A welter of discussions, workshops and presentations followed, focusing on the accreditation, certification and internationalisation of learning followed, with subjects including open models, self evaluation, quality aspects for virtual schools, all before lunchtime. After lunch, it was business as usual with more sessions on topics such as how to integrate informal and open learning into higher education, the use of quality labels for e-learning and the benefits and limitations of academic gaming. The evening was closed off by a thought provoking keynote by Yves Punie, who address the challenges and opportunities for certification and assessment in future learning scenarios. Day one ended with a great al fresco evening in the grounds of the Palais, with live music and a short award ceremony.
My own keynote on digital learning futures started off day 2 of the forum, where I addressed some of the possible scenarios we see emerging in education, including open education practices, mobile learning, personalised learning, social media networking contexts and the use of augmented and mixed reality. As with all the sessions, there was a lively discussion, and this continued after the coffee break in other parallel sessions. I recall one brief discussion where one of the delegates, a journalist and self confessed e-learning non-expert, made the error of saying within my earshot that academic blogs were a poor substitute for peer reviewed traditional publishing. Talk about red rags and bulls. There was no blood on the carpet, but there could well have been. To say this view is misinformed would be an understatement. There are many blogs I would read in place of closed journal content. Blogging is more immediate (some traditional journals take many months to publish papers, which by then are well out of date) which also means it is timely and up to date. Blogging also enables immediate dialogue which means that readers can join in and discuss directly with the author. Blogging is also peer reviewed, but by multiple reviewers, not just two. Open and public forms of discourse need to be encouraged, not disparaged by ill-informed assumptions. This kind of debate that is the essence of what Efquel stands for, and I am grateful to have been invited to participate in this years event. My thanks go to the Efquel crew, and not least to Ulf-Daniel Ehlers, the conference chair, for allowing me to join in with a very memorable and inspirational event.
Grand residence by
Steve Wheeler is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
Wayne Mackintosh's world vision of free learning for all is one that is shared by countless educators around the world. We all want to see quality learning provided, especially to the populations of the less well-off nations of the world. The difference though, is that he's going to make it happen. Born in South Africa, and now working in New Zealand, Wayne Mackintosh is chair of the WikiEducator Community Council, and is a strategy innovator with a passion for making learning futures happen. Trained as an accountant, he is in his own words, 'an educator by choice.' He has more than a passion. He also has the pragmatic wherewithal to realise his dream, cultivating many connections and in the process, helping to establish a powerful worldwide consortium of Open Education Anchor partners. These are universities across the globe who are willing to open up their courses and programmes to any learner for free. What's more, they have also agreed to provide free accreditation of learning in the form of degrees.
Speaking at the opening plenary of the Efquel Innovation Forum in Oeiras, Portugal, Wayne asked the delegates: Why do we ask people to pay more than they can afford for education? This is of course an important question to ask, even if it is unpalatable to many in the higher education sector. It's one that many institutions worldwide would be wise to begin asking themselves. Wayne didn't pull any punches in his keynote. Citing Sir John Daniel's iron triangle, he argued that the biggest challenge for free open worldwide education is to lower the cost while widening access and raising quality. We WILL provide free education for all, he declared. This will be done by creating a growing network of partners who have enough influence and reach to create the critical mass with which the Open Educational Resources movement will gain purchase. Recognition of prior learning, whether credentialed or experiential, will be a key part of the success in achieving this vision, he said. His key question was that we already have all the ingredients to provide free learning for all at university level, so why aren't we doing it?
There is a long way to go to achieve this vision, but Wayne warned that those who do not subscribe will be left behind. It is a red herring question, he assured us, to ask whether providing free and open education for all will put universities our of business and lose teachers their jobs. Another red herring, he suggested, was that open educational resources were poorer in quality than the traditional course delivery currently offered by most universities. If the quality is poorer, he remarked, then the institution is unlikely to risk its reputation by offering it.
Image sourceWayne's world by
Steve Wheeler is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
