LLAS Centre for Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies

CALL FOR PAPERS : Deadline 1 December 2011 Open Educational Resources (OER) are defined as “materials used to support education that may be freely accessed, reused, modified and shared by anyone” (Downes, 2011). Open Educational Practices (OEP) are practices which “support the production, use and reuse of high quality OER through institutional policies, which promote innovative pedagogical models, and respect and empower learners as co-producers on their lifelong learning path.” (ICDE, 2011). Open Communication is reciprocal and respectful exchange which contributes to social presence in online learning (Gunawardena & Zittle, 1997), and the development of intercultural awareness and competence in language learning. One of the affordances of the web is that is provides easy access to knowledge, and this constitutes one of its greatest potential to transform education. “A culture of sharing resources and practices will help facilitate change and innovation in education” (OER Commons, 2011). Open access initiatives to make research publications freely available online or the adoption of open source software solutions, such as Moodle or Mahara, are already having a big impact on education. Flickr, iTunes U or YouTube, all based on the idea of sharing content openly, can also provide excellent resources for teachers and learners. The web also offers unprecedented access to interlocutors from different cultures and contexts, and open environments with multimodal channels for communication which can be harnessed for language and intercultural development. This two-day conference focuses on the impact of adopting openness as a key principle in education. It explores how open resources, open practices and open communication can be integrated in language teaching and learning, and in the initial and continuing development of language teachers. Further information regarding this workshop can be found at : http://eurocallsigsbologna.weebly.com/index.html For more information, please see the conference website.