For Immediate Release - February 2005
Europe's first Virtual Doctoral School in technology-enhanced learning

At the end of February, about 20 Ph.D. students from all over Europe will make their way to a tiny island research station near the arctic circle. They won't be studying ice floes or global warming, but how people learn using computers.

"State-of-the-art of Technology Enhanced Learning" is one of two trial courses in the Virtual Doctoral School of Kaleidoscope, the European Network of Excellence in technology-enhanced learning.

"The Virtual Doctoral School is the first step toward a pan-European Ph.D. in technology-enhanced learning," says Sten Ludvigsen of the University of Oslo in Norway, one of the organisers of the VDS. "There are a few similar Ph.D. programs in individual universities in Europe, but now Kaleidoscope integrates the work of researchers in various countries and disciplines. So the VDS allows new researchers to gain this broad focus, which is increasingly important for learning in Europe, where people and cultures are becoming more mobile and integrated."

"These courses offer new state of the art learning environments in the field of technology enhanced learning," Ludvigsen says. "They are very exciting courses, sure to be of great value to new researchers in the field."

Virtual school, real winter
The "State-of-the-art" course, which began in January, takes a broad view. Its core topics are social interaction and learning (collaborative learning), and motivational issues. The course includes 25 Ph.D. students from universities which are are Kaleidoscope partners, as well as from Scandinavian universities involved in the design of the course. Ten countries are represented spanning all of Europe, from Italy to Finland, Ireland to Bulgaria. The students represent a diversity of disciplines as well as cultures, including physics and philosophy, as well as teaching and technology.

Up to now, the students have been conducting collaborative online research using email. message boards, and document sharing. on 28 February they will travel to Hailuoto, a small island off the coast of Oulu, Finland.

"The Winter School will be organized in Hailuoto mainly because we looked after for a casual place with effective working conditions." says course leader Sanna Järvelä of the University of Oulu. "Since about two monhts of virtual working period precedes the Winter School, we want to offer optimal place for interactive and social meeting. The research station is located on an island and is very silent - a really beautiful place for a winter school."

"One of our main ideas is for the students to network for future collaboration, says Jarvela, "to increase European potential in technology-enhanced learning. They should get to know each other very well in a place like this! The Winter school and arctic environment should be a real
experience for middle and southern European students especially."

Cognitive approaches
The other Virtual Doctoral School course is more narrowly focused: "Current Cognitive Approaches to Media-based Learning." It began in December, and explores recent cognitive theories of instructional design for media-based learning. These theories have been proven successful in recent years for analyzing and improving the design of media-based learning scenarios, by emphasizing the role of the human cognitive system and its limitations. The course also looks at how these theories apply to specific computer-supported learning applications such as interactive-dynamical visualizations, animations and simulations, and hypermedia. The course includes German students of psychology, as well as Ph.D. students from other European countries.

"We all use many different media today for learning, not just books," says course leader Peter Gerjets of the Knowledge Media Research Center in Tübingen. "The course explores recent cognitive theories of instructional design for media-based learning; these theories have been proven successful in recent years for analyzing and improving the design of media-based learning scenarios that include for instance interactive media, hypermedia, animations, simulations and visualizations. The course focuses on the pivotal role of the human cognitive system and its resource limitations in understanding and supporting learning with this type of media-based scenarios."

Students of the Cognitive course will meet face-to-face in Tübingen in April.

PhD for a Networked Europe
No matter what country you live in, technology has made our lives truly international. And the field of technology-enhanced learning in particular reflects this global character. Anyone doing research in this area must, at the very least, be aware of work being done elsewhere. After all, learners - especially in Europe - are increasingly mobile, multicultural, and connected by technology.

Doctoral programs in this field are already broadening their horizons. The Kaleidoscope Virtual Doctoral School aims to make a truly international Ph.D. program in technology-enhanced learning a recognised and functioning institution. Naturally, its main home is online. But it gives students unprecendented access to top researchers and other students all around Europe. And it offers them a much wider range of knowledge than they would get only within their own country.

"The VDS is not only focused on courses," says Pierre Tchounikine of the l'Universite du Maine in France, leader of the VDS. "It also allows Ph.D. students to meet eachother within a dedicated virtual community portal ('VDSpace') and to become aware of the diversity of research approaches, national understandings of the 'Ph.D. study notion'. VDSapce also allows them to construct special interest groups, and to share knowledge."

The VDS is formulating a pedagogical and technological strategy, and three more courses are planned this year. It is building a flexible platform for online delivery, and planning legal and institutional recognition. And the students themselves will help build and sustain the school.

About Kaleidoscope
Kaleidoscope is a Network of Excellence which brings together European teams in technology-enhanced learning. Its goal is to integrate 76 research units from around Europe, covering a large range of expertise from technology to education, from academic to private research. altogether, it is a community of more than 800 researchers in 23 countries which have joined in their efforts to develop new concepts and methods for exploring the future of learning with digital technologies.

In the 21st century European knowledge-based economy, learning is mobile, social, and multicultural. Kaleidoscope places the learner at the centre of a multidisciplinary research perspective, with theoretical foundations in the cognitive and learning sciences as well as in computer science and technology design. The network also has a strong practical orientation, aimed at increasing innovation and competitiveness, and generating new forms of cultural and learning experiences.

Kaleidoscope is Supported by the European Community under the Sixth European Union Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development, thematic priority Information Society Technologies.

VDS leader
Pierre Tchounikine, Professeur
Directeur du Laboratoire d'Informatique de l'Université du Maine (FRANCE)
email: Pierre.Tchounikine@lium.univ-lemans.fr
http://www-lium.univ-lemans.fr/~tchou
Tel. (33) 2 43 83 38 60
Sec. (33) 2 43 83 38 58
Fax. (33) 2 43 83 38 68
FRE 2730 du CNRS Avenue Laennec 72085 Le Mans cedex 9

VDS courses leader
Sten Ludvigsen, Associate professor, Director
Intermedia/Univ. of Oslo (NORWAY)
email: sten.ludvigsen@intermedia.uio.no
phone: (47) 22840712

State-of-the-art course leader
Sanna Järvelä, Professor
University of Oulu/Research Unit for Educational Technology (FINLAND)
email: sanna.jarvela@oulu.fi
www: http://cc.oulu.fi/~sjarvela/
phone: +358-8-553 3657
fax: +358-8-553 3744
PO BOX 2000, Fin-90014 University of Oulu, Finland

Cognitive course leader
Univ.-Prof. Dr. Peter H. Gerjets
Knowledge Media Research Center/Research Unit Multimedia and Hypermedia (GERMANY)
email: p.gerjets@iwm-kmrc.de
Internet: www.iwm-kmrc.de/p.gerjets
phone: 07071 / 979-219 (secretary -338)
Fax: 07071 / 979-100
Konrad-Adenauer-Strasse 40, D-72072 Tuebingen

Local Kaleidoscope press contacts:

Austria
Gerda Füricht-Fiegl
Presse- und Öffentlichkeitsarbeit, Donau-Universität Krems
Abteilung Telekommunikation, Information und Medien
email: gerda.fuericht@donau-uni.ac.at
phone: 0664/1142791
web: www.donau-uni.ac.at

Bulgaria
Mr. Pencho Mihnev, Project officer
Education & Learning Designer Centre for Information Society Technologies, Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski"
email: pmihnev@fmi.uni-sofia.bg
125 Tzarigradsko shosse blvd.
tel. +359 2 971-35-43
fax: +359 2 971-35-09
bl. 2, floor 3, 1113 Sofia

Spain
Lydia Montandon, Head of E-Learning Unit
STREAM Technology Center, Atos Origin
email: Lydia.Montandon@atosorigin.com
web: www.atosorigin.com
T +34 91214 8616
M +34 60900 1907
F +34 91754 3252
Albarracin 25, E-28037 Madrid

UK
Kevin Walker / London Knowledge Lab
email: k.walker@ioe.ac.uk
web: http://www.lkl.ac.uk/kevin
phone: +44 (0)20 7763 2164
fax: +44 (0)20 7763 2138
23-29 Emerald Street
London WC1N 3QS