On 11 and 12 December, the conference "Recognition Culture in Higher Education. International Perspectives on Lifelong Learning and Student Mobility" organised by the MODUS project of the German Rectors' Conference took place in Bonn. Keynote speeches, panel discussions, parallel sessions and a world café discussed topics relating to mobility, permeability and different educational backgrounds of learners in higher education as well as the recognition of knowledge, skills and competences.

Julia Dinier and Ricarda Peil from the DAAD presented BIRD in one of the sessions. Under the title "From isolation to federation: the potential of a networked digital infrastructure for lifelong learning and the facilitation of individual learning paths", they discussed how BIRD explores the possibilities for lifelong learning and personalised learning experiences. This was followed by a lively exchange with the audience, whose questions reflected their interest in the project.

Further information on the conference can be found here: International Conference: Recognition Culture in HE - HRK Modus (hrk-modus.de)

 

The BIRD team is pleased to announce the publication of the first educational and teaching-learning scenarios on the Zenodo open science platform. The requirements for BIRD were determined using, among other things, a scenario-based design approach, a method of human-centred design. This enables a strong user-centred approach across all project phases. The resulting scenarios are now being published step by step to enable dialogue with stakeholders.

The scenarios published so far range from the school sector to the search for a place at university to an Erasmus stay in the higher education sector. They represent structured and planned sequences of activities aimed at achieving learning objectives. With the help of various tools and applications, these can be presented in an initial version and updated on an ongoing basis.

The published scenarios can be viewed at the following link: Zenodo

 

BIRD was presented at the eSALSA annual conference in Halle (Saale) on 10 November 2023.

eSALSA is a joint project of eight universities in Saxony-Anhalt with the aim of laying the foundations for a joint e-service agency. The aim is to respond to the major technical and didactic challenges of digital teaching at universities by strengthening networking and cooperation between colleges and universities. The focus is on the topics of e-examinations, hybrid teaching and online continuing education.

The Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU) is in charge of the eSALSA project; other project partners include Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg, Anhalt University of Applied Sciences, Harz University of Applied Sciences, Magdeburg-Stendal University of Applied Sciences, Merseburg University of Applied Sciences, Burg Giebichenstein University of Art and Design in Halle and the Saxony-Anhalt Police University of Applied Sciences.

Malte Rathjens and Ksenia Neumann from the BIRD Lab at OVGU Magdeburg presented BIRD at eSALSA. The presentation aroused a lot of interest and there was a productive exchange and opportunities for further cooperation.

Further information and the programme of the event can be found here.

The World Usability Day (WUD) took place on 9 November with events in many cities. This annual event offers presentations and workshops on the topics of usability and user experience, 2023 focussing on "Collaboration and Cooperation". Amelie Bustorff and Sarah Bacher from Stuttgart Media University presented BIRD at the WUD Stuttgart.

With the presentation "The Buddy Finder - A collaboration tool on a digital education platform", Amelie Bustorff and Sarah Bacher gave an insight into the networking tool "Buddy Finder". The presentation focussed on the question of how users can be motivated to offer themselves as buddies or look for other buddies. Based on two different approaches to motivation, concrete solution ideas were presented to encourage the use of the Buddy Finder.

The event took place at the Quantum & AI Experience Centre (Q.AX) in Ehningen, further information can be found here.

 

From 16 to 19 October, Kathleen Clancy and Ricarda Peil from DAAD attended the Groningen Declaration Network Annual Meeting in Amman, Jordan and spoke about BIRD. The meeting brought together over 100 organisations that are part of the Groningen Declaration Network and the discussions centred on topics such as skills development, strategies and technical platforms to improve data exchange and support the mobility of citizens and learners.

In a session on "Bridging the Gap: Promoting the adoption of digital credentials to advance learner mobility", Ricarda Peil explained how the BIRD project uses digital educational credentials that go beyond mere documentation. The range of uses for these credentials is broad and covers all stages of education. The aim is to design machine-readable and forgery-proof digital educational certificates regardless of the type of educational certificate. The concepts will be tested and implemented on the basis of selected use cases, also focussing on procedures related to the domain of education (e.g. issuing visas). This innovative approach not only streamlines the validation process, but also lays the foundation for a future in which academic achievements are exchanged seamlessly and securely across borders. The contribution highlighted the potential of collaborative research and technological innovation in shaping the future of educational landscapes.

Kathleen Clancy was a panellist at a panel discussion entitled "Governance of Digital Platforms for Work and Learning: Global Research Perspectives", together with the pannelists Dr Rooksana Rajab from Resonance Consulting Services (South Africa) and Koichi Nakasaki from the Institute for Future Engineering (Japan). Various research projects dealing with the governance of digital platforms for work and learning were presented and the challenges, opportunities and implications discussed.

Further information on the Groningen Declaration Network Annual Meeting can be found here.

We are pleased to announce that at this year's EUNIS Congress Felix Ziemann, Duy Nguyen, Franziska Blum and Ulrike Lucke from the BIRD project team were awarded for their work on the Learning Pathfinder. Their paper "Personalized Recommendations for Individual Learning Pathways: Supporting Ukrainian Refugee Students in Continuing their University Education" outlines the development of the Learning Pathfinder and was awarded the EUNIS DØRUP E-Learning Award - congratulations!

The EUNIS Dørup E-learning Award is given for the outstanding and innovative application of information technology (IT) in an educational setting. It was founded in commemoration of former member of the EUNIS Board of Directors, Jens Dørup.

The award is organised by the EUNIS Learning and Teaching Special Interest Group. The call for submissions for the EUNIS Dørup E-learning Award is done at the same time as the general call for papers for the annual Congress and the winner is selected by the Dørup Award Judging Panel. The winner receives a certificate and a framed print of a painting by Danish artist Maj Dørup (daughter of Jens Dørup).