In a two-day process of development and valorisation, participants of the EFQUEL Innovation Forum 2009 developed the Innovation Agenda beyond 2010. This is an important part of EFQUEL's philosophy: quality is a result of a consensus-building process.

The experts who write the reference literature on quality in eLearning and who advise the European Commission listened very carefully to input from teachers, students, and others. EFQUEL wanted to include all stakeholders taking part in the educational process.

Enabling Dialogue amongst stakeholders

EFQUEL realizes the importance of serving the EFQUEL community as a facilitator. We understand that beyond face-to-face interactions at conferences, network events, and workshops, technology plays an important role in enabling dialogue. This is particularly true for the Web 2.0 channels that EFQUEL has been running since last year. From Facebook to LinkedIn and Twitter: EFQUEL uses the existing social media extensively and on a regular basis to disseminate news in the field of eLearning quality.

EFQUEL also fosters innovative ways of dialogue, like in the first Trans-National Conference on Quality in Adult Learning. Around 250 people participated online in this conference and around fifty further participants attended five national workshops all over Europe.


The meeting room in Brussels was transformed on 17 December 2009 into a highly interactive studio: The statements from the national workshops and the experts' roundtable in Brussels were broadcast via the internet, and feedback could be gathered from the participants via Twitter, live chat, and our virtual seminar in Second Life.

Linking Quality and Innovation

In the quality schemes in the fields of schools, higher education, adult learning and vocational education-and-training needs (NEED), EFQUEL doesn't follow a top-down approach to announce what has to be done in order to get good quality in the end. EFQUEL raises awareness regarding continuous quality development, asks the view of various perspectives, and encourages bottom-up processes.

EFQUEL also monitors other quality approaches, like ISO, EFQM, ENQA, and other organizations on a regular basis. Internally, the CMMI approach is applied to further develop organizational maturity. EFQUEL also takes care to share its expertise in the field of quality beyond Europe.


One such example is the connection of the AWT in Belgium with the Taiwanese ELearning Quality Centre in order to exchange points of view about the quality of eLearning courses. Such trans-national and trans-organizational communication is of high value for EFQUEL since it generates immense learning potential for each party.

Promoting Student-Centred Learning and Flexible Learning Pathways

Learners are the target group of all member organizations, from UN bodies to some of the leading European universities and even corporations like Adobe or Toshiba. Immersive learning worlds allow learners to experiment in ways that are impossible in real life, and web-communities collaborate via wikis or discussions forums from all over the world. This implies a radical change in what education of the future might look like, and EFQUEL and its partners are searching for suitable answers and solutions.

With the Adult Learning Ning network, EFQUEL has successfully established its first big online community. Every learner is encouraged to shape the future of adult learning in Europe together with EFQUEL. Discussion results influence whitepapers that EFQUEL provides to the European Commission. This chance to participate is unique in the educational field and comparable only with the consultation regarding the 2020 strategy in Europe.

Developing Quality for Emergent Learning Approaches

EFQUEL is convinced that Open Educational Resources will play an important role in the future. In particular, the question how to use the Open Educational Resources is one of EFQUEL's key projects in 2010, called OPAL. Together with the UNESCO, ICDE, Aalto University, and many other organizations, EFQUEL is preparing a change in educational paradigms towards a culture of dialogue and sharing.


To analyze the use of Open Educational Resources, it is particularly important to consider the question of the quality of the content.

In the field of higher education, EFQUEL is exploring ways how user-generated content can be produced on a high-quality level. The intention is to create an upwards trend in the usage of Open Educational Resources by providing high-quality content and suitable methodologies and guidelines how to use it.

All EFQUEL events will support this movement in 2010, and the Innovation Forum 2010 focuses on the topic "Opening Education". Everybody interested in the educational innovation in Europe and beyond is invited to join EFQUEL from
08 - 10 September in Lisbon, Portugal.