An event not to be missed by academics in higher education

The sun reflects on the clouds as we leave South Africa to participate in an educational conference

I often hear my colleagues saying that they only attend and participate in conferences linked to their specific field of interest and specialization. In the network society, this is, according to me, an academic suicide attempt. Most academics in Higher education are apart from their subject specific research also educators. Therefore we need to be informed about the opportunities and challenges and developments in the field of education. The 9^th annual International Conference on Education and New Learning Technologies is an event not to be missed, irrespective of your discipline.

This Edulearn conference is hosted by the International Academy of Technology, Education and Development and will take place in Barcelona, Spain from 3 to 5 July 2017. Due date for abstracts is March, 30. The conference topics are divided into Education and Technology in Education, both with several sub-topics.

In the Education strand, there are 6 sub categories. 1) Experiences in Education with 13 linked topics, including management and higher education. 2) Pedagogical Innovations in Education with 10 listed topics including methodology, assessment, new models and tutoring and coaching. 3) Career development and training has 8 topics including lifelong learning and staff training. 4) Experiences in research with 4 sub topics including methodology, links between education and research and new projects. 5) International projects (6 sub topics) include networks and funding programmes and opportunities.  6) General has 12 sub topics including the impact of education on development and student support.

The Technology strand has 5 categories. 1) E-learning has 19 topics linked to it including issues such as blended learning, assessment, distance education, mobile learning and MOOCS. 2) Computer supported collaborative work has 7 topics, including the use of social and digital media use in education. 3) Emerging technologies has 11 topics linked to it, including multimedia and the use of ICT for development. 4) Educational software and serious gaming has 8 topics linked and personally, I think this should be an important development in higher education in the next 5 years. 5) e-Content management and development has 9 linked topics including learning analytics, open access education, digital identity management and security and data protection.

Early bird registration closes 4 May and the registration cost is 480 Euro. The venue is not confirmed yet. I am sure that each one of my colleagues will be able to find an area of interest at this conference that they can link to their teaching and research.