A New Year of #EDENchat

As the new year begins, I want to draw your attention to the new season of #EDENchat Twitter sessions we have planned.

In each one hour session, we discuss a topic related to technology supported learning, distance education or innovative approaches to education.

The chats cover all sectors of education and the discussion is global, drawing participants from all corners of the world.

Each #EDENchat is moderated and the archives are made available as Storified content on the EDEN website. All sessions are between 8-9pm (GMT) on the dates shown.

13 January: Openness in research. Moderated by Antonella Poce
27 January: Free content, free education? Moderated by Steve Wheeler
10 February: Critical thinking and technology. Moderated by Antonella Poce
24 February: Rhizomatic learning. Moderated by Steve Wheeler
9 March: Open Education Consortium Special - How open can we be? Moderator TBC
23 March: Emerging learning environments - what do we need to know? Moderator TBC
6 April: Theme and moderator TBC
20 April: Theme and moderator TBC
14 June: EDEN Conference Special - Live from Budapest
16 June: EDEN Conference Special - reflecting on the keynote speeches


More dates will also be announced in the future. Please consider joining us in this new year for some lively and thought provoking chats.

Photo by Chiltepinster on Wikimedia Commons


A New Year of #EDENchats by Steve Wheeler was written in Plymouth, England and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

New learning environments

Our final #EDENchat of 2015 focused on new learning environments, namely MOOCs, flipped classrooms and blended learning methods. It was one of the busiest we have seen, and the archive of the conversation can be viewed here. Those who participated shared their experiences of MOOCs and flipped learning both as teachers and as learners. One of the key discussion points was around the nature of these approaches and their effectiveness as learning environments. Some debated the merits of MOOCs, high attrition rates and the legitimacy of participating without completing a course. An inevitable comparison was made between the earlier cMOOCs (which were largely connectivist and student centred in their ethos) and the later xMOOCs (which are more commercially oriented and arguably less student centred). The merits and limitations of these are debated in finer detail here.

Other issues were raised around student motivation and the impetus required to sustain focus when away from tutors/parent institution. There were calls to provide students with incentive to persist in their studies through enhanced forms of interaction (with content, other students and teachers) and more authentic learning and assessment activities. Some raised the issue of lurking and peripheral participation, but the point was also made that wherever there are open and free events, we will find those who lurk in the background.

The final question asked whether new learning environments such as MOOCs, flipped classes and blended learning represented a new or emerging pedagogy. Opinion was divided on this, but what do you think? You views are welcome in the comments box below.

Generally the Twitter timeline was fast moving and thought provoking. We plan to continue to momentum of this chat series and have already started putting together a programme of #EDENchat sessions for 2016. The dates and topics will be announced on this blog and on the EDEN website soon.

Photo by Mark Brannan on Flickr

NB: #EDENchat is supported by the European Distance and E-learning Network


New learning environments by Steve Wheeler was written in Plymouth, England and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Networks are everything

We live in a highly connected world. Networked learning is vital for learning today. Creating a social web around you, and being able to connect with others in your profession is vital for the world of work too. In fact networks are everything. These views were expressed during an interview I recorded during the Barcelona EDEN conference with Maarten de Laat. Maarten is a professor at the Open University of the Netherlands, and is highly active in the field of networked learning. He had some very interesting and thought provoking things to say about the significance of networks and how they are changing learning today.



Video courtesy of the European Distance and E-Learning Network (EDEN)


Networks are everything by Steve Wheeler was written in Plymouth, England and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

#EDENChat returns

Last year, as the newly elected chair of EDEN's Network of Academics and Professionals, I launched a new Twitter chat called #EDENChat. It ran for ten sessions lasting an hour each, over a period of several months, and we discussed a wide range of subjects such as the future of distance education, embedding technology into education and digital literacies. The sessions were moderated my NAP committee members, and were open for anyone to participate and engage in discussion. An archive of all ten previous #EDENChats has been created on Storify and can be found here.

It's our wish to continue this dialogue and develop #EDENChat, so as of tomorrow, it will return, and in the run up to the EDEN summer conference Expanding Learning Scenarios (our 20th Anniversary, in Barcelona), we will discuss some of the themes of the event, culminating in several live chats direct from the conference itself. Watch this space for further announcements about those, but for now, here's the schedule:

April 8: Openness in education: What does it mean to you? (20.00 CET)
April 22: What is the impact of mobile learning? (20.00 CET)
May 6: MOOCs and online learning: How will they shape the future of education? (20.00 CET)
May 20: What are your experiences of personal learning? (20.00 CET)
June 10: Live from the EDEN Barcelona Conference (various times to be announced)
June 11: Live from the EDEN Barcelona Conference (various times to be announced)
June 17: What next for EDEN? (Post conference discussion) (20.00 CET)

All times are in Central European time (one hour ahead of British Summer Time BST). Other dates will be announced for the remainder of 2015 in due course.

Please join us for an hour of informal discussion on the above topics, and do share this news with anyone you think might be interested! We look forward to hearing your views on #EDENChat!

Photo by Ed Yourdon on Flickr


#EDENChat returns by Steve Wheeler was written in Plymouth, England is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.