The Interim report Promoting online training opportunities for the workforce in Europe (2017-2019) was published 30 October 2018. The report of this new European initiative has been prepared for the Executive Agency for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (EASME) and the Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs (DG GROW) of the European Commission.

The work was carried out by PwC, EDEN (the European Distance and E-learning Network) and Espace Mendès France, together with an expert group. I have been involved as an expert and evaluator in the project, which is a very interesting and promising initiative. The report gives a deep overview of the field and addresses a number of recommendations.

Based on extensive desk-research, in-depth interviews with stakeholders and policymakers, two expert workshops and an online survey disseminated among practitioners and industry professionals all over Europe, the main barriers for European SMEs to adopt new online solutions were identified. The most prominent barriers proved to be related to a general lack of enterprise learning strategy, as well as a lack of awareness of relevant online training solutions by employers and employees. The key measures at the EU and national levels that were suggested for tackling the abovementioned barriers refer to developing better coordination and mechanisms that would offer information on the opportunities and benefits of online training solutions for SMEs, good practice examples, as well as an opportunity to share experiences with trusted third parties and peers. It is also necessary to strengthen communities of practice for enterprises engaged or considering engaging in online training, where good practices and experiences can be exchanged by enterprises themselves.

One of the key conclusions is that existing policies and programmes have been mainly supply-oriented and mostly led by the academic sector, while there is now a clear need for more demand-based and industry-led initiatives. The latter implies initiatives aiming at providing enterprises and SMEs with much better solutions, information, and guidance and at increasing their interest, benefits, and motivation to use new and relevant online training platforms.

Read the full report here

This year EDEN was proudly hosting the third year of the European Distance Learning Week (EDLW) in cooperation with the United States Distance Learning Association (USDLA), which was holding its National Distance Learning Week (NDLW) in parallel with the EDEN event. During EDLW, daily online webinars and panel sessions of expert scholars and practitioners were presented with a variety of cutting-edge open and online learning topics, from innovations in design to open educational research. For NDLW events, see the USDLA web page: https://www.usdla.org/2018-ndlw-2018/

Each day during the EDLW, a webinar was presented with interesting themes and professional presenters. See the themes and the recordings as below. I myself hosted a webinar on the 8 November 2018 on Considerations for Quality Assurance of e-Learning Provision. In addition, I moderated and presented myself. The webinar was in three parts. 

Ebba Ossiannilsson, EDEN Executive Committee Member, EDEN Fellow Council Member, Chair of the EDEN Special Interest Group on Technology Enabled Learning and Quality Enhancement presented on EDEN Special Interest Group on Technology Enabled Learning and Quality Enhancement.

Esther Huertas Hidalgo, AQU Catalunya, Spain, The European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ENQA) presented the ENQA Considerations for Quality Assurance of e-Learning Provision, and the TeSLA project on e-assessment.

The webinar had some 50 registered participants and it was a lively discussion on quality considerations and how EDEN can contribute both internal and external to the changing quality agenda in the changing learning landscape in the 21st century and how the use of TEL can facilitate and promote educational access, equity, and quality around the world, which are the Sustainability Goals related to education (SDG4). The ENQA Quality considerations are based on the ENQA European Standards and Guidelines and the European Association of Distance Teaching University (EADTU) Excellence Associates in Quality and the SEQUENT (Supporting Quality in E-learning European Networks) project.

UNESCO har skickat ett förslag till alla länders regeringar angående rekommendationer om implementering för Open Educational Resources (OER). Regeringskansliet i Sverige har också erhålleit den och har därför nu gått ut till berörda för att  få synpunkter. Jag är stolt och hedrad att direkt från Regeringskansliet blivit tillfrågad att yttra mig. Jag leder ICDEs OER Advocacy Committé  och därigenom har vi bidragit till de skrivningar som nu föreligger i förslaget.

Från Regeringskansliet står det bl.a. i förfrågan:

Det politiska intresset från både denna och förra regeringen har dessvärre varit ganska svagt vad gäller OER.

OER är oftat licensierade med Creative Commons (CC) och definieras av UNESCO så här

Open Educational Resources (OER) are teaching, learning and research materials in any medium – digital or otherwise – that reside in the public domain or have been released under an open license that permits no-cost access, use, adaptation and redistribution by others with no or limited restrictions.

Förslaget kommer efter flera års diskussioner inom UNESCO om behovet av  rekommendationer för OER. UNESCOs generalkonferens beslutade hösten 2017 att det finns ett behov

...to reinforce international collaboration in the field of Open Educational Resources (OER)” och att “a recommendation could be an essential tool to strengthen the implementation of national and international legislation, policies and strategies in this field, as well as to enhance international cooperation on the use of Open Educational Resources (OER) in support of Sustainable Development Goal 4 ‘Education’”.

Förslaget om rekommendationer om OER kommer att behandlas på Unescos generalkonferens 2019.

I enlighet med Unescos stadgar måste en preliminär rapport och ett förslag på rekommendation skickas till samtliga medlemsländer med möjlighet för synpunkter i god tid innan en rekommendation kan antas. 

En rekommendation riktar sig till medlemsländerna och är ett uttryck för gemensamma ståndpunkter i en viss fråga och en uppmaning att genomföra vad som framförs i rekommendationen. Samtliga medlemsländer ska sedan rapportera om genomförandet av en rekommendation vart fjärde år till Unesco.

Jag ska lämna synpunkter på rekommendationen senast den 30 november. Sedan kommer Regeringskansliet att sammanställa samtliga inkomna synpunkter och bereda dessa innan Sveriges synpunkter skickas till Unesco i januari.

Regeringen har gett Universitets-och Högskolerådet (UHR) i uppdrag att planera för en utlysning av medel till projekt som utvecklar distansutbildningen vid universitet, högskolor och yrkeshögskoleutbildningar. Avsikten är att totalt 40 miljoner kronor ska fördelas under åren 2019–2020. UHR har därför kallat berörda parter till informationsmöte den 14 november i Stockholm. Bland de berörda partnerna har Svenska Riksorganisationen SVERD erbjudits plats (enbart 25 platser finns för hearingen). Jag som V Ordförande representerar SVERD. Ser verkligen fram emot att deltaga i Stockholm på UHR nästa vecka den 14 november och diskutera dessa viktiga frågor.

Frågor som kommer att diskuteras är tex :
– Vilka är de viktigaste utvecklingsfrågorna kring distansutbildning inom din organisation idag?
– Vilka utvecklingsområden bör projekten koncentrera sig på för att ta utvecklingen av distansutbildning ett steg längre än idag?
– Hur ser du på avvägningen mellan projekt som utvecklar nya kunskaper och projekt som främst utvecklar den egna organisationen?
– Vilka faktorer ska utlysningen efterfråga från de sökande organisationerna för att säkerställa urvalet?
– Hur ser du på kunskapsspridningen från projekten?
Läs mer här:

The EU Projcet VTT-Box  is already halfways, and the interimreport will be handed in this month (October, 2018). The Project partners have carried out agreed work and pilotcourses are in place. In addition two meetings have been hold: Kick Off meeting (October, 2017; Wiener Neustads, AT, and Teacher training (February, 2018 Tenerife, ES), and a fortcoming one (October, 2018 in Latina, IT. Read more about the project here

The project aims to create a special virtual toolbox for teachers as a sophisticated tool for developing Open Online Distance Learning (OODL) courses which means open, online, flexible and technology enhanced education (OOFAT). The mixture of of the partners ensures the necessary competences, values, skills and knowledge for developing an innovative approach to OODL. This project uses a strategic cooperation between formal and non-formal/informal educational providers using ICT based teaching and the enhancement of digital integration in learning. It will be enhancing teachers’ professional development and support students‘ acquisition of values, skills and competences.

The project started October 1, 2017 and will be finished in September 2019. Approximately 1420 students, teachers, decision makers, researchers and other stakeholders will be impacted by the project.