conference

The annual assembly and conference of the European Society for the Systemic Innovation of Education (ESSIE)  took place on 27 May in Leuven and attracted about 100 researchers from different parts of Europe. Peter Sloep from the Open University, the Netherlands set the tone for the day in his inspiring keynote presentation entitled 'Networked Learning, a Paradigm Shift'. A presentation from ATiT which elaborated on the role of educational media in general and video in particular in the new digital culture described ways in which video can contribute to innovative learning practices. This was also an opportunity to promote  various initiatives where educational media is nurtured and supported including the MEDEA Awards and the Media & Learning community.

The second Media & Learning 2011 Conference website is now online with more information about this year's event. The aim of this conference is to bring together people interested in the take up of media in support of learning across all sectors, to discuss future trends and developments in media-supported learning, to share experience in how best to promote digital and media production skills and competences including media literacy, and to debate the best way to use and re-use existing media resources in education and training at all levels.

If you would like to contribute to the conference programme with a presentation, workshop or demonstration, the deadline for receipt of contributions is 1 June 2011. Visit the website to find out more.

If you want to get a sense of what the conference offered in 2010, you can view the photographs, videos, programme and discussions of last year’s conference in a flashback of Media & Learning 2010.

The dates for the next Media & Learning Brussels 2011 Conference were announced today and this conference will take place on 24-25 November in the Flemish Ministry of Education & Training Headquarters in Brussels. The annual awards ceremony for the MEDEA Awards will take place during Media & Learning on 24 November.

Aimed at policy-makers and practitioners, Media & Learning 2011 will bring together people interested in the take up of media in support of learning across all sectors, media literacy and the re-use of media based resources in education and training as well as broader issues related to ICT skills and digital competence generally.

More information including the public call for input will be available from the Media & Learning website shortly. The deadline for receipt of ideas for the agenda is 1 June 2011.

Over 220 people from 31 countries are taking part this week in the Media & Learning conference organised in collaboration with the Flemish Ministry of Education and Training. This conference combines presentations, discussions, demonstrations and workshops and includes the MEDEA Awards Ceremony where the winners of this year's MEDEA competition will be announced.

Online discussions have already started and are open to the public and you can follow many of the presentation sessions live online from 09.30 on Thursday 25 November until 17.00 on Friday 26 November. Conference themes include the role media can play in supporting learning at all levels, media literacy and the use of media-based learning resources.

People who have registered are already using the online conference community to extend their network and to manage their participation in this event and its related community of practice.

The programme for the Social Applications for Lifelong Learning (SALL) conference taking place on 4-5 November in Patras, Greece is now online.

This conference will feature the outputs of two European projects, SoRurall (Rural Social Networking for Lifelong Learning) and SimSafety ("Flight Simulator" for Internet Safety).

The programme will include a presentation from Sally Reynolds on matching the communication needs of rural learners to Web 2.0 tools and services as well as a presentation about the experience of using social networking tools in Irish rural schools to be given by Jim O'Sullivan and Cara Roche. 

Registration for this conference is open, for more information visit the conference website.

9 finalists for the annual MEDEA Awards were announced by the MEDEA Secretariat on 4 October and are (in alphabetical order): BBC News School Report by BBC (UK), Bla Bla Bla e-democracy e minori by Civil Life Lab (Italy), Et si c'était toi by Lycée Technique du Centre (Luxembourg), Evolution of life by CNDP (France), Level 7 by Careersbox (UK), Monkey Labs by Die Keure/Larian Studios (Belgium), Pocket Anatomy by eMedia Interactive (Ireland), Theorem of Fire by Nafta Films (Estonia) and The Classroom by Cornerhouse (UK). 

The overall winner will be announced during the MEDEA Awards Ceremony which takes place on Thursday 25 November during the Media & Learning Conference in Brussels.This year the competition attracted 140 entries from 31 countries and for the first time, those entering could chose between submitting their entry as a production made by a professional company or semi-professional production unit or as one made by teachers, students, learners, parents, professors, individual or organisational representatives in primary education, secondary education, higher education, adult education, vocational education and/or training. This means that this year as well as the overall MEDEA Prize, there will also be a prize for the highest scoring entry in each of these two categories. There will also be a special prize, the European Collaboration Prize which is supported by the European Commission’s Lifelong Learning Programme. Prizes are sponsored by Adobe, Smart and AVID.

The finalists were chosen by a jury made up of 74 education and media experts from 26 countries who evaluated the MEDEA entries during August and September. All finalists will attend the Awards Ceremony on Thursday, 25 November which is a highlight of the Media & Learning conference and presentations by each of the finalists will be included in the conference programme.  

The European network that has been building up around the annual MEDEA awards was further expanded during the 13th annual ICL conference held in Hasselt from 15-17 September when Sally Reynolds presented MEDEA. During her presentation, Sally described the way in which the competition operates and the type of entries it attracts.This presentation included a discussion about the selection criteria used in the judging process and highlighted the growing level of interest in the use of media in teaching and learning. It also included samples of entries from previous years. More information about MEDEA is available from this website.

The Media & Learning Conference Brussels 2010 on 25 and 26 November 2010 addresses how new media can contribute to improve learning.  Media literacy and digital fluency are amongst the most important skills young people can learn in order to find, use and create accurate information to become the creative citizens of a future society. But how can educators be sure that learners are learning better thanks to media?

During this conference practitioners, experts and researchers will discuss how learners handle video and audio in a meaningful and thoughtful manner to support their learning, how media repositories complement existing teaching and learning materials effectively, how young people learn by creating their own media and how ICT can enhance the teaching and learning process. The programme for the conference is now finalised and available online and it will be supported by an online discussion to facilitate networking and exchange of ideas before, during and after the conference within the Media & Learning community of practice.

The MEDEA Awards Ceremony takes place on Thursday 25th November alongside the Media & Learning Conference, where the winners of this year’s awards will be announced. More information from the conference website.

The ALT (Association for Learning Technology) conference took place this year from 7-9 September in Nottingham, UK and attracted over 500 people to what is probably one of Europe's leading academic conferences on educational techology attracting more and more participants and members from non-UK organisations.

ALT this year offered a terrific mix of provocative presentations, really stimulating discussions and workshop sessions and a rich mix of networking opportunities. Despite the general atmosphere of doom and gloom in the UK Higher Education sector, ALT-C was awash with new initiatives, innovative developments and a great sense that education technology held the key to many of the challenges facing universities.

Sally Reynolds was there to highlight the MEDEA Awards and the Media & Learning Brussels 2010 conference as well as to promote the Media in Education Newsletter. She was also there to explore opportunities for collaboration particularly in relation to the use of media in teaching and learning. Interest in the use of video is high within the ALT community where a new Video in Teaching & Learning special interest group was launched this year. This year the ALT conference also included the Epigeum video awards, now into its third year.