ICDE

CSEDU has become a an annual meeting plece for presenting and discussing learning paradigms, best practices, and case studies that concern innovative computer-supported learning strategies, web-based distace learning, e-learning technology-enhanced learning, and instituional policies on computer-based learning. CSEDU 2018 provided an overview of the state of the art in all these areas, oulined upcoming trends, and promoted discussions about the educational potential of new learning technologies in the academic and corportaded worlds. 

The conference was comlemented with  two Special Sessions entitled: Analytics in Educational Environments -A2E chaired by Ana Azevedo (Portugal), Blended Learning and quality Enhancement BLQE 2018, chaired by Ebba Ossiannilsson, Sweden.

BLQE 2018, Special Session on Blended Learning and Quality Enhancement, Chair Ebba Ossiannilsson

Ebba Ossiannilsson 
The Swedish Association for Distance Education (SADE), Sweden

The presentation was based on the ICDE Insight Paper which I authored on behalf ICDE

The full report can be downloaded here

The Blogpost The Blended learning ecosystem: Taking control and orchaestrating learning pathways at ICDE Blog can be found here

Blended learning embraces personal quality learning. This widely recognized and personalizable method engages, facilitates, and supports learning. UNESCO and the Commonwealth of Learning emphasize this approach, as it makes learning more flexible and convenient. This will help students be part of a global digital society The blended learning model requires changes in the roles of teachers and learners. These changes are accompanied by shifts in ownership and empowerment, where learners become prosumers and orchestrate their own learning regarding time, place, setting, path, and pace. Blended learning involves people as learners, teachers, administrators, technicians, leaders, and managers with a variety of aspirations and ambitions. Clearly, there is a renewed focus on quality, and the blended learning approach is worthy of consideration.

For the quality enhancement discussion the presentation was mainly based on the ICDE research reportby Ossiannilsson, Williams, Camilleri, and Brown , (2015).

At the Special Session BLQE two other presentations were presented as well (six submissions were recieved, and three were accepted after blind paper reviews.  The two others were the EU funded projects the Technical Innovation in Blended Learning-Concepts for the Creation of High Quality Continuous Vocational Education Courses using Multipe Devices (TIBL), by Mazohl, Ossiannilsson, and Maki (2017), and  the Virtual Teachers Toolbox-An Innovatie Tool to Assist the Creation of High Quality Open Distance Learning Courses, (VTT_BOX), by Mazohl, Ossiannilsson, Maki, Ampartzaki, and Kalogiannkis (2017).

The Creation of High Quality Continuous Vocational Education Courses using Multipe Devices (TIBL), by Mazohl, Ossiannilsson, and Maki (2017)

 the Virtual Teachers Toolbox-An Innovatie Tool to Assist the Creation of High Quality Open Distance Learning Courses, (VTT_BOX), by Mazohl, Ossiannilsson, Maki, Ampartzaki, and Kalogiannkis (2017).

 The following conference themes wer covered during th  conference

1. Information technologies supporting learning
2. Artificial intelligence in education
3. Learning /teaching methodologies and assessment
4. Social context and learning environents
5. Domain applicstions and case studies
6. Ubiquiotous learning

The CSEDU2018 recieved193 paper submissions from 44 countries, of which 23% were accepted,as full papers. To evaluate each
submission, a  double blind paper reviiew was performed  by the Program Committee, whose members are all highly qualified independent resaercherss in the CSEDU topic areas. I am myself happy and proud to be in the Program Committee. 

The confernce were sponsored by INSTICC, and technically co-sponsored by IEEE Portugal Setion in cooperation with ACM SIGMIS_ACM, ACM SIGITE-ACM, SADE, ASEE, and ATIEF.

CSEDU2019 will be hosted in Greece, Creete 2-4 May 2019

The Elephant in the room

The most important insights I took away from the summit concern the elephant in the room or the attacking elephant.
The natural human response to an encounter with an elephant is fight, flight, or freeze; what should we do? Another insight was the discussion on ontological and epistemological development for open education and ethical leadership in the era of AI. See also my LinkedIn post from after the conference beginning of June 2024 

I was involved in several events myself

• ICDE Board meeting Strategy plan 2025-2028
• Panel Moderator at the session on AI creating knowledge (s), teaching and learning
• Chair and presenter of the ICDE OERAC WORKSHOP on Navigating the Future: Ethical AI Leadership in Open Education and Inclusive OER Learning
• Quality review on behalf of ICDE at University Terbula Indonesia, 2016, 2019 and now 2023. During the ICDELS24 in Geneva U Terbuak was awarded  the certificate of completion 
• Launch of the ICDE TIN Technology Innovation Network
• ICDE Global Advocacy Campaign
• ICDE Launch of the TIN, Technology Innovation Network
• Dissemination of Call for articles in Sustainability Special Issue on Sustainable Education in the Age of Artificial Intelligence (AI)
  
  

The OER Advocacy Committee (OERAC)participated and hosted a Symposium on the mandate and work by the ICDE OER advocacy committee (Panel), at the ICDE LLLS2019 in Lillehammer, Norway. The Symposium was held 12 February 2019. see the slides here. 

The theme for the ICDE and INN Lifelong Learning Summit 2019 #lifelonglearning2019 was Lifelong learning for lifelong employability. The conference which was held in Lillehammer, Norway 11-13 February 2019, gathered some 350 + delegates from 37 countries.

Background: The speed of digitalization is constantly challenging and affecting the ways we work. These challenges require new skills and competencies which again has led to an increasing focus on and demand for lifelong learning by society. While digitalization throws up new challenges, it is also the solution to address these. Through enabling accessibility and flexible delivery of new competency training, lifelong learning can be made available to all.

Presentations and highlights are available here, and more to come. The ICDE LLLS2019 Roadmap will soon be presented elaborated during the conference and in collaboration with the delegates. Prime Minister Erna Solberg; Norway was the keynote speaker. She stressed the importance of lifelong learning for all the urgent needs for transformation change especially higher education have to take related to their role as capacity building in societies and to be an even more active stakeholder in the 21^stcentury related to their offers, services and mandate for lifelong learning for all.  This has been argued  before in several of my earlier Blog posts

Ebba Ossiannilsson, (Chair) and Jean_Marc Meunier participated and hosted a Symposium entitled, OER and OEP for access, equity, equality, quality, inclusiveness, and empowering lifelong learning. The overall topic for the Symposium was The mandate and work by the ICDE OER advocacy committee (Panel) 

The ICDE OER Advocacy Committeewhich I am leading will organize a Symposium during the ICDE Lillehammer conference on February 11-13 February 2019 on OER, and OEP for access, equity, equality, quality, inclusiveness, and empowering lifelong learning(Panel), (3E).

It is well recognized that Open Educational Resources (OER) serves as a catalyst for lifelong learning (LLL), and Continuous Professional Development (CPD). OER can make significant contributions to the United Nation, UNESCO Sustainability Goals (SDG), especially number 4 on education, with its key pillars of access, equity, equality, quality, and inclusion.

The speed of digitalization is constantly challenging and affecting the ways we work. These challenges require new skills and competencies which again has led to an increasing focus on and demand for lifelong learning by society. Almost 300 delegates from 35 countries are ready to learn more, share experiences and discuss the future of lifelong learning for employability at the conference.

At the 27^th ICDE World Conference in Toronto, October 2017, ICDE launched a committee for the global advocacy of OER as a reinforcement and support to the ICDE Chairs in OER. Paul Bardack, the Chair Emeritus of the United States Distance Learning Association, serves as the first Chairperson of the Committee, that works to increase global recognition of OER; and to provide policy support for the uptake, use and reuse of OER. First I am really honored and pleased to have been appointed Ambassadors for the globaladvocacy of OER, but also to be in the core group. Looking forward to the work ahead. All members of the ICDE Advocacy Committee are appointed Ambassadors for the global advocacy of OER for a limited term until end 2019. A smaller group of the members form a core group that works more closely with the chair to facilitate the activities of the Committee and its members:

The Open Education Leadership Summit 2018 on 3-4 December 2018 in Paris, hosted by Le Conservatoire des Arts et Métiers (CNAM).

I took part in the Summit as Chair and Ambassador of the ICDE OER Advocacy Committee.  Several of us from the ICDE OER Advocacy Committee participated, and some of us traveled further to OEB18 Shaping the Future to present a Symposium on Roadmaps for Open Education Leadership.

The Open Education Leadership Summit 2018 was organized in collaboration with International Council for Open and Distance Education, ICDE, Open Education Consortium, OEC and the French Ministry for Higher Education and Research (MESR).

Over 200 delegates (mainly leaders and senior managers) from all over the globe were represented from over 55 countries during two days. The topics were on:

Setting the scene: How Open Education unveils in different regions of the world, leadership approaches.
The Open Education leadership challenges: Policy, Quality, Digitalization, Transformation and Sustaining educational offerings.
Open Education strategies for break through achievements, designing a roadmap.
How can collaboration increase impact from Open Education?
Leading Open Education - Best practice cases.
Open Education as a catalyst for innovation.
Students voice for open education.
I want to start up Open Education, what are the pathways and stepping stones.
The collaborative roadmap for achieving more. 

This week is the annual Open Education Week, OEW2109. Open education encompasses resources, tools, and practices that employ a framework of open sharing to improve educational access and effectiveness worldwide. Founded in 2013 by the Open Education Consortium, the goal of Open Education Week is to raise awareness and showcase the impact of open education on teaching and learning worldwide. Open Education Week has become one of the most foremost global events recognizing high achievement and excellence in open education. The week-long event spotlights amazing work from over a dozen categories including live, face-to-face events, webinars, projects, and resources. The Best-of-the-Best participate in Open Education Week.

 I myself contributed with two presentations, one on the 6th March on behalf of the ICDE OER Advocacy Committee on OER and the SDG4 for access, equity, equality, inclusiveness, quality, and lifelong learning and OER and the SDG4 for access, equity, equality, inclusiveness, quality, and lifelong learning. Slides on SlideShare here. The other one was on behalf of EDEN SIG TEL QE, and the theme of OER Quality Assessment and the topic  of Quality Assurance Guidelines for Open Educational Resources and the TIPS Framework

EDEN, which I am working for and in the EDEN EC, EDEN Fellow, EDEN Council of Fellows and chair of The Special Interest Group on TEL and QE, was offering 5 webinars as part of the Open Education Week:

Education 2030 – Open knowledge, skills, attitudes and values in Europe and the world – Monday, 4 March 2019, 13:00 CET
The story of the Open University in Europe and the world – Tuesday, 5 March 2019, 13:00 CET
Ongoing initiatives for Open Education in Europe – Wednesday, 6 March 2019, 13:00 CET
OER quality assessment – Thursday, 7 March 2019, 13:00 CET
Researching openness – evidence-based approach – Friday, 8 March 2019, 13:00 CET

In Mid February, more exactly 15-16 February 2018, I was invited as keynote speaker to the Regional Consultation Meeting on Quality Assurance in Higher Education for the Western European Region, The role of Quality Assurance in Higher Education: challenges, developments and trendsThe role of Quality Assurance in Higher Education: challenges, developments and trends, Geneva, CICG, organized by UNESCO, and AAQ Schwitzerland. The event was part of the Regional Consultaton Meeetings aroud teh globe.

My presentation was in the session: 

11:00-13:10 Session 1 - Quality Assurance and the Diversification of Provision in Higher Education

Ebba Ossiannilsson, Swedish Association for Distance Education, Leader of EDEN SIG for QE in TEL, ICDE Focal Points on Quality, Sweden - "Quality models in online and open education around the globe: State of the art and recommendations"

Facilitator: Padraig Walsh, Chief executive, Quality and Qualifications Ireland (QQI), Ireland; Advisory Council Member, CHEA International Quality Group

My presentation had its point of departure from the ICDE research study Global overview of quality models: State of the art and recommendations. The study was carried out on behalf of the International Council for Open and Distance Education (ICDE) by a team coordinated by the European Association for Distance Teaching Universities (EADTU) is for:

• institutional leaders responsible for quality in online, open and flexible higher education
• faculty wanting to have an overview of the field
• newcomers that want to develop quality schemes
• policy makers in governments, agencies and organisations
• major educational stakeholders in the international community  

The report provides the first global overview of quality models in online and open education, an overview which is very timely, delivered as it is for Global Education 2030, the new global educational agenda which replaces Education For All, EFA. The report is available in three parts, the Summary, the Complete report, and its Appendices.

The reflections from the Geneva Consultation Meeting, Europe exchanged on the challenges, developments and trends within Quality Assurance in Higher Education witness the great interest aroused among the 135 participants.The first positive echoes received were a great result already. The speakers’ presentations. They are now available for download on the event’s website. Some highlights are to be discovered on the photo gallery of the event.

The parallel event for the Eastern European region will be held in Moscow on 23-24 April 2018. 
> More information 

Results of the 6 regional meetings will be brought to the Unesco Global Conference on Quality Assurance in Higher Education, to be held in Paris on 21-23 November 2018.

 Contributed by: Ebba Ossiannilsson, Vice President of the Swedish Association for Distance Education, Vice President of the Swedish Association for e-competence, ICDE OER Advocacy Committee, ICDE Focal Points of Quality, ICDE_ON_BOLDIC, EDEN EC, EDEN Fellow, EDEN SIG on TEL Quality Enhancement, Open Education Europa Fellow and Ambassador.

During the 27TH ICDE World Conference, 16-19 October 2017, Toronto, Canada, ICDE  released the third installment of its ICDE Insight Papers Series.

Ebba Ossiannilsson, author of the 3rd ICDE Insight Paper on BLENDED LEARNING, STATE OF THE NATION provides an overview of what readers can expect from this publication. The report can be downloaded from here