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1st Trans-National Distance Conference on Quality in Adult Learning 2009 on Classroom 2.0‏
posted : Dec 12th, 2009

Time: December 17, 2009 from 9am to 6:15pm
Location: Internet
Organized By: QUALC partners

Event Description:
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 who developed the initial idea of the conference, quality is a continuous process of sharing, participating and improving among all the actors which are involved in the learning activities.

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.

Check the Ning event website...
http://adult-learning.ning.com/events/1st-transnational-distance
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Background of the ReN
Through the emergence of communication technologies, the past few years have produced a new body of research where the learner is given a more central role in a range of different ways, including having the learner express their opinions through blogging (e.g., Pinkman, 2005) or computer-mediated communication such as chat (e.g., Darhower, 2007), tailoring software that adapts to learners’ needs (e.g., Huang & Liou 2007), training learners to use existing software more effectively to facilitate the social-affective aspect of learning (e.g., Hubbard, 2004), or the development of learner autonomy (e.g. Reinders, 2007; White, 2007). Social networking sites such as Active Worlds and Second Life have also empowered learners to make decisions about who they wish to converse with, by what mode (i.e., text chat or oral communication), and freely engage in discussion with a real audience who shares similar interests (e.g., Dudeney, 2008). This is a growth area, where researchers examine the way technology facilitates interaction between teachers and learners, between native speakers and learners, and between learners themselves and the unique characteristics of this type of communication.
Convenors Hayo Reinders and Glenn Stockwell have combined to create an AILA Research Network which aims to bring together people working in the different areas related to the role of the language learner in CALL. Committee members are established researchers in the field of CALL, and
include Jozef Colpaert (University of Antwerp, Belgium)
Phil Hubbard (Stanford University, USA)
Hsien-Chin Liou (National Tsing Hua University, Taiwan)
Kazunori Nozawa (Ritsumeikan University, Japan)
and Cynthia White (Massey University, New Zealand).