The aim of the NORDITEL symposium is to promote and to generate an interdisciplinary discussion forum for both Nordic educational practitioners and academic scholars interested in conceptualizing, designing and evaluating teaching and learning in new emerging technology enhanced learning landscapes. The symposium is organized by the Learning Ecosystems and Activities of the Future (LEAF), a research initiative supported by the Nordic Research Board, Nordforsk.

NORDITEL 2010 does not intend to be a traditional conference, but an interactive event aiming to stimulate ongoing and future efforts in the field of technology enhanced learning. The first working day will start with an invited speaker. This morning presentation will give us grounding for the rest of the day. Thereafter, four parallel group sessions will start working with two facilitators, which in this case are well known international experts in their fields. The sessions will begin with a 10-15 minutes position paper (introduced by the facilitators) in order to provide the scientific ground and to stimulate the group discussion. Each group consists of 20 participants.. Participants in each session will be given a couple of minutes to introduce themselves and their research interest (the book of abstracts gives a more detailed overview of each participant’s research focus). The main aim of the morning group sessions is to contribute with ideas, comments and questions that will frame the main challenges associated with the topics under discussion for each group. We expect that the discussions will focus on pedagogical, technological and organizational aspects associated with the main topics of each session, thus bringing a multifaceted view to the discussion.

In the afternoon session, each group will try to summarize their work and will prepare a presentation in the form of poster or notes (e.g. power point presentation) illustrating the main questions and challenges that have been identified during the session. The overall objective is that each group identifies relevant research questions and ideas for further exploration and development related to the ongoing scientific efforts in the field of TEL in the Nordic countries. At the end of the day, each one of the groups will present a 10 minutes summary describing their outcomes. The same format and mode of operation even applies for the second day of the symposium.

 

Professor Agnes Kukulska-Hulme, Open University, UK

url: http://iet.open.ac.uk/people/view-profile.cfm?staff_id=a.m.kukulska-hulme

Short Bio: Agnes Kukulska-Hulme is Professor of Learning Technology and Communication in the Institute of Educational Technology at The Open University, UK, and Programme Manager for the Next Generation Distance Learning research programme in the institute. She has been working in mobile learning since 2001, leading several research projects investigating learning innovation at The Open University and across the UK. Her work includes co-editing special issues of the Journal of Interactive Media in Education on Portable Learning (2005), ReCALL on Mobile-Assisted Language Learning (2008), and ALT-J on Mobile and Contextual Learning (2009). She is co-editor of two books on mobile learning: Researching Mobile Learning: Frameworks, Tools and Research Designs (2009) and Mobile Learning: A Handbook for Educators and Trainers (2005). She is on the Executive Committee of the International Association for Mobile Learning, on the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Mobile and Blended Learning, and the Advisory Board of the International Journal of Virtual and Personal Learning Environments. Recent invited scholarships and keynotes include a week spent as a researcher at the National Central University, Taiwan (2008), and as Visiting Scholar at the University of Technology, Sydney (2009); keynotes at the the Eurocall 2008 Conference in Hungary, and the International Conference on Computers in Education (ICCE 2009) at The Hong Kong Institute of Education.

Agnes has led numerous projects investigating innovative and emergent practice with learning technologies in post-16 education, most recently as part of the European MOTILL project on mobile technologies in lifelong learning. Her original discipline background is in foreign language teaching and learning and from this perspective she has a long standing research interest in effective communication with technology and the experiences of non-technical users. Her research interests include human factors in technology adoption, formal and informal language learning, and the challenges and rewards of lifelong learning.

Within The Open University, Agnes served as Deputy Director of the Institute of Educational Technology in 2005-7, and as Co-Head of the Technology Enhanced Learning Group in 2008-9. During the period 2002-7 she was Convener of the Telelearning Research Group in the Centre for Education and Educational Technology. She has chaired the Open University E-books Strategy Group, and in 2006-7 served as Academic Advisor to the Mobile Learning strand of the Open University’s Virtual Learning Environment project. Her teaching responsibilities have included chairing the production and presentation of two online courses in the global Masters in Online and Distance Education (MAODE) programme. She has been a regular contributor to staff development offerings in the area of pedagogical applications of new technologies. She is currently leading a programme of staff development in mobile learning across the Open University.

Professor Chee Kit Looi, National Institute of Education, Nanyang TechnologicalUniversity, Singapore

url:www.lsl.nie.edu.sg/bio/drlooi.htm

Short Bio: Chee-Kit Looi is the Associate Professor in the National Institute
of Education, Nanyang Technological University. He was the Founding Head of Learning Sciences Lab from January 2004 to June 2008. Currently, he is the Head, Centre of Excellence for Learning Innovation (COELI) from July 2008. His recent research related to technology-enabled learning involves design and development of digital manipulatives to bridge model methods to algebraic methods; implementing innovations like SimCalc, Group Scribbles (http://gs.lsl.nie.edu.sg) and mobile technologies in Singapore classrooms. He is a member of the executive committees of the International AI & Education Society, the Asia-Pacific Society of Computers in Education, and the Global Chinese Society on Computers in Education. He is an editorial member of the Journal of CAL, the International Journal of Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning, and the IEEE Transactions in Learning Technologies.