Adult learning courses are by character generally directed at you, the older learner. You’re in your silver years. You’re working either part-time or you’re an active pensioner. You enjoy working your mind and interacting with others, so you’d be more than willing to enrol in a course programmed in your free-time.
Adult learning courses are also usually part of the informal circuit; an educational domain where some believe anything goes. In translation this means, somewhere there’s a self-proclaimed tutor aka expert, who’d whisk any and everything together; label it a course and charge you an arm and a leg for it.
Quality assurance
Halfway through the (first) session, you get the creepy feeling you’ve been had. Near the end you’re seriously considering demanding your money back and filing a complaint for wasting your time.
Okay. You’re right. I might be laying it on a bit thick. For not all adult learning courses are like this. And there are Adult Learning Centres that cautiously guard the quality of the courses they offer.
But I’m sure at least one or two of you would’ve recognised the scenario I’ve sketched. Quality assurance is common and even taken for granted where formal learning is concerned. Don’t you wish the same to apply to adult learning in the informal educational domain?
QUALC and a conference
I support quality assurance for learning. Be it formal, informal or non-formal. Yes, it includes adult learning. So, that’s why I agreed to manage the QUALC LinkedIn Group when Rolf Reinhardt approached me. By the way, just in case you’re wondering, QUALC stands for QU in Adult Learning Centres.
And I’m happy to announce that on Thursday December 17, 2009 we’ll be holding our first Trans-National Conference.
QUALC and you
The QUALC project has been going on for the past 2 years, researching adult learning within the framework of a lifelong learning process. In this first conference we’ll discuss the project results in a three-way fashion: national workshops, a Second Life seminar and a round-table in Brussels, Belgium.
There are several European countries partaking in this all-in-one online collaboration: the United Kingdom, Romania, Italy, Germany and Sweden. But above all, we want you (the adult learner) to participate and voice your views and experiences.
Tell us want you want
Engage in the discussions the way that suits you most:
Live chat - You can follow the conference by live-stream on the QUALC website and on the adult learning NING. On the NING, you can chat live with the round-table team.
Tweets - During the conference, you can also follow us on Twitter and give your comments. Tweet using the hash tag #qualc.
Second Life - All interested in attending the Second Life seminar, can register at info@efquel.org. Registration closes on Wednesday, December 16 at 12:00 hrs CET.
More information
Rolf Reinhardt, rolf.reinhardt@efquel.org.
Please, do join us and tell us what you want.
— This was posted by Evita Martina, today’s guest blogger.
Her weblog Ivichie Says features pieces on older learners, E-Learning and such.
Friday 11 December 2009
Thursday 10 December 2009
Inclusiveness through innovation: The first mixed reality conference on quality in adult learning
On the 17th of December 2009, five national workshops from all over Europe and one virtual seminar in Second Life will be facilitated by a Roundtable in Brussels. Participants will be following via live stream, Twitter and chat. The 1st Trans-National Distance Conference on Quality in Adult Learning 2009 is crossing barriers: Adult learners have the possibility to discuss their needs directly with representatives of Adult Learning Centers and leading networks of Europe which are representing the policy dimension.
What is quality in adult learning? In two years of research and piloting, the QUALC project partnership has developed a toolset of methods and criteria which will be presented for the first time to a broad public audience during the 1st Trans-National Distance Conference on Quality in Adult Learning 2009. Educational scientists and practitioners have worked hand in hand to develop a quality approach to meet the special needs of adult learners. According to Mariarosa Di Nubila, project manager of QUALC, quality is a continuous process of sharing, participating and improving among all the actors which are involved in the learning activities.
The QUALC partnership identified the main responsible stakeholders in the lifelong learning process: the learner, the organization and the community. For each of them, the QUALC group drafted a catalogue of quality criteria and tested them in different European countries. Among the Adult Learning Centres of the piloting group were famous ones like NIACE in the UK and CFL Söderhamn in Sweden – but Adult Learning Centres in Italy, France, Germany and Romania were also involved in the testing period.
The 1st Trans-National Distance Conference on Quality in Adult Learning 2009 is the final event of the QUALC project, which was funded by the European Commission. The results of the QUALC project will be discussed in this conference by national workshops, by a Second Life seminar and by a round table in Brussels. In this way, many important actors in the adult learning process have the possibility to contribute their perspectives, experiences and expertise.
Tim Casswell, a Vice-President of the Union of International Associations (UIA) is facilitating the day and the discussions of the roundtable. Gina Ebner, Secretary General of the European Association for Education of Adults (EAEA), Hans-Detlev Küller from the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) and Evita Martina, webhead and adult learning blogger, are collating and d iscussing the statements of the national workshops, the Second Life seminar and live chat participants. The1st Trans-National Distance Conference on Quality in Adult Learning 200 9 is chaired by Claudio Dondi, President of SCIENTER.
Rolf Reinhardt, Executive Manager of the European Foundation for Quality in E-Learning (EFQUEL), who is hosting the event in the headquarter in Brussels, is convinced: “The 1st Trans-National Distance Conference on Quality in Adult Learning 2009 will set a benchmark for how conferences of the future might look like. The potential of recently developed technologies is offering possibilities which are very important for a consensus building process between different stakeholders in different European countries.”
Practical information for participants:
The event will be streamed on the QUALC website and on the adult learning NING http://adult-learning.ning.com of the QUALC partnership. At the NING, everybody has the possibility to directly communicate with the Roundtable and the conference team within a live chat.
Everybody who is interested in participating in the Second Life seminar, should register at info@efquel.org until the 16th of December at 12:00 o’clock CET.
What is quality in adult learning? In two years of research and piloting, the QUALC project partnership has developed a toolset of methods and criteria which will be presented for the first time to a broad public audience during the 1st Trans-National Distance Conference on Quality in Adult Learning 2009. Educational scientists and practitioners have worked hand in hand to develop a quality approach to meet the special needs of adult learners. According to Mariarosa Di Nubila, project manager of QUALC, quality is a continuous process of sharing, participating and improving among all the actors which are involved in the learning activities.
The QUALC partnership identified the main responsible stakeholders in the lifelong learning process: the learner, the organization and the community. For each of them, the QUALC group drafted a catalogue of quality criteria and tested them in different European countries. Among the Adult Learning Centres of the piloting group were famous ones like NIACE in the UK and CFL Söderhamn in Sweden – but Adult Learning Centres in Italy, France, Germany and Romania were also involved in the testing period.
The 1st Trans-National Distance Conference on Quality in Adult Learning 2009 is the final event of the QUALC project, which was funded by the European Commission. The results of the QUALC project will be discussed in this conference by national workshops, by a Second Life seminar and by a round table in Brussels. In this way, many important actors in the adult learning process have the possibility to contribute their perspectives, experiences and expertise.
Tim Casswell, a Vice-President of the Union of International Associations (UIA) is facilitating the day and the discussions of the roundtable. Gina Ebner, Secretary General of the European Association for Education of Adults (EAEA), Hans-Detlev Küller from the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) and Evita Martina, webhead and adult learning blogger, are collating and d iscussing the statements of the national workshops, the Second Life seminar and live chat participants. The1st Trans-National Distance Conference on Quality in Adult Learning 200 9 is chaired by Claudio Dondi, President of SCIENTER.
Rolf Reinhardt, Executive Manager of the European Foundation for Quality in E-Learning (EFQUEL), who is hosting the event in the headquarter in Brussels, is convinced: “The 1st Trans-National Distance Conference on Quality in Adult Learning 2009 will set a benchmark for how conferences of the future might look like. The potential of recently developed technologies is offering possibilities which are very important for a consensus building process between different stakeholders in different European countries.”
Practical information for participants:
The event will be streamed on the QUALC website and on the adult learning NING http://adult-learning.ning.com of the QUALC partnership. At the NING, everybody has the possibility to directly communicate with the Roundtable and the conference team within a live chat.
Everybody who is interested in participating in the Second Life seminar, should register at info@efquel.org until the 16th of December at 12:00 o’clock CET.
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