Call for Papers and Projects: LINQ 2014 / EFQUEL Innovation Forum 2014

ESSEN, Germany - Oct. 8, 2013 - PRLog -- The 9^th EFQUEL Innovation Forum in 2014 will address one of the greatest challenges in today’s quality development for education and training, how to achieve quality for opening up education (http://eif.efquel.org). The EFQUEL Innovation Forum is unique in its interactive design and brings together leading experts from all fields of European and global education and training to take stock of current and future challenges in quality development and innovation in e-learning. We are happy to announce that the 9^th EFQUEL Innovation Forum 2014 will take place in conjunction with the LINQ 2014 Conference to shape the 2014 Mega Event for Quality and Innovation in education and learning. LINQ is a leading annual European and international Conference on Learning Innovations and Learning Quality (www.learning-innovations.eu). It has attracted a large attendance in its last conferences from Europe, Asia, America and Africa.

Digital technologies are radically changing the landscape of education and training. Open educational resources (OER), 'Massive Open Online Courses' (MOOCs), and the question of how to recognize open learning in formal education are challenging traditional models and practices. These global changes are having an increasing impact on education and training institutions, teachers, learners and publishers, among others. With the introduction of MOOCs in recent years and the uptake of open education resources, open education at large and its quality have become an issue of major importance for education and training institutions, policies and professionals. Studying and learning have evolved from closed to open processes, which demand greater self-organization skills, higher levels of media literacy and new models of support and organization. Education institutions, professionals, policy makers, public authorities for formal education as well as non-formal training providers and learners are discovering the benefits of opening up learning opportunities.

However, quality evaluation and development models have not yet matured enough in order to provide guidance for open learning models to all stakeholders how to shape content and learning environments or provide effective support for institutions and educators. Uncertainty is growing as to whether the new open learning environments are fit to lead the European learning revolution needed for the 21^st century. In order to make open learning and education more relevant and feasible for organizations as well as learners, innovations have to be combined with well-proven learning traditions and flexible quality standards. In addition new models for recognition of open learning are needed: education institutions need a better understanding of how open education processes can contribute to excellent learning and high quality education provision, and certification schemes need to incorporate more flexible concepts of open education.

Contributions to the conference should focus on one or more of the following areas:

·    Quality indicators and methods to describe, measure and evaluate quality for open education, OER and MOOCs

·    Conceptual contributions on new and innovative quality models, methodologies, standards and approaches for e-learning and open education

·    Experiences and reports from practice with implementation of quality approaches for open education

·    Required competences by institutions as well as by learners for designing, practicing and improving open learning with high quality

·    Local, national, regional and European quality projects in the field of the conference

·    Methodologies for and experience of recognition of open learning in formal education and training

·    Certification of e-learning and open education in institutions, programs and courses

·    Integrated innovation and quality approaches

·    Global aspects of high-quality Open Education (e.g. collaborations, comparative studies, cultural aspects)

We are seeking scientific paper submissions, as well as proposals for interactive workshop sessions such as learning café sessions, debate formats, thematic table workshops, etc. Submissions of scientific papers related to the conference (max eight pages) must be sent by January 10^th, 2014 using the official template (see www.learning-innovations.eu and http://eif.efquel.org). All papers will be reviewed by the international Scientific Programme Committee in a hybrid review process: open review process and double blind review combination. Authors will be informed of their acceptance by March 10^th, 2014. All accepted papers may be presented at the conference, will be published in the official proceedings of the conference (with ISBN) and distributed to all conference participants as well as throughout Europe. Specific guidelines and requirements can be found on the conference websites at http://eif.efquel.org and www.learning-innovations.eu.

Attendance at the conference is subject to a conference fee (rates will be published at www.learning-innovations.eu and http://eif.efquel.org) and requires registration through the conference website, as places are limited. The conference fee includes all provisions including a warm 3-course lunch, coffee breaks, conference bag and the official conference proceedings. At least one author has to register for the publication of an accepted paper. Selected papers will be invited to submit an extended version for publication in INNOQUAL, the International Journal for Innovation and Quality in Learning (http://innoqual.efquel.org).

Overview of the important dates:

-          Paper submission deadline:          10th of January 2014

-          Notification of acceptance:          10th of March 2014

-          Camera-ready submission:          31st of March 2014

-          Deadline for author registration:        31st of March 2014

-          Conference days:          7th to 9th of May 2014 in Crete

For the latest information on the conference, please visit and like the LINQ Conference Facebook page at www.facebook.com/LINQConference and follow the LINQ Conference Twitter account at www.twitter.com/LINQ_Conference.

All information about the Call for Papers can be found on the conference websites at: http://eif.efquel.org and www.learning-innovations.eu