EUNIS - European University Information Systems

The European Commission has announced a sharpened set of priorities for European Education and Training 2020 (ET2020). The new six priorities are the following:

1. Relevant and high-quality skills and competences for employability, innovation, active citizenship;

2. Inclusive education, equality, non-discrimination, civic competences;

3. Open and innovative education and training, including by fully embracing the digital era;

4. Strong support for educators;

5. Transparency and recognition of skills and qualifications;

6. Sustainable investment, performance and efficiency of education and training systems.

In order to identify the new ET 2020 priorities, a mid-term stocktaking was conducted, by means of an independent evaluation, national reports, and in-depth consultations with senior officials from national governments, European social partners and education and training stakeholders.

The stocktaking was rounded-up by a dedicated policy debate at the Education Council of 18 May 2015.

The conclusions of the mid-term stocktaking are reflected in the draft ET 2020 Joint Report, presented by the European Commission on the 8th of September. This draft Joint Report is now transmitted to the Council where it is expected to be adopted later this year.

The Commonwealth of Learning (COL) launched the new Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) for Development portal.

MOOCs when combined with Open and Distance Learning methods present unprecedented opportunities in sustainable development. COL emphasizes MOOC platforms that provide a good learning experience at low bandwidth and offline where necessary.

Read more here

Reflections on learning & teaching sessions at EUNIS 2015

This year’s EUNIS Congress star blogger is Salman Usman of Kingston University, London, UK. Salman has provided an excellent series of blog posts sharing his thoughts on the conference in general and especially the learning and teaching strand. You can find all of Salman’s posts on the UCISA blog:

The first blog post is on the theme of assessment and feedback covering the ELTF workshop.

The second blog post is on the theme of learning technologies and tools.

The third post is on the theme of  technology-facilitated pedagogy.

The fourth post shares reflections on different aspects of the conference.

If any other delegates have blog posts to share please let us know.

The rapid rise of massive open online courses (MOOCs) has renewed interest in the broader spectrum of open online teaching and learning. This “renaissance” has highlighted the challenges and potential associated to the design of such educational environments.

Arguably, the accelerated expansion of open online education creates risks for pedagogical quality and the learner experience. We are witnessing a wealth of different approaches to the delivery, pedagogy, functionalities and support mechanisms for Open Online Learning. Some have these have been successful and others not so successful and consequently we find a pressing need to articulate, share and critique design knowledge in this field.

The papers in this issue respond to this challenge in a variety of ways. Read the eLearning Papers issue no 42 here

eLearning Papers is a digital publication on eLearning by openeducationeuropa.eu, a portal created by the European Commission to promote the use of ICT in education and training.

Dear Colleague,

Please note –  the call for papers for EUNIS 2015 Congress has now closed and as we are now in the process of reviewing papers, we are unable to accept any further updates to papers or new submissions.

The EUNIS 2015 Congress Scientific Committee sincerely thank all those who have submitted abstracts/papers for EUNIS 2015 Congress and advise that notification to authors of accepted papers will follow shortly.

EUNIS 2015 Congress Organising Committee