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Further information can be looked up on the list page

www.vetnet-list.wifo-gate.org, including details of the list membership.

From you personal page, you can start searching for members from you own countries or with similar interests by clicking on the link at your profile. You can also send members with whom you are friends messages through the platform.

On your profile page you can also set up groups, forums, or events. It is not mandatory to create them in English, we are also happy to host groups and discussion forums in every other language. Events are any kind of events related to the topic of VET trainers e. g. workshop, conferences, professional development courses. You don’t need to be affiliated with a certain event. Instead we kindly ask you to share the information about upcoming events you find interesting.

If you are interested in discussing a topic that is related to the issues adressed in the network, you can set up a group or a discussion forum and invite people to join it. The difference between a discussion forum and a group is simple: The discussion forum is like any other discussion forum you already know from the net, whereas the group enables you to upload documents you want to share with group members. Sometimes it makes sense to create both of it for one topic otherwise your group might be suffering from information overload.

Again, English is not mandatory neither for the forum or the groups. We just ask you to stick to the topic.

Enjoy the platform!

Introduction to the network

We are very proud to say that it was a huge success. That is what you get when you combine an interesting, yet diverse audience with inspiring speakers. The discussions were very interesting and relevant.All this would not have been possible without everyone’s participation and cooperation.

For that we THANK YOU!

Our speakers’ presentations and papers can be found here.

To have access to the live sessions recording , please click on the following links:

Day 1 – 9 November 2009

Session I: Innovations in work-based learning for VET teachers and trainers

Session II: ICT for innovations in training practice

Day 2 – 10 November 2009 

Session III: Innovations in company-based training

Session IV: Equality and diversity in training practice: recognising socially-disadvantaged groups

Once again we have been very lucky with the numbers of speakers who have offered to present at the event. It is quite a diverse lot of  people from all over Europe. Their expertise and insights on how to foster Innovation in practice are invaluable and I am sure we will also benefit from it.

In the next couple of weeks we will be posting more about the conference and the magnificient group of speakers. Today we we will finally reveal who our Keynote Speaker will be.

We are very proud to announce that Dr. Lilia Efimova will be our Keynote Speaker.

Lilia works as a researcher at Novay, studying social media, changing workplace, knowledge and learning. In her work she bring together her experiences of facilitating learning and managing change, her interest in technologies and her passion for understanding how people work. Lilia has recently graduated from the Utrecht University, where she completed her PhD on “Passion at work: blogging practices of knowledge workers”. More information about her can be found here.

So, what will Lilia talk about?

Our keynote speaker has decided to talk about:

Understanding networked professionals: fun, value and challenges of learning and working differently

The worlds of learning and work are changing: many organisations are facing challenges of figuring out how communities, networked learning and social media fit next to traditional training programs. Supporting new ways of learning requires understanding of networked professionals: what drives them to work and learn differently and what challenges they are facing. In this talk I draw on examples from my research on blogging practices of knowledge workers to discuss how to support development of networked professionals.

That should be reason enough not to miss it!

For further information about the conference please check the programme.

To get updated information about the Virtual venue and  any kind of changes to the programme, please add your details to the delegate list.

We hope to see you there.

JISC has commissioned a pilot of a new programme, ‘The e-Learning show’. The pilot programme will be broadcast this upcoming Thursday, 21 May at 1800 UK Summer Time, 1900 Central European Summer Time.

The following blurb provides the rundown for the show:

“Thursday, 21 May sees the pilot programme of a new JISC live internet radio programme, ‘the e-Learning Show’. The programme is based on issues raised at the recent JISC Lifelong Learning Symposium.

These issues include how university and college cultures need to change to support work based learning, who the new students are and what are their needs, how e-Portfolios can be used both for recording learning and for providing information, advice and guidance and the use of mobile technologies.

The programme considers both current and emergent practices in elearning and the development of policies to support such practice.

The programme will be presented by Graham Attwell and guests include Derek Longhurst from Foundation Degree Forward, Clive Church from Edexel, Lucy Stone from Leicester College, Tony Toole from the University of Glamorgan, Bob Bell, HE in FE consultant for the northern region, Sandra Winfield from Nottingham University and Rob Ward from the Centre for Recording Achievement

The programme will also feature a live panel. with the opportunity for listeners to skype or email their questions and comments and their will be a live chat room for listeners.

To listen to the programme go to http://radio.jiscemerge.org.uk:80/Emerge.m3u [This will open the LIVE radio stream in your MP3 player of choice.]

You can take part in the chat room at http://tinyurl.com/sounds08 (hosted by Cristina Costa). Just add your name and press enter – no password required.

If you like to send us questions for the panel in advance of the programme, email Graham Attwell – graham10 [at] mac [dot] com or skype  Graham (skype ID: GrahamAttwell)

Although the programme is based on developments in the UK many of the issues to be discussed on the programme will have relevance for listeners interested in the use of technologies for learning wherever they are.

The “Online Round Table 2009″ are a joint project of the EduCamp and EVOLVE network (funded by JISC). These are pre-events of the third German EduCamp in April, 17th-19th 2009 in Ilmenau.

This open session will take place in Elluminate  in February, 16 at 6pm GMT / 7 pm CET (check your time zone here)

More info here (scroll down for the English version of the post)

This session is open to anyone interested in this topic. And no password is required to join the online event. Simply add your name to the text box, and click ‘go’

Please notice that elluminate does not allow special characters. Make sure to use only regular characters (no ~ or ` for instance)  when adding your name to the Elluminate sign in box. 

A comprehensive guide on ghow to join elluminate can be found here.

As part of our Open Learning approach we are also open to suggestions and new ideas.

And to start the year the best way, we will be supporting Educamp, by hosting some online learning conversations prior to the face to face event this coming April in Germany. You will be able to find us there too, if you are up to a face to face get together, where we can only promise pure learning fun!

So to start off with, we will have Graham Attwell (Pontydysgu) as the first special guest. He will host a conversation around PLEs and E-Portfolios – is this the future of education?

The event will take place in Elluminate (click here to enter the room), in January, 19th 2009, at 1900 CET/ 1800 UK time (Check your local time here).

You are welcome to join. Bring a friend too.

To join just type your name to the username text field and leave the password field blank. Then click to enter the room and join for an interesting discussion. ( View tutorial here) Your questions and ideas are needed!

Meanwhile, don’t forget we will also be hosting a Thought Fest in March, 5-6 in Salford, Manchester. We need your help to get this show on the road!

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Hence, the VITAE project in partnership with the Network of Trainers in Europe will be hosting a series of online workshops around pedagogical issues, and contemporaneous uses and practices of Information and Communication Technologies.  These workshops are free and everyone is welcome to join. The sessions will evolve according to the pace of the interactions. This is a workshop for you, about you and your questions, ideas, practices, etc…

These workshops will particularly focus on the pedagigical side, rather than on the siginig-up to online services and tools. However, some tools will be introduced in context, as part of the challenges presented each week, throughout the sessions.

Starting date will be announced soon. Meanwhile you can submit your interest by filling out the application form. there you can also inform us about the topics you would like to address in the (future) workshops.

We have just finished the two day online Conference on the training of teachers and trainers organised by the Networork for the Training of Traners in Europe and Evolve.

It was – at least I felt – an inspiring event. Although I don’t have accurate figures I guess at least 70 people attended at some art of the conference – including particpants from more than 20 countries. Despite the usual technical annoyances, the technology never got in the way of the exchange of ideas. In fact, rather the reverse. The discussion was more interactive and reflective than in most face to face events I have attended. We had 15 presentation in four two hour sessions – allowing about 15 minutes presentation and 15 minutes discussion for each presentater. As we had hoped, bringing together researchers and practitioners in the training of teachers and trainers and e-learning practitioners allowed for a productive interchange of ideas and practice.

We will be provding access to the outcomes of the confernece in a variety of different media over the next seven days. Here are just a few of my impressions about the themes of the discussions.

One theme was the increasing prevalence of work based learning. This is expecially so as the divide between initial training and continuing training becomes blurred. As learning becomes embedded in work processes then it becomes increasingly bound by context. Technology can help greatly in capturing learnng from practice in the context it occurs. But this does not really fit with the idea of predeterminded outcomes specified in qualifications. Furthermore the competences required today are changing with a focus on collaboration, working in teams and the ability to support others in their learning and work. Two different approaches were put forward to deal with this. One was to support more community based learning with facilitalors to support enquiry based learning. Another was to move from seeing learning as primarily a question of individual qualification to see it as an integral aspect of innovation. An inovation approach would lead to a focus on learning rich work.

The role of teachers and trainers is also changing with a move from didactic teaching to supporting learners especially in scaffolding learning and developing learning pathways. In many ways we are all beoming teachers and learners. The best teachers, it was said, are learners. It is no longer possible to merely absorb a body of knowledge, especially given increasing job flexibility. But how much employees need to acquire basic competences before being able to learn from work and what those competences are was an issue around which there was no agreement.

Given that more and more people are having responsibility for supporting the learnering of others, the issue of how they are supported in that role becomes an issue. Traditional training the trainers courses are not enough. Rather there is a switch to encouraging peer group support and facilitating the development of communities of pracice. The many web 2.0 tools are valuable in this repect. However, many teachers and trainers are not confident in the use of such tools. There are different approaches to how to deal with this, ranging from targeted courses, the provision of interactive web based resources and fostering self directed learning networks. For all this motivation, the willingness to invest time and effort and above all self-reflection are critical. There is an issue about in whose time learning should take place and to what extent we should be personally reposnsible for our learning and employability. Web 2.0 tools can allow us to link self directed and networked learning to practice. Especially important are the wide range of open learning opportunties being developed through the web.

Three buzzwords emerged from the conference – sharing, collaboration and openess.

Sorry for all I have missed. But please feel free to comment below and add to what I have said – or correct me if I misrepresented what people said.