learning technology recommendations

During a one week visit to the Philippines, Mathy Vanbuel assisted the Local Government Academy (LGA) of the Philippines in their process of evolution towards the implementation of learning, knowledge brokering/connection, knowledge exchange, and innovation technologies in their capacity building strategy. The visit consisted of a three day intensive training workshop on e-moderation, content conversion and videoconferencing, which took place at the LGA Training Centre in Los Banos. A visit to the LGA Resource Centre in Region 7 in Cebu concluded this week.

Mathy Vanbuel gave a presentation about the pedagogical framework and the approach to teacher coaching being undertaken by the EduTubePlus partners at the recent BaKaFORUM held 30 Jan – 1 Feb in Karlsruhe.

This annual event brings together educational broadcasters and others interested in educational and societal TV and Media and provided a good opportunity to find out more about what educational broadcasters around the world are up to.

The forum was made up of a mix of screenings and workshops and included many excellent examples of educational video material as well as documentaries on a several highly emotive topics like the racist attacks on migrant communities in South Africa in 2008 and people trafficking in the Ukraine.

On Thursday and Friday 14 and 15 January 2010 ATiT participated in the mid term project meeting of the European Commission Lifelong Learning Project SoRuraLL, which focuses on using information and communication technologies in rural parts of Europe, especially within the education and training domain.

Partners from Greece, Bulgaria, Spain, Belgium, Germany and Poland gathered in the excellent premises of Ellinogermaniki Agogiki to discuss the progress of development and pilots. The pilot activities are beginning now and will continue until July involving teachers in Greece, Spain and Ireland as well as learners in Germany and Bulgaria and citizens in Poland.

Mathy Vanbuel described his experience in the provision of educational services to remote schools in Europe in a keynote presentation given on 15th May during an International Conference held in Athens. This conference called "Bridging the Digital Divide in Rural Communities; Practical Solutions and Policies'' brought together project leaders of several pioneering projects many of which are using the latest developments in satellite technology to provide solutions for remote and rural school communities in Europe and elsewhere. Organised in the Ellinogermaniki School in Pallini, this event brought together policy makers, academics and field practitioners from Europe and beyond who share an interest in promoting the use of ICT by rural citizens of all ages. See the Conference web site for more information.

The LOGOFIND Project of the Department of Finance in the Philippines collaborates directly with the League of Municipalities of the Philippines (LMP) to set up and manage a distance learning service, the Distance Learning Network. The research and training arm of the LMP, the Mayors Development Centre, is charged with the effective management and operation of this DLN.
The aim of the network is firstly to maximise on previous investments in development of training materials by extending the reach of these training courses to more and other trainees within the LGUs (including their Technical and Administrative Staff), and secondly to further explore and develop new methods of training and learning, in order to evolve towards more effective, personalised, flexible and affordable learning, using innovative learning technologies and sound pedagogical approaches.
In this initial phase a small network of Distance Learning Sites is installed in hosting institutions across the Philippines (Mindanao, Visayas, Northern Luzon) in order to accommodate the courses. During the month of May 2008, Mathy Vanbuel worked with the LOGOFIND, the LMP and the World Bank Institute in order to further define the programme and to move this deployment forward.

Learn@Work is a Socrates Minerva project (2005-2008) focusing on the use of ICT to enhance the induction and continuing support for learners in the workplace. Together with Glasgow Caledonian University, Dublin Institute of Technology, Aalborg University, and The Institute for Future Studies in Innsbruck, ATiT developed pilots and models for training in companies, especially for newcomers. 

The project's main aim was to explore the synthesis between the theories, conceptual frameworks and practices of distance learning, e-learning, work based learning and work placed learning in order to provide the training community with practical examples guidance on the design and implementation of e-supported learning at work.

This State of The Art Report was edited by Marie Bijnens and Mathy Vanbuel and was published at the end of the project in 2007. It contains an overview of the theory on work-based learning and e-Learning on the work floor, and illustrates the theory with extensive descriptions of the pilot applications that were built during the project lifecycle.

More about the Learn@Work Project on the Project Website.

Together with partners from 7 different European countries ATiT launches the Re.ViCA Lifelong Learning Project that will look at virtual campus experiences across Europe. This project, chaired by Europace, will conclude in September 2009 with the publication of the Virtual Campus Manual aimed at regional, national and European political decision makers, advisors, government and administration, education authorities, e-learning industry, research community and Virtual Campus management.

Mathy Vanbuel was invited to participate in the Fe-ConE (Framework for eLearning Contents Evaluation)  conference in Vilnius (Latvia) on October 10th 2007. During the meeting Ms. Claire Belise, Mr. Graham Attwell and Dr. Minna Lakkala presented their views on intercultural issues in e-learning and e-content. Read their position papers on the eLearning Europe Portal.

During a mission in the Philippines in June 2007, Mathy Vanbuel explored and designed together with the LOGOFIND project the possibilities to further develop the present training service into a multifunctional Distance Learning Network, aimed at training local governments. The envisaged network will expand from the traditional classroom by means of telepresence and videoconferencing using blended learning, to eventually self directed and flexible personal learning within a virtual network of independent learners.

The Fortis Coaching Game is a serious game based learning tool for bank managers. This training package was designed by ATiT together with the training department of Fortis and aims to support job coaches within the bank. Its objective is to improve the work of these coaches which is the training of new employees on the work floor.