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.