by Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c.
Johannes Wildt

Dear eCompetence and eLearning actors,

As we celebrate the Albert Einstein Memorial Year in Germany now, it is wise to quote him from time to time. He said in one famous quotation: "If the facts don't fit the theory, change the facts". By applying the core idea of this saucy statement to the current state of eLearning in higher education, we have to change the overall teaching and learning culture in order to integrate ICT in a sustainable way. This is why we proposed a change management project dubbed EUReCOMP for funding and placed the human factor as the point of departure for eLearning innovation in universities.

In this edition, Andrew Hamilton from Galway will give you some hints on new and forthcoming contents in our eCompetence website. Have a look inside!

The focus in the events section is on the Galway symposium, which took place in April 14-15 and was hosted by our colleagues from the CELT Institute in Ireland. Andrew outlines the presentations that have been given on eCompetence. Iain Mac Labhrainn and Andrew also took the opportunity of the Galway conference to make two video interviews with our partners Jef Van den Branden from K.U.Leuven and Riikka Rissanen from HUT Finland on the specific eCompetence activities in their institutions. These interviews give a preview on the in-depth case study analyses that are carried out with 5 partner institutions.

Next our CELT partners announce a series of video conferences on the subjects of eCompetence. This interesting activity is foreseen to take place from September 2005 on - so keep an eye open if you would like to join this event.

In the eCompetence insights section, Jasmina Hasanbegovic from the Swiss Centre for Innovations in Learning in St. Gallen presents a running project with the aim to identify alternative strategies of competence development in Higher Education. Riikka Rissanen and Anna-Kaarina Kairamo from Helsinki University of Technology outline in their contribution some patterns related to eCompetence in the national TIEVIE training programme for academic staff.

As usual, we include two reviews on eLearning publications that our Swiss partners SCIL have published in the elearning-reviews.org platform. In this edition the reviews focus on change management models for ICT integration and the topic of informal learning, which is increasingly ranging attention in recent conference discussions.

Dirk Schneckenberg gives a short summary on the main foreseen research activities in the EUReCOMP proposal. And Finally Helle Baekkelund from Aalborg University starts a new series on the eCompetence partner profiles. These personal presentations will serve as a way to reinforce the community of practice within the project.

Best regards

Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Johannes Wildt

Publisher:
European eCompetence Initiative

Editors:
Dirk Schneckenberg
Andrew Hamilton
Jenny Booth