SHAPING THE FUTURE OF DIGITAL EDUCATION IN EUROPE

'A smart network for the professional community and professional community for smart learning' is the motto of EDEN Digital Learning Europe. For more than 30 years, this organization has provided a forum for collaboration and networking for experts and practitioners of digital education. Since October 2024, Professor Wim Van Petegem has been the first Belgian to head EDEN-DLE.

EDEN stands for European Distance and E-Learning Network. On the one hand, it groups together fifty universities, national associations, and research institutes. On the other hand, the organization also comprises a network of academics, professionals, and institutional nominees. Together, they account for 1,000 members. When the new president talks about EDEN, he deliberately does not use the word 'community'. He prefers to speak of 'family'. "Distance does not mean detachment," he believes. "Perhaps precisely because we operate in a digital environment, we feel all the more connected to each other. There is a friendly atmosphere of camaraderie, mutual respect, and support. And we enjoy the live meetings and events even more.”

Open classroom

Wim Van Petegem is an expert in learning technologies at the Faculty of Engineering Technology. As head of the Media & Learning Unit and subsequently Director of the Technology & Learning Department of KU Leuven, he is an authority on new educational technologies, networked e-learning and lifelong and open distance learning. As a passionate education innovator, he is also engaged in several international networks.

Wim's contacts with EDEN date back to 1995 when he participated in the first Open Classroom via satellite transmission from Oslo, Norway. He joined the board shortly afterwards and worked his way up to Vice President Research and chief editor of the European open & Distance Learning Journal (EURODL). In autumn 2024, EDEN's directors unanimously decided to entrust Wim with the presidency of the organization.

Strategic plan

EDEN's headquarters were originally in the UK but were transferred to continental Europe after the Brexit in 2019. Wim's chair is situated in Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, not coincidentally an EU member state at the forefront of digitalization and ICT. "For our live events, we do choose a different location each time," Wim continues. "The 2024 Annual Conference, for example, took place in Graz (Austria), the Research Workshop & PhD Masterclass were organized in Timisoara (Romania) and for the Digital Education Leadership Academy meeting we went to Barcelona. Many of our activities happen online, of course."

For the next three years, the new president already knows what to do. An ambitious strategic plan is ready to be put on track. "Specifically, it involves five priority areas," Wim explains. "Growing and sustaining membership, strengthening knowledge-building events and activities, enhancing organizational efficiency, improving communication and dissemination and playing an active role in shaping digital education policy and practice. The bar is high, we will have to try hard.”

Accents

Nevertheless, Wim also wishes to add personal touches during his tenure. For instance, he wants to make a special commitment to the EDEN Digital Education Leadership Academy (DELA), which is a multi-day gathering of policymakers and key stakeholders leading digital transformation in their institutions. "The past two editions in 2023 and 2024 were promising. The agenda not only included strategic topics. There was also a busy exchange of views on active problem solving in the digital transition."

Furthermore, the new president also wants to invest the necessary time and energy in critical reflection. "New technologies are constantly coming at us whose full impact is difficult to predict. For instance, the use of AI in and outside the classroom by teachers and learners is already raising ethical questions. And we are only at the beginning of this digital revolution. As a leading organization, we owe it to ourselves and society to focus not only on the technological possibilities but also on the social and human aspects of smart learning. In that regard, I already have some good news. In June 2025, our annual conference in Bologna will be all about empowering inclusion, innovation and ethical growth."

-Yves Persoons

 https://eden-europe.eu