LINKS-UP - Learning 2.0 for an Inclusive Knowledge Society - Understanding the Picture: Deliverable D4 Final Learning Dialogues Report

This work package firstly functions as a data‐gathering activity, to explore and deepen the results, and questions, raised by the earlier research activities and it provides knowledge exchange to engage a wider spectrum of stakeholders to further validate the Links‐up outputs. Two phases of the Learning Dialogues involve representatives of the 20 cases studied in WP2. In the first phase these events are considered to serve as data gathering in the host countries represented by the Links‐up consortium. The second phase involved action research experiments and was combined with the Workpackage focused on Validation. The first Dialogues took place in the framework of two conferences, involving not only the direct target group of the project but a group of international experts to explore the possible bottlenecks of the project aims. In the second phase it is intended to run the Learning Dialogues using the Action Learning Set methodology (Pedler, 1997) with selected case studies involved in WP2. Action Learning Sets involve ‘small group work’ with groups representing key actors and stakeholders. Group work is co‐ordinated by a facilitator in order to generate practical learning by reflecting on experiences of Links‐up in a structured way. A distinctive feature of the Action Learning Set methodology is its emphasis on exploring how different groups interact; the underlying ‘visions’ and value systems that shape this interaction, and the possible tensions that may arise through conflicts between these visions and values. This is particularly suited to understanding the barriers that may militate against the application of Learning 2.0 approaches to inclusive learning, since the methodology focuses on how social interactions operate. The Learning Dialogues are intended to explore and deepen the results of case study analysis and to emulate knowledge exchange by engaging a wider spectrum of stakeholders that in the WP2 stage to validate project outputs. The concept of was first tested at the Plymouth e‐ Learning Conference (PeLC) 2011. The first ‘real’ Learning Dialogue was transformed into a model Learning Dialogue event with international experts at the EDEN 2010 Annual Conference. Based on the experiences of the model event, the second Learning Dialogue event involving case study representatives and took place in Austria, in the framework of the EduMedia Conference at the end of June 2010. Based on the positive feedback from participants of the first two events, it was proposed to record interviews and short videostatements with stakeholders and to publish them as part of the Innovation Laboratory online. This idea was implemented during the Third Learning Dialogue with 5 experts, and the videos were published on Youtube and on the project website. Additionally, based on the positive feedback of the Final Conference in September 2011, a Learning Dialogue Webinar was organized in October 2011 with 4 language moderators, featuring the final results of the project. The following report contains detailed descriptions of all Learning Dialogues and reports on the feedback received