,  Lifelong Learning Institute Dipoli

Café etiquette: focus, contribute, speak from the heart, listen to understand, link and connect ideas, listen together for deeper themes etc..

 Café expert: Nikitas Kastis, Doctor, MENON Network & Lambrakis Foundation

INTRO 

Concentrating on social inclusion and digital literacy. Basically we are talking about private life & society vs. professional life. Yesterday there were discussion about the EU key competences.

More critical is the learning to learn challenge. Results: 20 % reading problems, 77 % completing higher education, 58 % work force never user ICT, 34 % European population never user ICT, 80 % European population with low-qualifications never used ICT

A paradigm shift relating to the individuals and knowledge. Consumers are also knowledge creators. Therefore the learning to learn competence becomes more critical. That causes a new equity challenge for knowledge sharing and rapid massive learning.

Scenario: Clusters of Knowledge, offering “chunks” of training, “digital skills”

Scenario: Learning Society

Sustainable innovation: Education & Training contexts and knowledge building “patterns”

Balanced deployment of effective up-take of ICTs in learning process: Serving equity through the search for Excellence -> linked to efficiency and productivity

Joined capacity building: emerging common agendas for the stakeholders

CAFE TALK SUMMARY

Learning to learn as a centric finding

Individual & policy level - inclusion, equity etc. discussed

Learning to learn is more than subject-matter, is speaking more about reflection etc. changing your ideas. Changes could be not be taught but experiences. Especially in Germany the reflecting competence is not trained

Accessibility is a very important issue. How can even faster ICT competence? ePortfolios were also discussed including reflective issues. We should be taking into eLoop. Not all people have got equal starting points. Once you are in the eloop you are better off.

English is a digital skill, so not only tech is not included. English is embedded into a technical terms. Jointly capacity building and equity. Rather moving into the cluster of knowledges vs. equity seen as basis for development. 

Digital competences do include ePedagogy skills & eTechnology skills. We introduced the term of eIrritation. Only when you are irritated, then you can learn. EIRRITATION programme should be introduced.

Equity vs. excellence, so the excellency should be more stressed. Are they opposing poles, equity in general should be guaranteeing equal starting point giving as proposals.

Group 2:

Clearly we are doing a process. The real café was appreciated having a coffee at the table.

What is learning? What is ICT? How are we doing ICT measurements? Like measurements that 80 % were not competent with ICT. But ICT is now embedded, so it is not shown in the survey statistics.

The responsibility for a public environment to set up the possibilities for individuals. The learning responsibility is for an individual. The desire level for each time changes, because the world changes around. The knowledge was earlier in Finland like the key competences writing & reading as well as knowing the 10 commandments in order to get a license to get married. Perhaps now we should ICT License to marry.

Modelling, different ICT types (passive, active)

Group 3:

Debate on philisophy. ICT is not a God. The mind set from knowledge to competence. Competence should be explicit and should be shown in performance. The key competences are less context-dependent supporting context/work competences. The key competences are required in basic training, while within the work environment have to be shown in performance/work tasks. Performance is context dependent.

The key competences have to a lot of to do with the society including societal values. Learning to learn is also about the values and the identity. Can we you ICT for enhancing these? Can you make them explicit?

Informal/formal learning discussion, because informal learning is taking more and more space instead of formal. ICT creates needs, so through that is creating the learning. ICT could not be avoided, so the question is how to use the ICT. Two groups discussing, if not internet existing, we could not learn.

It is relevant, the specific literacy is disappearing. New literacy is coming up. This is another indication of the digital literacy linked to learning to learn. Much interrelated into each other. Learning to learn is embedding a lot from the others.

New generation Learning Content Management and Publishing Models, Architectures,

Standards and Challenges for Europe

David Vincent, Pro-Vice-Chancellor Open University, UK

From autarky to interdependency, From formal to informal learning, from consumption to creativity, From general to personal

Enhancing non-formal communities with funding for UK domestic use, 900 hours later on 4500 hours based on learning objects

Fred Mulder, Rector Open Universiteit Nederland, NL

Similar project to UK with same ambition, but smaller course base

National Initiative LLL “Lang Leve Leren” - initiators: Open University Netherlands, participants: the whole society

- observation 1: time struggle, learning is not favoured, observation 2: missing link between learning contexts: no link existing between formal and informal contents

- plea for open and flexible learning for lifelong learners, +- 15 courses, ‘extracts’, 1 EC (+-25 hours), selflearning, targeting large-scale use, all materials free online available, one million EUR spent

- EADTU Moril project: 9 countries, 9 languages between European universitites, exploring international collaboration and facilitating international experiences, among challenges there are translation and intellectual property rights

eLearning Content Publishing & Management standards and architectures

Fabrizio Cardinali

learn eXact LCMS, Giunti Interactive Labs CEO

World is changing as Richard Straub was indicating

The art of information warfare, knowledge warriors are needed when competing the best knowledge, more than 2010 the 3i Work Programme.

I as Information Space (Interoperability is a key)

I as Inclusion (Individualisation)

I as Innovation (Investments)

Important measures from EU like eContent+, ILLLP (Integrated Lifelong Learning Program) with 14000 Mio EUR funding

Learning societies - nomadic, ubiquitios and independent - PDP, Personal Development Plans for UP Skilling Delivery Layer

UP Skilling Mapping Layer - formal national & sectorial curricular & labour plans -> UP Skilling Alignment Layer needed like between United States states (intra-sectorial, inter-national alignment + informal learning) as a next step

Learner individualization: new business processes, new organizational roles, business tasks taxonomies, individual competences, new learning process

Time to competence is far more important is time to product. Manage change towards informal learning, individual massification, talking in a collaborative way for actual end users.

Technology is changing, too. 1st generation eLearning is a closed and autonomous environment. Now knowledge, learning and publishing has been having standards for contents. Vision is to get the knowledge content tailored for a precise need, but very difficult to achieve in the back office. It is easier to make the content into different forms…Distributed web services using xml enables the multi-channel publishing without worrying the lay-out. SCORM going forward

Mobilearn July 2002 - Open Mobile Learning Abstract Framework introduced - Standard Multilanguage UML - open & closed parts combined

Obelix project continuing plans linked to competences and individual portfolios upstream and downstream learning linked to various LMS vendors

In the future Ambient content management - the holy grail of learning technologies -> wireless, broadband and mobile networks transparently delivering ubiquitios & nomadic learning services enabling rich & mobile media and skills based personalisation to support users’ personal knowledge development plans 

eContentplus Programme, a multiannual Community programme to make digital content in Europe

more accessible, usable and exploitable

Spyridon Pilos, Principal Administrator, European Commission, DG Information society and Media

eContent Plus - 149 Million Euros

eContent programme funding

- existing educational solutions to be used for existing learning solutions will be funded

- targeted projects should have integrated possibilities and networks between the actors

- the challenging requirements: clearly identify quality and quantity of content, no input content should be having challenges with intellectual property rights and there should be a plan for organizing the rights for the output content

- one thematic network will be funded, promote concensus, cover the majority of EU Member states including at least 3 new member states

- Please contact your national contact point http://www.eu.int/econtent