Steven Ney completed his doctorate in the policy sciences at the Department of Comparative Politics in the University of Bergen. Trained as a policy analyst at the University of London, Steven Ney has worked on a wide range of policy issues in a number of research institutes including the LOS Center in Bergen, ICCR in Vienna and the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis in Laxenburg. After spending four years from 2005 as an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Singapore Management University, Steven Ney took up the Chair of Social Entrepreneurship at Jacobs University, Bremen in August 2009. Starting as a researcher of environmental issues, particularly climate change, Steven Ney has developed an interest in analysing the way societies deal with complex and uncertain policy challenges. Recently, Steven Ney has concentrated on social innovation and social entrepreneurship as a means of bringing about institutional change.

Since November 2014, Steven Ney is a D-Fellow at the HPI School of Design Thinking in Potsdam. Apart from developing the international relations of the HPI School of Design Thinking, he is currently designing and implementing a certification process for D-Thinking Coaches.

Links

https://hpi.de/school-of-design-thinkin…

Laura is the Managing Director of Towards Maturity a not-for-profit benchmark practice that provides independent expert research and advice in using learning innovation to accelerate business performance. Her work is based on 25+ years of practical experience looking at learning innovation for business advantage, backed by her independent research with over 5,500 organisations and 25,000 learners since 2003. She is author of Author of over 40 major research reports including ´Live Online Learning´, ´Bridging the Gap – Integrating learning and work´ and over 200 articles.

Links

http://www.towardsmaturity.orghttp://www.e-skills.com

Thomas Jenewein is the SAP Education Business Development Manager for Middle & Eastern Europe. After studying Organizational Psychology he collected more than 20 years of experience from different positions in the field of Learning & Talent Management, consultancy and program management. Thomas is a frequent content contributor  and creates blog entries, articles or holds presentations on innovation in learning.

Links

http://www.sap.com

SDI is a media localization provider, offering dubbing, subtitling and media services. Jamie is a senior HR leadership professional with extensive experience in the Automotive, Oil & Gas and Media industries. She has coordinated global HR Learning department centralizations and installations of learning & performance management systems. Her diverse experiences have built up solid knowledge particularly in International HR Operations, Learning Department Management and Leadership Development. Currently Jamie is responsible for locations across SDI Media’s European region which covers an employee base of approximately 800 employees and 23 locations.

Ines is Head of the Sartorius College, an institution of Sartorius, one of the world’s leading providers of laboratory and process technologies and equipment. In this role she leads the company’s event and soft skill training activities, overseeing a team of event- and seminar manager. Before joining Sartorius, Ines worked for an international process consultancy and got the chance to work with amazing clients such as Boehringer Ingelheim. TÜV Süd, M+W Group and the Singapore Malay Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Richard Cannane is the Global Training & Development Manager at Trafigura (Geneva), a global commodities trading company. He joined Trafigura in 1999 in the Metals & Minerals Operations department. Between 2007 and 2014 he was the global manager for Lead & Zinc Concentrates Operations as well as a project manager for processes and systems integrations He is founding member if the HSEC committee. Richard has lived and worked in Australia, Switzerland and China, as well as working on various projects with the company in over 20 countries.

Róisín is Digital Learning Manager for the Humanitarian Capacity Building team. They are a dedicated team that designs and runs specialist training programs for Save the Children and the sector as a whole. Róisín’s focus is to develop and manage digital partnerships to deliver on the organization’s vision of scalable, flexible, immersive and sustainable online learning for humanitarians. Her previous roles have been based in Technology Enhanced Learning and Academic Skills Development services. She is interested in the potential for gamification, serious games and scenario-based learning.

Samantha Davis specializes in leadership and management development of humanitarian workers. Samantha provides leadership to a team of global learning and development experts to deliver skills and talent development experts programs for development and emergency response staff across the sector. She has over 15 years of experience in not-for-profit organisations with a focus on building collaborative partnerships and promoting collaborative approaches.

Prof. Dr. Bernd Rüschoff has a special research focus on technology enhanced learning systems and has participated in numerous (inter)national projects dealing with the development and assessment of digital tools and multi-media resources in language learning. In addition, his research addresses a wide range of issues in the field of applied linguistics, such as language & culture, bilingual education, corpus linguistics and data-driven learning, as well as the implementation of CEFR and competency-oriented principles in language learning.

Andreas P. Schmidt is professor for enterprise social media and mobile business at Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences since early 2012. He has coordinated two major European research projects on workplace learning: MATURE and EmployID. His research has focused on designing technology support informal learning at the workplace and knowledge management. His particular interests include evolutionary perspectives to collaborative knowledge development and modelling (knowledge maturing), agile approaches, and systematic approaches to designing socio-technical solutions.

Links

http://de.ilin.eu/person/andreas-p-schm…

Twitter

Graham Attwell is Director of Pontydysgu, a research and development company based in Wales. Pontydysgu are a partner in the EmployID project and are active in developing online social learning programmes as well as systems for providing and understanding Labour Market Information. Graham Attwell’s main work centres on the use of technology for learning and knowledge sharing in a wide variety of different communities including in work, in communities and in public services. He is author of a wide range of publication and is active ins social media and blogging. His twitter account is @GrahamAttwell.

Links

http://www.pontydysgu.org

Christine Kunzmann is an HR consultant and trainer with special focus on innovative approaches to competence development and human resource development. Since 2008, she has also been researcher in several major European research projects (MATURE, MIRROR, LAYERS) with focus on motivational aspects and knowledge maturing. She has a major role in the EmployID project in the context of Public Employment Services and its consultancy network.

Links

http://www.christne-kunzmann.de

Carmen Wolf-Gauß, M.A., is academic staff in the Research Group Engineering Didactics in the Department for Vocational and General Education at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology. She is a certified Business Coach and CAI®-certified Online-Coach and wrote her PhD on the effect of self-coaching on solution-oriented self-reflection in July 2017. In the EU project EmployID she is responsible for E-Coaching, Peer Coaching Training and further Training of facilitators in the workplace.

Links

http://www.ibap.kit.edu/

Links

http://www.upc.eduhttp://www.learning-layers.eu

John Marsh for the DWP from 1968 until 2015, progressing through various roles during his career, starting with basic clerical work and ending as a Learning Design professional with the Operational Excellence Group. As a Designer, he was responsible for designing, mainly, skills learning for DWP. He designed a number of the major learning programmes for Work Coaches. One of his products was delivered to 26,000 staff and, for this, he received praise from the UK Parliament. As a designer he has received numerous awards. Since retiring from DWP I am involved with the EmployID project, as a member of the Advisory Board.

Annette Peet (1964) is an experienced project and program manager at SURF. SURF is the collaborative ICT organization for Dutch higher education and research. It offers students, lecturers and scientists in the Netherlands access to the best possible internet and ICT facilities.

Annette graduated as Master of Science at Utrecht University. Since then she has worked as senior consultant and project manager for several consultancy agencies, the Ministry of Transport, Utrecht University and SURF. Her focus has always been on accelerating adoption of (IT) innovation within institutions and facilitating collaboration between parties involved.

The last 15 years she has been working in the field of higher education. Since 2012, she has become completely at home in the subject of digital assessment and e-learning as manager of various projects and programs on a national level. Recent publications about digital assessment: Secure assessment workbook, Whitepaper Online Proctoring, Innovations in digital assessment, Guidelines for digital assessment policy.

Jenny (1972) is an experienced program and project manager. She has fulfilled these roles in both international and national organizations and in both the commercial as non-profit sectors. She enjoys working on the edge of company processes, ICT and people and balancing these elements.

Since 2013, Jenny has been working as a project manager at SURF. SURF is the collaborative ICT organization for Dutch higher education and research. SURF offers students, lecturers and scientists in the Netherlands access to the best possible internet and ICT facilities.

Jenny has been responsible for various projects related to digital assessment. She is fully at home in the digital assessment world in higher education: from the cost and benefits, the organizational influence, the assessment systems, to the potential benefits of collaboration between institutions in this field. Key responsibility within this role is ensuring broad dissemination of knowledge between Dutch higher education institutions.

Specialties: secure and safe assessment (Secure assessment workbook), BYOD, exchangeability between assessment systems & standardization, joint item banking, innovation in education, open badges.

Martin Romijn – Chief Information Security Officer at Eindhoven University of Technology.

Martin, with over 30 years of Information Technology experience in roles like Project Manager and Test Manager, specialized in Information Security in 2000. Since then he fulfilled the roles of IT Auditor, Security Consultant and Security Officer. His most recent certification specialized him in cloud computing security (ISC/CCSP).

In various roles, he contributed to valued and widely used policy documents on information security in the education sector. Examples are the Baseline information security for Higher Education, the Guideline data classification and the Secure assessment workbook.

Since August 2015, Martin is the Chief Information Security Officer of Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e, the Netherlands). TU/e is a leading, international, in engineering science & technology specialized university. Within the university Martin coordinates all strategic and tactical activities with respect to information security. His efforts cover the areas Business Services, Education and Research.

Besides his work, Martin favors traveling with and without his motorcycle.

David is Head of DigitalLearning at the University of the Arts London. He researches individuals’ motivation to engage online for learning using his ‘Visitors and Residents’ paradigm. This work has given him a good understanding of the changing nature of learning and the impact of the Web on the education sector. David has led national and international studies discovering exactly how people go about learning in the Web era and can often be found communicating his findings and thoughts via all means available including keynotes, blog-posts and videos.

Links

http://www.arts.ac.uk

Twitter

“Why don’t organisations learn and innovate fast enough?”

Jef Staes offers an answer to this question. As a thought leader in the fields of learning and innovation management, he analyses the way in which people resist and even obstruct change processes. And Jef does not shy away from confrontation! With a vast range of new insights and metaphors, he illustrates why managers and policymakers often reach the wrong decisions.

Expert

Jef Staes (Belgium, 1956) is one of the leading experts on these topics in Belgium and is quickly gaining international respect for his energizing mindset. He currently assists organizations in their quest to find a comprehensive answer and approach to the changing dynamics of today’s world. Based on his career as a software designer (GTE ATEA in Belgium & USA), training Manager and Corporate Learning Officer (Siemens, Belgium), he gained practical insights in the dynamics of organizational development.

Speaker

Jef Staes is often the keynote speaker on various topics concerning culture innovation and this for a diverse audience (conferences, education, in-company, ...). He has given hundreds of keynotes, both in English and Dutch. Furthermore, he’s a visiting lecturer at several Management schools (Vlerick, UAMS, EHSAL). His refreshing stories are guaranteed eye-openers and his new look at the role of managers has inspired many.

Author

He is also the author of a number of books on the topics of innovation and change management. One of which, “My Organisation is a Jungle”, was also translated to English. Through the use of rich metaphors and exciting parallels, he truly engages you in the story of the Red Monkey. Other books in the series, “My Manager is a Hero” & "I was a Sheep" continue the story and are often featured in Jef's speeches. All books have been bestselling publications with over 15.000 copies sold.

Links

http://www.jefstaes.com

Stephen Downes works for the National Research Council of Canada where he has served as a Senior Researcher, based in Moncton, New Brunswick, since 2001. Affiliated with the Learning and Collaborative Technologies Group, Institute for Information Technology, Downes specializes in the fields of online learning, new media, pedagogy and philosophy.

Downes is perhaps best known for his daily newsletter, OLDaily, which is distributed by web, email and RSS to thousands of subscribers around the world, and as the originator of the Massive Open Online Course (MOOC). He is a popular speaker, appearing at hundreds of events around the world over the last fifteen years. He has published hundreds of articles both online and in print through two decades of research and development into learning networks and related technologies.

Prior to joining the NRC, Downes worked for the University of Alberta as an information architect, and prior to that, as a distance education and new media design specialist for Assiniboine Community College in Brandon, Manitoba. This followed a decade of teaching experience both in person and by distance with Athabasca University, the University of Alberta, and Grande Prairie regional college. 

At the University of Alberta he built a learning and research portal for the municipal sector in that province, Munimall, and another for the Engineering and Geology sector, PEGGAsus. He also pioneered the development of learning objects and was one of the first adopters and developers of RSS content syndication in education. Downes introduced the concept of e-learning 2.0 and with George Siemens developed and defined the concept of Connectivism, using the social network approach to deliver open online courses to three thousand participants over two years. 

Downes obtained a BA and MA in philosophy from the University of Calgary, specializing in epistemology and the philosophy of science. He also studied at the PhD level at the University of Alberta, completing all but his dissertation. Among numerous volunteer and committee positions while a student, Downes served as editor of the Calgary student newspaper, the Gauntlet, for two terms, and as president of the Graduate Students' Association at the University of Alberta, also for two terms. He served as a member of the Board of Governors, University of Alberta, and with the Athabasca University Governing Council.

After completing high school at Ottawa's School of Continuing Education while working as a concession stand worker and dishwasher, Downes studied computing science for one year at Algonquin College while working as a telephone equipment installer and (later) as a security guard. He worked for a year as a computer operator for Texas Instruments in Calgary, then as a pot washer, 7-Eleven clerk, and development education programmer for the Arusha International Development Centre. Downes has also been a newspaper carrier, waiter at a race track, hot dog vendor, building cleaner and camp counsellor. He was a candidate for mayor in the city of Brandon in 1995.

Downes was born in Montreal, Quebec, in 1959 and has four brothers (all younger). He lives in Moncton, New Brunswick, with his wife Andrea (b. Colorado Springs, Colorado; married 1998) and four cats (Bart, Polly, Lexi and Alex).

Stephen reads a lot of science fiction and books in general. He enjoys movies, television and sports, especially hockey. He enjoys playing darts and NTN Trivia (though since Moncton has no NTN locations, it's a lot harder to play). He is an avid Civilization III player and an enthusiastic photographer.

Read more about Stephen Downes' views on the next era of learning.

Links

http://www.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/http://www.downes.ca/

Twitter

Bert’s professional life is all about competent people. He thinks, publishes, consults, designs and sets up learning and development projects for corporations. His areas of expertise include technology enhanced learning and leadership development.

Bert has been active in the field of corporate learning and e-learning for the last 20 years, first as instructor and course designer, later as project manager, consultant and business development manager. He worked at IBM Learning Development Europe where he was responsible for commercial e-learning development projects across Europe, and the management of the learning innovation initiatives. Six years ago he joined the Center for Creative Leadership where he is now a faculty and EMEA's IP & Innovation Lead. Bert wrote the book 'Homo Competens – Let’s talk about competent people in the network age', frequently speaks at conferences such as OEB and blogs.

Bert is currently a faculty member of the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL) EMEA office. In his role he designs and develops customized leadership interventions and programs for clients. He is also the IP and Innovation Lead, making knowledge flow and orchestrating innovation initiatives.

Links

http://www.ccl.org

Twitter

Willi Bernhard, Dipl. El. Ing. FH is a Professor at the Swiss Distance University of Applied Sciences (FFHS). He is head of consulting services, lecturer and researcher. Since 1984, he has been engineer, lecturer and researcher in industrial and academic organisations in the domains of e-Learning, Modelling & Simulation, Computer Aided Engineering, Creativity & Innovationmanagement, E-Collaboration, Communities of Practice, Technology Enhanced Learning and Game & Simulation Based Learning.
He is in the steering committee of the Swiss Engineering Association STV section of Basel and also founder and CEO of the Basle Institute of Technology and the Swiss Simulation Engineering GmbH.

Links

http://www.ffhs.ch

Prof. Dr. Möslein-Tröppner has many years of experience in industry and trade. His main focus in research and teaching is in the areas of supply chain management, process management and market research as well as new learning methods. He is Professor at DHBW Ravensburg.

Links

http://www.ravensburg.dhbw.de/startseit…

Marc Prensky, coiner of the term “Digital Native,” is an internationally acclaimed speaker, author, consultant and “practical visionary,” promoting civilization-level change in global education.  Marc has spoken in over 40 countries, authored seven books, and published over 100 essays; his writing has been translated into 11 languages. He is currently the founder and Executive Director of the Global Future Education Foundation and Institute. Marc’s latest book, Education to Better Their World: Unleashing the Power of 21^st Century Kids (Columbia TC Press, 2016), is a finalist for the 2016 Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Awards in Education.

Links

http://global-future-education.org/http://www.marcprensky.com/

Isabel García-Wülfing ist wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin im Bundesinstitut für Berufsbildung und seit Anfang 2011 zuständig für die fachliche Begleitung des Förderprogramms des Bundesministeriums für Bildung und Forschung zur Entwicklung und zum Einsatz digitaler Medien in der beruflichen Bildung.

Links

http://www.bibb.de

Links

http://www.rfh-koeln.de

Benjamin Knoke holds a Masters degree in Production Engineering and Industrial Management at the University of Bremen. He works as Scientific Researcher at BIBA in the department of “Applied Information and Communication Technology” (IKAP) with human-machine interface (HMI) technologies and training simulators for production processes as focal area of research. He participated , and still has part, in several national and European projects (e.g. MESA. BIVEE, InnoMatNet).

ANDREA MOHORIC WAS BORN 1962 IN WAIBLINGEN (NEAR STUTTGART) IN GERMANY. HER QUALIFICATIONS ARE: VOCATIONAL TRAINING AS TECHNICAL DESIGNER IN MAINZ, DIPLOMA IN POLITICAL SCIENCES AND SECOND STUDY AS FURTHER EDUCATION AND TRAINING MANAGEMENT BOTH IN BERLIN.

SHE FIRST WORKED IN THE FIELD OF POLITICAL EDUCATION AND SINCE 1995 IN VOCATIONAL EDUCATION AND TRAINING AS COURSE ORGANIZER/ MANAGER. SINCE 1998 SHE WORKED IN THE FIELD OF VOCATIONAL EDUCATION AND TRAINING FOR TARGET GROUPS WITH SPECIAL NEEDS AND DISADVANTAGED TRAINEES.

FROM 2000-2008 SHE WAS HEAD OF A TRAINING CENTER FOR GASTRONOMIC AND HOUSEKEEPING VOCATIONAL TRAINING AT KIEZKÜCHEN BERLIN. DURING THIS PERIOD SHE HAD PROJECT RESPONSIBILITY FOR SEVERAL EUROPEAN AND NATIONAL PILOT PROJECTS.

FROM 2008-2013 SHE WORKED AS SENIOR EXPERT/CONSULTANT WITHIN THE LEONARDO DA VINCI PROGRAM FOR THE NATIONAL AGENCY (BILDUNG FÜR EUROPA) AT BUNDESINSTITUT FÜR BERUFSBILDUNG BIBB. HER WORK FOCUSED ON MOBILITY ESPECIALLY FOR EDUCATIONAL STAFF, CONSULTANT AND NETWORK STRATEGIES AND MULTIPLIERS, PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT OF TEACHERS AND TRAINERS, INCLUSION IN VOCATIONAL TRAINING ESPECIALLY FOR MOBILITY PROJECTS WITH DISADVANTAGED TRAINEES FOR VET IN GERMANY AND EUROPE.

FROM 2013-JAN 2016 SHE WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE PILOT PROGRAM VOCATIONAL EDUCATION AND TRAINING FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT. HER MAIN FOCUS IS THE TRANSFER OF PROJECT RESULTS AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF FURTHER STRATEGIES FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN VET. (AT BIBB)

SINCE FEB.2016 SHE WORKS AS PROJECT-COORDINATOR  AT F-BB RESEARCHINSTITUTE FOR VOCATIONAL EDUCATION AND TRAINING IN THE FIELD OF VET, CURRENT TOPICS: DIGITAL LEARNING AND MODULAR TRAINING CONCEPTS FOR LOW-SKILLED, UNIVERSITY DROP OUT AND TRANSITION INTO VET, EUROPEAN PROJECTS / ERASMUS+ AND INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION, INTEGRATION OF DISADVANTAGED INTO VET AND EMPLOYMENT.

Links

http://www.f-bb.de

Head of Section 3.2 “Digital Media, Distance Learning, Training Personnel”

Advisory services to the Federal Government and to the corporate sector in the thematical field of ICT-based VET learning and working environments, designing, launching, monitoring & evaluation of national funding programms, joint shaping of implementation strategies for high quality results into the world of work. Ongoing improvement of web based services for trainers in VET (www.foraus.de) to support their daily practice of training in companies. Development of national standards for teacher & trainer qualification (Trainers`s Aptitude – AEVO, www.foraus.de), designing of (web based) training moduls and tools for further training of teachers & trainers (e.g. IT-Literacy). Advisory services within BIBB´s international co-operation activities. Appraising, quality management and certifying of (web based) distance learning courses for continuous training.

Links

http://www.bibb.de/

Vice President Forum DistancE-Learning (FDL) and CEO ibbw-consult

Forum DistancE-Learning is the German Association for DistancE-Learning and Learning Media.

Since 1986 I am engaged in distance education and since 1992 in e-learning projects and e-learning training. Since 2001 Member of the board of Forum DistancE-Learning and chairman of the section for pedagogical and didactical issues in distance learning.

Initiator and organizer of the annual German FDL-FachForum, designed to identify future demands for vocational media-enhanced learning.

This years FachForum is dedicated to Social Media Learning (http://fachforum-distance-learning.de/).

Links

http://www.ibbw-consult.de/institut/

Jens Greefe holds a diploma in Economics and is member of the board of the Forum Distance Learning, the german association for distance learning.

Since 2014 he is also Chairman of the Research & Developing Committee of EADL.

Jens Greefe is the Director of Studies at the ILS in Hamburg, Germanys biggest distance learning provider, educating app. 70.000 students in more than 300 distance courses. He is responsible for the development and the organization of the course programs and for the quality management of the ILS.

Links

http://www.forum-distance-learning.dehttp://www.eadl.org

John Trasler is the founder of Elearn which provides  provides consultancy in distance and blended learning together with training programme for individulas and organisations in management, leadership and coaching.

With over 25 years in the education and training business John has managed multi-national companies for Pearson and News Corporation in both Europe and Asia. John holds a masters degree and is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) and an Executive Member of European Association of Distance Learning (EADL).

Links

http://www.elearn.co.uk

Mark Endean is Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics at the UK Open University (OU). He is also Chair of the Open and Distance Learning Quality Council (ODLQC) an accrediting body for online and distance learning providers in the UK’s private sector.

His background is in materials processing, manufacturing technologies and manufacturing systems. In addition to his OU lectureship, he has previously held posts as Director of Engineering and Associate Dean of his faculty.

Mark has been a member of and has led teams developing learning materials for distance learning students for over thirty years. These have ranged from first year undergraduates to final year postgraduates. His courses have included traditional distance learning approaches, remote team working, and face-to-face residential schools. His latest teaching project was to redesign a taught postgraduate course for entirely online presentation.

Mark is a regular participant in quality assurance activities within the OU and beyond. He has held examining positions at various institutions and has taken part in formal quality reviews at universities in the UK, Germany and the Caribbean. He also supports engineering groups at partner institutions through staff development and advice on teaching and learning issues.

Links

http://www.open.ac.uk/

Merle Losem holds a diploma in Economics and Pedagogy. Merle is working in the distance Education since 2001, her focus is the development of vocational trainingprograms in serviced sectors.

Since 2005 she is involved in workinggroups and workshops referring to pedagogical and didactical issues in the german “Forum DistancE-Learning”.

Since 2011, Merle is founder & CEO of DGBB GmbH, Cologne. DGBB GmbH is offering 50 distance education programs, with a focus on a complete digital & flexible approach to distance-learning.

Links

http://dgbb.de

With a degree in English and German philology and English literary science  Denis has a background in communications and market research. He has worked on several E-learning projects. For example, from 2011 to 2012 he worked as a student research assistant for the linguistic E-learning platform “Progr@mm kontrastiv” at the Institute for the German Language (IDS) in Mannheim.

Since 2016, Denis has been working for Wikimedia Deutschland as part of their communications team. Here, among other things, he has been involved in scripting and producing video-tutorials for Wikimedia Deutschland’s campaign to attract new volunteers for Wikipedia. Explaining how the free encyclopedia works and that everybody can participate is a perfect case of how simple explanations can be used in video formats.

After working in several IT-related projects in different organisations, Stefan Schneider decided to dedicate his efforts for free knowledge at Wikimedia Deutschland e. V. Here, among other things, he is working on gaining new authors for Wikipedia. Explaining how the free encyclopedia works and that everybody can participate is a perfect case of how simple explanations can be used in video formats.

Paul Bacsich is the Founder and Managing Director of Matic Media Ltd, a consultancy active in online learning since 1996. In addition he consults for the SeroHE division of Sero Consulting Ltd as a Senior Associate.

He has a long-standing interest in Open Education via a large EU project (POERUP) and several EU/European Parliament studies: he is Co-Coordinator of the Open Education Working Group and an Ambassador for the global advocacy of OER and a member of the OER Advocacy Committee of ICDE. 

He is a co-founder of Multeversity, a start-up in online/blended post-secondary education which aims in due course to be an accredited university and higher vocational provider. He also has had involvement in other early-stage online providers over the last six years and has done several studies of them.

His current main publicly visible activities are in leadership in e-learning, via the Erasmus+ D-TRANSFORM project, and Open Education policy analysis across EU Member States (he expects the report will be published soon). These draw on and continue his work over 10 years work on EU open and distance education projects.

In addition to his public work he consults for a number of international, government, commercial, venture fund and university clients on market/competitor/pricing research, policy, education funding models and retention strategies. He has recently finalised a report on credit recognition and transfer for online masters' programmes, for a university client in Canada.

In 2015-16 Paul chaired the review panel for the Vision and Strategy Appraisal of the UK Open University Library, where he interviewed over 70 staff and students and carried out substantial comparative and policy research. He also chaired the E-learning review panel for Uppsala University, with three days of intensive meetings and presentations, and spent four months chairing a task force for the National Forum for Learning and Teaching in Ireland to prepare a scoping document on infrastructure issues related to online learning. He also continued work on reviewing European and Anglophone country activity in ICT in higher education for national agencies in the UK and will soon start work on another review of a department in a leading UK university.

Some of his recent thinking can be found in his UNESCO policy brief on "Alternative Models of Education Delivery" and in a paper for the "Open Education 2030" higher education workshop run by the EU. He remains very interested in "Multiversity" models (see Multeversity) and competence-based provision, based on his earlier studies on "Time and e-learning", developed from a speech given in Austria, a country with which he has increasing links.

In the university phase of his career he was a researcher at Oxford University, had many roles over 25 years at the UK Open University, and was for seven years Professor of Telematics at Sheffield Hallam University and then a Director at the UK e-University. He was also Visiting Professor at Middlesex University and Advisor to the Rector of the Arab Open University.

He has knowledge of and/or experience in higher education in many developed countries.

Links

http://www.serohe.co.uk/team/professor-paul-bacsich/

http://iite.unesco.org/pics/publications/en/files/3214709.pdf

https://independent.academia.edu/PaulBacsich

https://twitter.com/pbacsich

https://www.linkedin.com/in/bacsich/

Links

http://www.sero.co.uk/people/paul/http://www.matic-media.co.ukhttp://bacsich.typepad.com/elearning/

Twitter

Links

http://stifterverband.info/ueber_den_st…

Professor Gilly Salmon has been a learning innovator for more than 30 years and is one of the world’s leading thinkers in digital and blended learning.

She researches and publishes widely on the themes of innovation and change in Higher Education and the exploitation of new technologies of all kinds in the service of learning.

She is internationally renowned for her significant contributions to  education futures, including research, innovation, program design, teaching methods and the use of new technologies. From 1st September 2017, Professor Salmon will be at the Management School at the University of Liverpool.

Previously, she was Pro Vice-Chancellor of Education Innovation, at the University of Western Australia. Prior to her appointment at UWA, she was Pro Vice-Chancellor of Learning Transformations at Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia and before that, Executive Director and Professor (Learning Futures) at the Australian Digital Futures Institute, University of Southern Queensland, Australia. Previously she was Professor of E-learning and Learning Technologies, and Head of the Beyond Distance Research Alliance and the Media Zoo, at the University of Leicester in the UK, and prior to that with the UK Open University Business School.

See her web site www.gillysalmon.com

Links

http://www.liverpool.ac.uk

Twitter

Kay is currently the Exectutive Director Growth Intiatives for Online Education Services (OES).  Founded in 2010, OES is a public-private partnership between SEEK, who have matched over 150,000 students with their ideal course and Swinburne University of Technology, a pioneer in online education with over 20 years’ experience.

The partnership’s first endeavour, Swinburne Online, was launched in 2011 with 10 undergraduate courses in the fields of Business, Social Science and Communication.  By 2017, Swinburne Online had expanded its offerings to include 21 undergraduate and postgraduate university courses, five TAFE courses and offerings for international students, with over 10,000 students currently enrolled.

Kay’s discipline area is Statistics, and she has previously undertaken academic roles at the University of Melbourne, Monash University, and Swinburne University of Technology.  Her most recent academic role in leadership was as Dean of the Faculty of Higher Education, Lilydale, at Swinburne University of Technology, from 2009 to 2011.

Links

http://OES.edu.au

Twitter

Ben Nelson is Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Minerva, and a visionary with a passion to reinvent higher education. Prior to Minerva, Nelson spent more than 10 years at Snapfish, where he helped build the company from startup to the world’s largest personal publishing service. With over 42 million transactions across 22 countries, nearly five times greater than its closest competitor, Snapfish is among the top e-commerce services in the world. Serving as CEO from 2005 through 2010, Nelson began his tenure at Snapfish by leading the company’s sale to Hewlett Packard for $300 million.

Prior to joining Snapfish, Nelson was President and CEO of Community Ventures, a network of locally branded portals for American communities. 

Nelson’s passion for reforming undergraduate education was first sparked at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, where he received a B.S. in Economics. After creating a blueprint for curricular reform in his first year of school, Nelson went on to become the chair of the Student Committee on Undergraduate Education (SCUE), a pedagogical think tank that is the oldest and only non-elected student government body at the University of Pennsylvania.

Links

http://minerva.kgi.edu

Dr. Ari Jonsson is the president of Reykjavik University; a private non-profit university in Iceland that focuses on education, research and industry collaboration in the areas of technology, business and law. 

Dr. Jonsson completed his doctoral degree in Computer Science from Stanford University in 1997, with focus on artificial intelligence and autonomous decision- making. He then joined NASA as a research scientist, working on the development of automated technology to improve the efficiency and reliability of spacecraft operations. During his tenure at NASA, he managed a number of research and development projects, contributing to missions such as the Deep Space One experimental spacecraft, the Mars exploration rovers Spirit and Opportunity, and the operations of the International Space Station. 

In 2007, Dr. Jonsson moved to Reykjavik University as the Dean of the School of Computer Science. In January 2010, he became the President of the university and has served in that role since then. Dr. Jonsson is active in policy development and has served for over seven years on the Icelandic Science and Technology Policy Council.  

Dr. Jonsson actively supports the innovation and entrepreneurship environment in Iceland. He is the Chairman of the Board for one startup and a board member for a few other companies.

Links

http://www.ru.is

Dr.David Lenihan is one of the leading minds in medical education. He has been tasked with creating the world’s leading health sciences learning environment, one which not only results in unprecedented student outcomes but is, in addition, based on an interprofessional model, and deployed at an international scale.

Dr. Lenihan has done this before, most recently as Dean at Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine (NY), where he changed the way medical education is taught: by first “flipping” the classroom (faculty deliver lectures via iTunes and then moderate class discussions), then developing a dynamically adaptive curriculum that changes for each student based on individual knowledge and ability and, finally, by linking the curriculum with real-time, systemic assessment of both students and faculty.

Minute-by-minute monitoring of students’ knowledge enables the school to both improve student outcomes at the same time as reduce “drop out” rates by getting targeted help to students early and often.

Previously, Dr. Lenihan founded a system of outpatient clinics in the UK, which he sold. Dr. Lenihan holds a Ph.D. in Peripheral Neurosurgery/Neuroscience from the University of Edinburgh, was a peripheral nerve surgical fellow at Edinburgh, a Doctor of Chiropractic from Palmer University, and Juris Doctor from Touro University. He has worked as a postdoctoral fellow in spinal cord injury at Washington University (Saint Louis), and has published over 20 scientific papers on the assessment and repair of the nervous system.

Links

http://www.tiberhealth.com

Lauren Herckis is an anthropologist at Carnegie Mellon University with appointments in the Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences and the Human-Computer Interaction Institute in the School of Computer science. She specializes in faculty culture and the use of technology in higher education, and her field research applies anthropological and archaeological methods and theory to analyze human engagement with the material world. Dr. Herckis is interested in learning science, human diversity (especially in urban contexts), the pedagogical training of future faculty, the politics of praxis in fieldwork, chaîne opératoire, and political economy in urban growth. Her research in Latin America interrogates assumptions about cultural heterogeneity in the context of long-term urban growth, and highlights the ways that social networks dynamically impact technical choices and the development of informal economies. Under the aegis of Carnegie Mellon's Simon Initiative, Dr. Herckis' current projects explore the intersection of campus culture, technological change, and effective teaching at the college level. Her research informs policymaking, shapes the development of learning technologies, and illuminates aspects of organizational culture and policy which affect teaching practice.

Dr. Herckis has spent her career working in quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-methods research design and execution, in public, private, and non-profit contexts, and across a variety of disciplinary domains. A former Fulbright fellow, Dr. Herckis worked with the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research, the Center for Health Equity Research and Promotion at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, and the University of Pittsburgh's Center for Instructional Development and Distance Education before joining the faculty at Carnegie Mellon University.

http://www.laurenherckis.com/

https://www.cmu.edu/simon/news/stories/anthropologist-in-the-classroom.html

https://www.hcii.cmu.edu/people/lauren-herckis

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Larry Cooperman, M.A.Ed., is the Associate Dean for Open Education at the University of California, Irvine. He is a former president of the Open Education Consortium, which comprises 300 universities, colleges, educational institutions and associated organizations. Since 2011, he has served on the board of directors of the African Virtual University, whose degree tracks in secondary math and science education and computer science are delivered in partnership with 35 universities across Africa. In partnership with the Chemistry Department at UCI, Cooperman developed the OpenChem project. Today, this project is working in collaboration with the three public university systems in California to make OpenChem available to students and faculty throughout the state and the world.

He is a frequent keynote speaker at international conferences on the future of higher education and distance and open education, including invited talks at TedX Medellin (2011), SXSW.EDU (2012), the Brazilian Association for Distance Education (ABED) (2013),  the Asahi Shinbum conference of the future of higher education (2014), and at two European MOOC conferences (HOME 2014, EMMA/JTEL 2015). His most recent article, “Massive, online, open communities: Toward building an informal, peer-learning sector in Sub-Saharan Africa,” appears in the conference proceedings of the 2^nd International Conference of the African Virtual University.

Links

http://ocw.uci.edu

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