The ICDE conference in Vienna in June was the place where people involved in Open and Distance Learning from all over the world were gathered. It was also the place for the E.F.ODL steering committee to have a meeting. It was a nice place to think over the benefits of our organisation.
It was clear that there is a lot going on in the world of ODL, but this is because it is mainly dominated by universities and institutes for higher education. Our emphasis on ODL for employees/ job seekers and our focus on best practice distinguishes us clearly from existing networks.
In this edition you will find a report on the ICDE conference. There is also news from our members.

- Ms Goetschalkx, who co-ordinated the initial activities of E.F.ODL, has taken up a new post within VDAB. The steering committee has thanked her for her effort she made during recent months.

- Membership of The European ODL Liaison Committee. ILO, the International Training Centre of the International Labour Organisation, has sent an application to become an associated member of E.F.ODL. The ILO will be invited for a meeting with the E.F.ODL to speak about further co-operation.

- E.F.ODL will actively be involved in the conference of the Liaison Committee in June next year (Lisbon). Beside presentations E.F.ODL will prepare a discussion paper on issues in ODL that are important to talk about at a European (commission) level.

- "Web-based learning environment in Europe pedagogical challenges" - a virtual seminar

During the Netd@ys '99, 13 - 27 November 1999 and the following week the European Federation for Open and Distance Learning (E.F.ODL) will organise an international virtual seminar

Objectives:
- Raise awareness of the potential value of the use of technology-based open and distance learning (ODL) within the lifelong learning process of employees and job seekers with special emphasis on the pedagogical use. - Facilitate the exchange of information between the participants.

Target groups:
Professionals within ODL, adult education and in-company training, particularly teachers and trainers.

Organisation:
The Norwegian Association for Distance Education (NADE) will be responsible. A project team will be set up consisting of a project manager, a faculty with 5 experienced professionals in the use of web-based teaching and learning. Each of the countries' representatives in the network will be involved and be responsible for information, press-contacts and activities in their own countries.

Activities:
The main activity is planning and running a virtual seminar on the Internet during the Netd@ys '99 and the following week. The theme will be: web-based learning environment in Europe - pedagogical challenges. The seminar will be evaluated. Reports will be published on the web-pages of the E.F.ODL and the members' home-pages. A printed report will be distributed. A program for press-contacts in the participating countries will be made.

Outcomes:
Increased awareness and knowledge of the pedagogical uses of the Internet as a learning tool among teachers and trainers. New and enlarged networks established between professionals. Documentation of the activities will be distributed on the web pages. Evaluation reports will be printed.

Dissemination:
The results will be published both on the web of the E.F.ODL and of the members involved. Reports will be distributed in the participating countries and presented at conferences and in electronic and printed newsletters.

For more information, contact project manager: Bjoern Baaberg, NKS Foundation, Norway: e-mail:baabjo@nks.no

or Norwegian Association for Distance Education (NADE) e-mail:nade@nade-nff.no

France

- FFFOD held its General assembly on the 1st of June, and welcomed on the same day its 60th member! A new board was elected. Mr Jacques Bahry has been re-elected as Chairman, Mrs Sally O'Farrell as Vice-Chair and Bernard Blandin as General Secretary.
- TELEFORM'99: Organised by the Cyberworkers Association, a member of FFFOD based in Marseille. This Conference and Exhibition on Open and Distance Learning has taken place for the second year in Marseille (28-30 April). It was supported by the French Ministry of Employment and the European Social Fund, and sponsored among others by the Regional Council, Lotus, Microsoft, Oracle, Sybase and Canal+ This event was a great success with more than 8,000 visitors, 103 exhibitors, 25 conferences Conferences and details on the event are available in video on the web at the following URL: http://www./teleform99.com/
33 Competitors registered for the Competition for the Best "Corporate Intranet for Training". The first prize went to AFNIC (the French Organisation for Naming on the Internet). Aerospatiale, Credit Mutuel de Bretagne, and two training organisations: First Finance and the Centre for Vocational Training in Banking and Finance (CFPB), member of the FFFOD, were also awarded.
Next year, TELFORM 2000 is going international and asked FFFOD to participate in the organisation of the event. Organisations members of E.F.ODL members will be invited to participate. Tick the end of April 2000 in your diaries.

Belgium

The Belgian network for open and distance learning is born.
The VDAB (Flemish Employment and Vocational Training Service) and FOREM (Vocational Training and Employment Wallonie), two of the main actors on the Belgian labour market, initiated the set-up of the Belgian network for open and distance learning.
A successful start on April 30th 1999 was made, thanks to close co-operation with several private and public organisations. Hard- & software producers as well as providers of software, vocational training institutes and employer representative organisations signed up their membership for the Board of Directors. Amongst them you find some of the larger organisations such as SIEMENS, BELGACOM, SYBASE and TELEPOLIS.
Jef STAES, training manager at SIEMENS (Herentals Belgium) was elected president of the network.
" Nowadays and even more in the near future, ODL offers in many cases a solution for training needs in companies." Johan Van Oost, president of the E.F.ODL and general manager of the Belgian network, mentioned in his opening speech. " This network offers the users a source where they can find accurate information on ODL-possibilities. A network representing all parties guarantees a permanent forum and consequently allows for supply and demand to be efficiently balanced."
The Belgian network aims at facilitating projects and co-operation between users, training organisations and technology providers. Those three categories can rely on the overall expertise within the network to find a solution for their problems. In the mean time, supply of different types of ODL-products and services becomes more transparent. These overall aims are to be found back in the mission statement of the network: " The Belgian network for open and distance learning wants to promote the use of open and distance learning by the workforce of today and tomorrow"
As a member of the E.F.ODL, the Belgian network enables its own members to be aware of developments and evolutions in neighbouring countries. A possible co-operation between member organisations of all networks over Europe, will create new chances for everyone, now and in the near future.
In the second half of this initial year the Belgian network plans two seminars:
November 18th : "Speech technology in ODL: integration for disabled people" in Gent, supported by INDOGO
November 25th: "Pedagogical engineering in ODL" in Charleroi, supported by FOREM
If you want more information on the Belgian network and its services or to sign up for the seminars, please contact one of the following persons:
Johan Van Oost tel. ++ 32 (0)9 265 49 04 e-mail: jvoost@vdab.be
Corine Maeyaert tel. ++ 32 (0)9 265 49 06 e-mail: cmaeyaer@vdab.be
Michel Pierre tel. ++ 32 (0)71 20 65 79 e-mail: michel.pierre@forem.be

The Netherlands

On July 7th the School for the Future held a meeting to start a new ODL network in the Netherlands. In order to establish again a network that could meet the demands of a real E.F.ODL national representive there was a need for this initiative. The goal is to establish a real mixed network of educational institutes, publishers, developers etc.
The meeting was attended by 50 institutes, most of them enthousiastic about the initiative. During the meeting it was decided to focus on best practice and the facilitation of knowledge transfer between ODL specialists. The networkactivities for the next year are specialists meetings on ODL subjects, at least one knowledge transfer meetingprogramme with an other E.F.ODL national network. For this last activity the Dutch network is planning a programme with NADE in Norway in April or May next year.

ICDE Conference 99 June 20 - 24 Vienna, Austria
This ICDE conference was visited by attendees from all over the world, a huge number of attendees combined with a huge number of presentations. The presentations were organised in strands to make it easier to choose.
The conference was a real meeting place of ODL specialists and it was able to give in a few days a general view of what is going on in the world. This was both the mayor benefit as well as the greatest disadvantage of the conference. The way the conference was organised it was only possible to get general information. Most presenters had less than half an hour. Because of the fact that most sessions advertised 5 presentations in one time block, and (in the sessions I followed) only 60% of the presentators showed up, you can imagine there was not always value for money.
Lessons learned from this conference:
If you bring ODL specialists together, look closely at the benefits they can bring to each other. The environments they work in should be comparable and the best practice of the presenters should havebe of great interest to the attendees.
It's hardly interesting to listen to professionals who get no more than 20 minutes to tell about their lifes-work.
The countries that have the knowledge for which the E.F.ODL members are looking, are in general, Australia, USA and some European countries e.g.the Scandinavian Countries. The situation in the rest of the world (Brazil, India) is so different that it will only provide best practice which is of use only in particular circumstances.
The value of a network like E.F.ODL that brings ODL specialists together with a common interest (ODL for employees en Job Seekers) in comparable countries has become clear because of this conference.

Nevertheless, despite the critics, the conference provided the opportunity to meet professionals from all over the world. Because of the fact that the next ICDE conference will be in D&uumlsseldorf, Germany (and not at the other side of the world) the conference could again be the place for E.F.ODL to be present.

ALT-C99 Conference September 21 - 23 Bristol, UK
Between September 21 and 23 an international conference will take place at the University of Bristol. It is the sixth conference of the Association for Learning Technology which takes as its theme: 'The Learning Technology Life-Cycle.'
ALT-C99 will examine the entire life-cycle of learning technology, from initial design through to implementation and outcome evaluation. Effective use of learning technology depends upon integration within traditional academic and curricular frameworks. ALT-C99 will focus on discipline-based implementation and include associated issues of policy and staff development. Each day of the conference will address one of the three themes of DESIGN, PRACTICE and OUTCOMES.
Day 2 of the conference will study the implementation of technology from a practitioner's perspective, and discipline-specific sessions will be run in conjunction with the Computers in Teaching Initiative (CTI).http://www.cti.ac.uk/
An online booking form is available at the conference website: http://www.ilrt.bris.ac.uk/alt-c99/

IT Conference League for Innovation October 20 - 24 Chicago, USA
This annual conference for community colleges (ODL for employees and jobseekers!) with hundreds of presentations and last year with 3000 attendees is well organised and has a high status in the USA.
The focus is on what is going on in education, especially communitiy colleges in the field of IT. Open and Distance learning is part of the programme (see the programme on the site of last year for example).
Besides the best practice that is coming to the fore in the presentations, the conference has had very inspiring key note speakers the last couple of years.
Emphasis is on educational issues but also organisational and technical themes are provided. Members of the Dutch Network for ODL have been visiting this conference for the last 8 years. This year again there will be a Dutch delegation of approximately 80 people.
The Dutch Network has a strong relationship with the American League for Innovation. E.F.ODL members who are interested in the conference are invited to use this relationship.

More information: http://www.league.org/

WORLD OPEN LEARNING FOR BUSINESS CONFERENCE AND EXHIBITION October 6 - 7 Birmingham, UK
To maximise opportunities for networking, WOLCE 99 will feature a number of open learning-related interest groups. These groups, operating at WOLCE for the first time, will take place in the Network Café' on the exhibition floor and are free to both conference delegates and exhibition visitors.

The interest groups will cover other topics such as:
a. Best practice in managing open learning training
b. Learning management systems
c. Multimedia
d. Open learning networking organisations
e. Feedback and evaluation and
f. Learning resource centres

The WOLCE 99 conference is split into three streams: examining key challenges for open learning, the effective implementation of open learning and online learning.

The key challenges under discussion include how to transform your company's culture to become open learning friendly' and the role of open learning in knowledge management and building intellectual capital.
Those studying the effective implementation of open learning can find out how to achieve the optimum mix of training products and techniques; discover practical tools for setting up a successful learning resource centre, and debate the effective evaluation of open learning. They can also discuss the changing role of trainers as facilitators of open learning rather than instructors.
The online learning stream of the conference offers tips for implementing effective Internet and intranet-delivered learning as well as for exploiting the opportunities presented by learning management systems.

This year's conference contains over 30 case studies on the application of open learning in both the private and public sectors of the economy.

In addition to keynote addresses from the author and behavioural psychologist, Dr Peter Honey, and technology and learning futurist, Elliott Masie, delegates can hear presentations from top open learning practitioners and strategists from the UK, Europe and North America.

Visiting an exhibition is usually a passive activity: you look at what is on offer and, maybe, talk to a few of the exhibitors about their specific products and services. However, visitors to the WOLCE 99 exhibition will also be able to take a more active part in the proceedings by contributing to the interest groups' meetings taking place in the Network Caf‚' on the floor of the exhibition.

Other Conferences coming up:

IMPROVING WORKFORCE PRODUCTIVITY, 5'TH SYMPOSIUM ON ODL, November 29 - December 2, Surabaya Indonesia. URL: http://www.pustekkom.go.id/event/simpo5/
SECOND INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM, CENTRE NATIONAL D'ENSEIGNEMENT A DISTANCE, December 1 - 2, Paris France URL: http://www.cned.fr/entretiens/