2023
Ida Dringó-Horváth, PhD
Head of ICT Research Center, Károli Gáspár University of the Reformed Church in Hungary.
She is habilitated Associate Professor of Education Science and Applied Linguistics. She received her PhD in 2004 and her habilitation in 2019. Her research and teaching areas are linked to language learning methodology and learning and teaching with digital technologies (EdTech), particularly in foreign language teaching and teacher training, but more recently in higher education as well.
Since 2018 she has been leading a complex training program for the development of digital competences of lecturers at the university. From 2020 onwards, she regularly organises a meeting for centres for higher education methodology in Hungary and a related conference on digital competence development and the use of ICT in Higher Education.
Keynote speech: Centres for Educational Technology in Higher Education
In recent years, higher education institutions both in Europe and worldwide have increasingly sought to digitise their teaching and research activities, and in this context, to improve both the technological environment and the digital pedagogical competences of their staff. The forced absence of face-to-face education due to the 2020 pandemic clearly contributed to making these developments a top priority, and as a result more robust digitisation support schemes have been organised.
As a consequence, already functioning methodlogical support centres have experienced a significant increase in their roles, and their tasks and functions have been broadened. In other higher education institutions where such centres didn’t use to exist, new ones have been created to support digitisation and the development of digital competences.
This presentation will provide an overview of this exciting process, which has been ongoing ever since, with a detailed description of current practices in Hungary as an example. In addition to detailing the position, role and core tasks of methodological centres in higher education, the main challenges facing these units will also be discussed, as well as the support and cooperation opportunities available.
Taking into account emerging trends and international practice, the presentation will aim to outline the direction of development in this field: how will the effective development of digital competences in higher education be achieved in the future?
Dr Ruaidhri Neavyn
Special Adviser to the Higher Education Authority of Ireland
Ruaidhri is currently employed as a Special Adviser to the Higher Education Authority of Ireland. His activities in HE policy development include business, industry and society linked HE skills and engagement programmes, HE system performance frameworks, and international collaborative networks. Prior to his appointment as an adviser to the HEA Ruaidhri served as president of two institutes of technology in Ireland, namely the Waterford Institute of Technology and the Institute of Technology Carlow. He has been an expert advisor for the OECD and EU on numerous international reviews and is currently a member of the Portuguese Higher Education Advisory Council and is a member of the OECD’s group of national experts on higher education. He is one of the co-designers and founders of the Regional University Network – European University and is a member of its management and co-ordination bodies. His current project interests; through his participation in EU and national programmes; focus on embedding environmental sustainability within HE systems through the deployment of novel digital and pedagogical approaches.
Embedding Sustainability in Higher Education Through Digital Approaches
Many higher education institutions (HEIs) are pursuing greening measures in support of the green transition, but few have fully integrated environmental sustainability into their institutional strategies and day to day operations. One way to support the strategic embedding of greening activities is through the use of digital tools and platforms. Since the early 2000s, digital sustainability tools for HEIs have emerged and are nowadays numerous and widespread. These digital tools have had many functions including (i) supporting self-assessment of the integration of sustainability within institutional strategies and activities (ii) improving awareness of sustainability among staff and students (iii) improving sustainable operations in areas such as energy and transport. This presentation will provide an overview of the range of digital tools and platforms available to support the green transition within the higher education landscape. The presentation will also provide a detailed overview of the EU-funded project GET-AHED which is to be a digital platform developed in consultation with a number of EU ministries, HEI representative bodies and an existing European University alliance which will provide HEIs across the EU with a range of online tools to enable them to implement the EU’s Green Transition and Green Education and Training priorities. The range of tools to be developed will allow a multiple of HE stakeholder groups to promote and develop whole institutional approaches to sustainability which will focus on:
- Designing, implementing, and monitoring institution sustainability plans
- Supporting Higher Education leaders, in embedding sustainability into all aspects of the institution’s operations
- Supporting staff and students in promoting greater involvement in sustainability initiatives both internally and externally.
- Designing, implementing, and monitoring approaches related to sustainability operations of a HEI and in particular energy and energy related systems.
2022
prof. Renata Marciniak
Warsaw University of Technology Business School (Poland) / Euncet University Business School in Terrassa (Spain).
Renata Marciniak is a professor accredited by The National Agency for Quality Assessment and Accreditation of Spain (ANECA) and by Catalan University Quality Assurance Agency, AQU Catalunya,
She holds a PhD in Education from the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB). She also holds a PhD in Economics and Management from the University of Economics in Cracow (Poland). She was a professor at different Polish, Mexican and Spanish universities. Currently, she is a collaborating professor at the Warsaw University of Technology Business School (Poland) and Euncet University Business School in Terrassa (Spain). She is the author of several books about digital learning and she has published a number of articles in high impact journals (including JCR – Journal Citation Reports) about the understanding of the quality of digital learning. She is also the co-author of Polish Standards for Online Learning Services. She participated as a speaker in several international congresses and conferences, as well as in several international research projects related to digital learning. She is a member of scientific international associations and organizations. Her research interests include management in digital education, e-learning technologies and quality of digital higher education.
Keynote speech: Teacher competences in the digital age
The great technological transformations and the new ways of conceiving teaching and learning raise the need to rethink the meaning and nature of the teaching profession. In this scenario, educational research has focused on knowing what skills teachers need to successfully face the new professional challenges of the digital age. Among the competencies that the teacher must have and develop to carry out the educational process, indicated by several authors, we find digital, didactic, pedagogical, communicative, linguistic, psychological, planning and e-learning design competencies, evaluation, design of teaching materials, responsibility, research, innovation, tutorial, moral (ethical). At this point the question arises as to whether today, in order to guarantee the correct performance of the teaching-learning process, it is necessary for all teachers to have all these skills. For now this question remains open, however, it is necessary to establish minimum standards for all teachers. This minimum must undoubtedly include digital and didactic skills. During the presentation, these two types of competences will be discussed, as well as the methods for their development and assessment, and examples of their use in teaching practice will be presented.
Daliborka Luketić, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, University of Zadar, Department of Pedagogy, Croatia
Daliborka Luketić received her Ph.D. in Educational Sciences from University of Zagreb, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in 2013. The title of doctoral dissertation was ˝Development of Entrepreneurial Competence within Curriculum Changes in Education˝. Her area of professional and scientific interest is related to contemporary topics of education, such as the acquisition of professional competencies, curriculum design in education, education of teachers and other education professionals, and the development of methodological and research procedures in pedagogical research. The narrower area of scientific interest is related to the specific area of education for entrepreneurship and the development of entrepreneurial competence of children and youth.
She teaches courses at all levels of undergraduate (Methodology of quantitative and qualitative research in education, Pedagogical perspective of the international education), graduate (Theories of education in practice, Entrepreneurship in education context) and postgraduate professional study program in educational leadership (Pedagogical leadership, School culture, Entrepreneurial competencies in the education system) and doctoral study programme in the field of pedagogy (different research methodology courses).
In addition to teaching work, her scientific-research and professional engagement is related to work on a total of 17 international and domestic scientific-professional projects. Years of scientific research has resulted in authorship and co-authorship in a number of scientific and professional papers published in relevant journals and publications, and some of these papers have been successfully presented at domestic and international scientific and professional conferences. Through her professional work she strives to contribute to the popularization of science and professional affirmation of the pedagogical profession in the domestic and European context.
Keynote Speech: Entrepreneurship Education and Entrepreneurial Competence: From Policy to Pedagogy State of Play
Entrepreneurship education is determined by the social and educational values of entrepreneurship and its placement in the basic requirements for the realisation of lifelong learning. Entrepreneurship today is both the educational goal and the expected outcome of modern education. Entrepreneurship, entrepreneurship education, and entrepreneurial competence development are current theoretical, empirical, and practical concepts as well as policy terms that are increasingly conceptualized in educational discourse. Entrepreneurship as a personality trait and the development of entrepreneurial competence are becoming a desirable characteristic and expectation in the competence profile of all carriers of educational activities.
It was noted that the theoretical foundation of this concept in educational science (science of pedagogy) is insufficient. Although entrepreneurship is not an original pedagogical concept, it is widely used in educational practice today. In particular, it is becoming part of the national curricula of European countries through its inclusion in the core competencies. Understanding entrepreneurship is key to its high-quality implementation in pedagogical practice. Along the way, there are certain contradictions that arise, on the one hand, from the uncritical adoption of the determinants of educational policy and the neglect of the relevance of pedagogical theory a priori.
In her presentation, the author will give a brief policy review of the concept of entrepreneurship education and entrepreneurial competence, in order to address some valuable and targeted controversies through a conceptual-theoretical analysis of entrepreneurship education and to consider its emancipatory and affirmative value in the educational process. The goal of this presentation is to provide a critical overview of the development of entrepreneurship as a political and pedagogical concept by showing how the development of entrepreneurship as a modern competency is largely based on pedagogical theory, even if this is not obvious at first. In an attempt to answer the question of what entrepreneurial competence is, some key challenges inherent in its development and pedagogical design are highlighted.
Bárbara Gabriel, PhD
University of Aveiro (Portugal)
Bárbara Gabriel is a researcher and vice-dean for internationalisation at the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Aveiro.
She holds a PhD in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Aveiro. She is currently member of the support team of the Rectory for Curricula and pedagogical innovation and coordinator of the Science and Engineering Education R&D group. She was recently elected member of the Board of the Portuguese Society for Engineering Education and she is member of the HEInnovate expert group, an initiative of the European Commission and OECD for innovation and entrepreneurship in Higher Education Institutions.
Bárbara Gabriel research interests are engineering education, entrepreneurial education, nanoengineering and with an extensive experience in teaching.
Keynote speech: Development of entrepreneurial competences
The development of entrepreneurial competences stands to be relevant in a demanding society that requires a set of skills, values and abilities to innovate, create jobs and address the current global challenges, and, mostly to have an active role as a citizen.
Developing entrepreneurial competences is a journey that considers several steps.
During the presentation, it will be shared practices of developing entrepreneurial competences and tools to support Higher Education Institutions in developing them.
2021
Helaine W. Marshall Professor of Education and Director of Language Education Programs at LIU Hudson, NY, USA.
She teaches courses in linguistics and multicultural education in face-to-face, blended, and synchronous online formats. Her research interests include: culturally responsive-sustaining education, SLIFE (Students with Limited or Interrupted Formal Education), nontraditional teaching of grammar, and instructional technology, especially flipped learning. Dr. Marshall has published articles in ELT Journal and TESOL Journal, among others. Her most recent book, published with University of Michigan Press, is Meeting the Needs of SLIFE: A Guide for Educators, 2nded., co-authored with Andrea DeCapua and Frank L. Tang. Dr. Marshall has developed a model of online flipped learning, and her most recent article on that topic is “Fostering Teaching Presence through the Synchronous Online Flipped Learning Approach,” published in TESL-EJ and co-authored with Ilka Kostka.
Fostering Social Presence through the Synchronous Online Flipped Learning Approach – SOFLA®
Being socially present while in online or blended classroom contexts can pose a major challenge to both educators and their students. Yet, it is this social presence that most serves the need to engage meaningfully in accessing, developing, and mastering new course concepts and materials. The Synchronous Online Flipped Learning Approach is an active learning model that includes structured, interactive, multimodal activities, both asynchronous and synchronous, in an 8-step learning cycle that reframes and re-energizes our approach to instruction in all learning contexts.
Sanna Brauer, Ph.D., Learning & Educational Technology Research, Faculty of Education Unit/ School of Professional Teacher Education, Oulu University of Applied Sciences
Sanna Brauer received her Ph.D. in Educational Sciences from University of Lapland in February 2019. Her doctoral dissertation is the first to address digital open badges and badge-driven learning in Europe. She currently works with digital open badge-driven learning and research related to competence-based professional development, motivation and gamification.
Since 2011, Brauer has been working as a senior lecturer at Oulu University of Applied Sciences, School of Professional Teacher Education. The University of Oulu currently employs her also in development of the work-integrated pedagogy in higher education. She is the leader of national digital pedagogical development of medical education in Finnish universities. She is involved in various projects and national and international networks aiming to develop digital open badges and digital open badge-driven learning.
360 Degree View on Digital Open Badge-Driven Learning
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Vilmos Vass, Associte Professor, Budapest Metropolitan University, Hungary.
Vilmos Vass is habilitated Associate Professor of Education Science and a teacher of Hungarian language and literature, history and pedagogy. He has been teaching in schools and universities for 39 years. He is a board member of several national and international associations. Between 2004 and 2010 he was a member of the EU Key Competences Cluster. In 2003 and 2007, he was the head of the revision on the National Core Curriculum and the Implementation Board. He is member of the Editorial Board of 14 national and international journals. He now works at the Budapest Metropolitan University, Hungary. He is the author or co-author of nearly 200 Hungarian and English language publications. His research areas and recent publications are on learning-centred curriculum theory and creative knowledge transfer.
Title of speech: Coherence between competencies for online learning and digital mindset.
The context of the presentation is a challenge of “skill gap” and „upskilling”, which is increasingly strengthening at the Age of 4th Industrial Revolution related to the coherence between competencies for online learning and digital mindset. The fundamental pragmatic key point of the presentation is changing traditional to digital mindset via using online learning with some teaching methods, for instance e-mindmapping, breakout rooms, place mat with using collaborative learning platforms. The presentation has three core parts. At the strategic part the presentation emphasizes some major changes on the Future of Work and the new skills gap for young people in the age of COVID-19. The World Economic Forum projects that by 2022 at least 54% of all employees will need reskilling and upskilling to respond to changing work requirements. At the theoretical part I will analyze some phenomena on online information processing and self-directed learning. At the methodological part, I will introduce some examples on online learning and teaching process, especially focusing on methodology and digital mindset. Finally, at the end of the presentation, I will draw some conclusions, which contain dilemmas and questions.
2019
Marco Spruit, Ph.D., University Utrecht, Netherlands
He is an associate professor in the Information and Computing Sciences (ICS) department at the Faculty of Science of Utrecht University (UU) in The Netherlands. As principle investigator in the department’s Applied Data Science Lab, his research centres around Model-Driven Analytic Systems for Self-Service Data Science. He prominently participated in defining the new UU research focus area on Applied Data Science (ADS) and he is a member of UU’s Applied Data Science Education Committee as well as co-organiser of the ADS Special Interest Group on Text Mining. Research highlights include his team’s contributions to three Horizon2020 projects and two nationally funded projects on Analytic Systems. He has authored 150+ publications including 55+ journal papers. HIs ADS research team currently consists of 11 Ph.D students and 1 scientific programmer.
He acts as the programme coordinator for both the 90EC Applied Data Science for Health MSc postgraduate programme and the ADS 30EC master’s profile for both natural and life sciences students. Before 2016 he was the education manager of the Information Science BSc programme and member of the departmental Board of Examinations. In 2013 he participated in the Educational Leadership programme and has been awarded the Senior Teaching Qualification. Marco has recently also completed the Academic Leadership for Associate Professors programme.
Applied Data Science for Student Empowerment
The Applied Data Science Profile at Utrecht University
Data are everywhere. From the sciences to industry, commerce, and government, large collections of diverse data are becoming increasingly more indispensable for decision making, planning, and knowledge discovery. But how can we sensibly take advantage of all the opportunitities that these data potentially provide while avoiding the many pitfalls? The Master’s profile Applied Data Science at Utrecht University (UU) in The Netherlands addresses this challenge.
UU’s Applied Data Science is a multidisciplinary profile for students who are not only interested in broadening their knowledge and expertise within the field of Data Science, but are also eager to apply these capabilities in relevant projects within their research domain. Two mandatory courses provide a thorough introduction to data science, its basic methods, techniques, processes, and the application of data science within specific domains. The foundations of applied data science include relevant statistical methods, machine learning techniques and programming. Moreover, key aspects and implications of ethics, privacy and law are covered as well.
I zoom in on Data Science & Society, the introductory course for UU’s Applied Data Science profile, the Applied Data Science postgraduate MSc programme, and the Business Informatics (MBI) programme at Utrecht University. As such, this course’s primary objective is to inspire and introduce students to the emerging domain of Applied Data Science from a Big Data Technologies perspective, taking into account the entire knowledge discovery process and by applying selected big data technologies such as Hadoop and Spark to solve real-world problems to demonstrate the potential societal impact, in such a way that students feel empowered to confidently take on analytical tasks in the foreseeable future.
Tom Wambeke, Ph.D, International Training Centre of International Labour Organization, Turin, Italy
Tom Wambeke, Belgium, is graduated in Educational Sciences, holds a Master in Cultural Management and an Executive Business LEAD degree in Innovation at Stanford University.
Before joining the International Training Centre of the ILO he was assistant Professor at the University of Leuven and innovation coach at Open Higher Education.
He is currently Chief of Learning Innovation which specializes in providing sustainable learning solutions with the objective to generate impact and organizational change.
The unit he is leading has a double mandate: to strengthen the Centre’s in-house capacity to apply state-of-the art learning and knowledge sharing methods and technology, and to provide (e)-learning services to outside partners on a global scale. In this context he works closely together with UN agencies, development banks, international organ isations , governments and NGO’s.
As a certified international facilitator (IAF) he’s actively involved in strategy facilitation, participatory knowledge sharing, networked learning and ICT4Development. This he combines with a passion for complexity adaptive thinking, foresight analysis and futures exploration.
A deep dive into the Future. Exploring E-Learning scenario’s using Strategic Foresight.
Learning organisations and institutions need to adapt and evolve in an environment of continuous change. The problems of the future are unlikely to be solved solely by solutions that worked in the past. In this interactive and dynamic keynote presentation, a set of qualitative foresight methodologies and processes will be applied to emerging learning visions of the future beyond 2030. This keynote will not be about crystal ball gazing: all information comes from extensive horizon scanning and important education trends reports (Horizon, Gartner) and the presentation will apply foresight methods and techniques systematically to explore radical ideas about the alignment of (e)learning strategies with theories of what the future may have in store for us. Are you ready to be future proof?
Every participant of the conference will also receive free access to our Foresight toolkit to envision alternative futures in (e)learning.
Please download sli.do for interaction with Tom.
prof. Maurizio Gentile LUMSA University of Rome/Sapienza University Rome, Italy
Maurizio Gentile is Associate Professor of Teaching Methods and Special Education at LUMSA University of Rome and Professor of Technologies for Learning at Sapienza University of Rome. His research interests are Cooperative Learning, digital videos in teacher education, inclusive school, competency-based education, curriculum and assessment, technologies for learning. On these topics, more than 100 publications, including articles, book chapters, conference proceedings, monographs, editorials. He works with school network, research institutes, public educational organization, social organizations, editorial companies. From 2017 to 2018, he was Researcher in Experimental Educational Methods at Unitelma Sapienza University of Rome – the e-learning division of Sapienza University of Rome – and Instructional designer for the bachelor degree of Psychological Sciences and Techniques at Sapienza University of Rome.
Digital videos in teacher education: a professional vision model and four training strategies
The speech proposes a review of studies about the use of videotaping in teacher education. It deepens two issues: a) the construct of professional vision and sub-processes that teacher activates during the observation of videos; b) the formative approaches designed to develop the teachers’ competence to view a set of teaching actions.
The professional vision is the process of noticing noteworthy events and making sense of them. In this context, it is fascinating to investigate the relationship between general pedagogical knowledge and professional reasoning.
The speech examines four training strategies associated with using video in teacher education. The first strategy addresses to stimulate the interpretation of teaching events without a preliminary and formal knowledge of pedagogy underlying the observed teaching action (example-rule strategy). The experts recommend its use for in-service teacher training.
A second way addresses both the knowledge of educational principles and the development of decision-making abilities (rule-example strategy). The experts suggest its use in pre-service teacher education.
A third strategy is called “video club”. It consists of a group of teachers who meet to watch and discuss excerpts of videotapes of their instruction.
The last approach consists in one 20-hour course organised in three times: 1) three workshops, 2) the videotaping of teaching actions performed in the classrooms, 3) the shared analysis of videos. The research staff developed this strategy in the context of research provided for understanding and practising the assessment for learning approach. The aims of the project were: a) to design one in-service teacher education course based on digital videos; b) to study the interpretative frames that teachers activate when watching videos; c) to promote the assessment for learning approach. A group of 53 teachers was invited to participate in the project. The analysis of results is still ongoing.
2018
Ivana Batarelo Kokić, University of Split, Croatia
Dr. Ivana Batarelo Kokić is Professor of Pedagogy at the University of Split, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences. She held positions at academic institutions and research and development centres including Lecturer at Arizona State University, Researcher at Institute for Social Research in Zagreb, and Assistant Professor at University of Zagreb. She holds an M.Ed. in Educational Media and Computers and a Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction with emphasis on special education and assistive technology from the Arizona State University. Currently, she teaches courses in distance education, adult education, comparative education, and educational policy. Her research interests focus in the following areas where she has published extensively: teacher education, e-learning, information literacy development and social inclusion. She has been working as a coordinator, lead researcher or evaluator on several EU funded projects.
Title of keynote speech: Preparing future teachers for creating, using and sharing OER
Stefania Bocconi, National Research Council of Italy (CNR), Institute for Educational Technology
Stefania Bocconi is researcher at the National Research Council of Italy (CNR), Institute for Educational Technology. She holds a Ph.D. in Cognitive Sciences and Education from Cà Foscari University of Venice.
Her research interests are in the field of Technology Enhanced Learning and include innovative use of ICT in education and training, as well as the impact of technologies on learning organisations. In particular, she studied the role of digital technology for learning, creativity and innovation, exploring the conditions for scalability and sustained impact at system level. Much of her work focused also on blended and online learning in higher education settings, including the access and reuse of open educational resources, inclusive education and, the integration between formal and informal learning. In 2012, she worked as Scientific Officer at the European Commission, Joint Research Centre(JRC-IPTS) examining what essential elements characterise innovative learning environments in formal education settings.
Recently, she conducted two studies to examine the introduction of computational thinking and programming in compulsory education curricula in Europe (CompuThink study, founded by the European Commission, JRC http://tiny.cc/CompuThink) and in Nordic Countries (CompuThink Nordic, founded by the Nordic Steering Group http://tiny.cc/CompuThinkNordic). She also coordinated the Italian piloting of SELFIE, a self-reflection tool for digitally capable schools developed by the European Commission (https://ec.europa.eu/jrc/en/digcomporg/selfie-tool).
She regularly presents at conferences and she has (co-)authored numerous scientific publications in national and international journals, books and conference proceedings.
Brian Dorn, University of Nebraska at Omaha
He is an Associate Professor of Computer Science and holds the Union Pacific Community Chair in Computer Science Education at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. Along with colleagues and students in the BRIDGE lab, he conducts human-centered computing research with a particular emphasis on education and the learning sciences. He actively designs and evaluates educational technology to support the teaching and learning of computing content. As a community chair, he also is actively involved in advocacy and training work to support universal access to computing education in primary and secondary schools across Nebraska. He holds a Ph.D. from the Georgia Institute of Technology, is an active member of the ACM, ISLS, and AERA, and serves as co-editor of the journal Computer Science Education.
Irena Brifordová, Microsoft, Czech Republic
Ing. Irena Briford, Director of Education, Microsoft, Czech Republic. She has been in this position for more than 10 years. She tries to work on meanigfully using technology in education and helping teachers and students to improve the learning processes at all levels of education.
2017
Anastasia Syzenko, Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Ukraine
Anastasia Syzenko, Ph.D. is a lecturer and researcher at Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv. Her background is in modern languages and applied linguistics. Currently Anastasia teaches ESP, Innovation Management and International Investment. Anastasia has extensive international academic and research experience at UC Berkeley and University of Michigan (USA), University of Turku (Finland), KU Leuven (Belgium), Mykolas Romeris University, (Lithuania) etc. In Ukraine Anastasia focuses her efforts on the advancement of innovative industries, community engagement and development of higher education. She is also a Board member and co-founder of Smart City Public Council, a non-profit public organization aimed at developing democracy and fostering transparent governance in Ukraine via digitization and introduction of the world’s best practices of e-governance into local city councils.
Petra Aczél, Corvinus University of Budapest, Hungary
Petra Aczél is a full professor of communication and rhetoric at Corvinus University of Budapest and head of the Institute of Behavioural Science and Communication Theory, as well as member of the Social Communication Doctoral School. She studied at Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, earned her PhD degree in 2003, and gave her habilitation lecture in 2011. She was appointed full professor in 2016. Her research interests are focused on the theory and practice of communication, new media and media literacy. Participating in researches on national and regional media literacy she has become a leading figure in this field in Hungary and the region. She is author of four and co-author of other four books and has published more than 200 publications on verbal and visual communication, rhetoric, (new) media communication and media literacy. She is chair and member in five editorial boards of Hungarian and international periodicals and holds memberships in Hungarian and international communication associations. She is a researcher, professor and loving mother. Web: www.aczelpetra.hu
Irena Brifordová, Microsoft, Czech Republic
Ing. Irena Briford, Director of Education, Microsoft, Czech Republic. She has been in this position for more than 9 years. She tries to work on meanigfully using technology in education and helping teachers and students to improve the learning processes at all levels of education.
2013
Francesco Pisanu (IPRASE, Trento, Italy)
I am a research fellow in educational research at IPRASE (Provincial Institute of Educational Research and Experimentation ), in the Province of Trento, Italy. I study, among other topics, psychosocial aspect related to the use of technology in education and training, special educational needs and inclusion, innovation in teaching practices and organizational issues in educational context. I have always been interested in research methodology, mostly in computer mediated environments. I have studied (work and organizational) Psychology and I got a PhD in Information Systems and Organization at the University of Trento. I taught Social Psychology of groups and I am currently teaching Educational and Guidance Psychology at the Faculty of Cognitive Sciences, University of Trento.
Wolfie Christl, Austria
Wolfie Christl is game designer, web developer, artist and net activist. Communication engineer by profession, he studied arts, computer science, sociology and theatre-, film- and media studies in Linz and Vienna (without degree). He works in the fields of serious games, digital literacy, web technology and multimedia. From 2000 he was part of the famous Viennese net culture organization Public Netbase, which hosted many international conferences, exhibitions and tactical media projects dealing with the socio-cultural impact of ICT. He has also played a major role in creating wahlkabine.at, which is the most popular vote match tool in Austria and has been used by more than 3 million times in about 30 elections in Austria and Italy. Since 2006 he runs a small internet agency focusing on open source web technology. In 2011, together with a team from Vienna, he started the project „Data Dealer“, which is an online game about collecting, collating and selling personal data. „Data Dealer“ provides a unique casual and humorous way to engage in issues of personal data and privacy in the digital age. It received outstanding media coverage both in serious media and in yellow press in German speaking countries and substantial feedback from young people, teachers, media educators and the general public. The international release of the English version is planned for May 2013. Links: Data Dealer Online Game Article about Wolfie Christl at inventures.eu (2012): Upping the game. Wolfie Christl co-created online social game Data Dealer, which promises to change the way we think about privacy and the business of information.