Food for thought at EDEN

19th November 2018

Eight OU colleagues were in attendance at the 10th EDEN Research Workshop held in sunny Barcelona on the 24-26 October 2018.  Three eSTEeM projects were represented by Hilary MacQueen and Fiona Aiken, Diane Butler and Louise MacBrayne and Ann Walsh. It was also good to meet up with wider OU colleagues Mark Nichols, Stefanie Simpson and John Maiden.

The opening keynote was given by Sanna Jarvela from the University of Oulu in Finland. She discussed the importance of the learning environment in teaching school age students learning skills. Sanna introduced the idea of Self-regulated learning (SRL) stressing that learning is not just about remembering things but it involves being a strategic and adaptive agent.

A number of interesting parallel sessions followed including a presentation on the use of MOOCs to allow students to develop their math skills, to a presentation which focused on the issues of supporting a number of refugees in Ireland through undergraduate and Masters Programmes.  

On day three, eSTEeM Deputy Director, Diane Butler, was asked to participate in a roundtable discussion on data use.

The final Keynote was by Neil Selwyn, who was very though provoking and highly controversial, but in a good way, discussing technology and its sometimes malign influence on distance learning.

Overall a very successful conference, plenty of food for thought and some very useful links made with other distance learning institutions in Europe.

For further information please read the full conference report.

Image: The OU contingent L-R: Diane Butler, Louise MacBrayne, Mark Nicols, Hillary MacQueen, John Maiden, Fiona Aiken and Stefanie Sinclair.