News

After 9 months of development, the Learning Agency Network (LANTEO) SPRL will be officially rolling-out within a reception on the 8th of February 2012. The event will take place in our office in Brussels (34, Boulevard du Souverain), starting at 7pm. We warmly invite you to participate and meet representatives from associations and universities, as well as from training, coaching and educational consulting industries. 

If you would like to attend this event, please inform us until the 6th of February 2012 by writing an email to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . Please be aware that the amount of registrations is limited (FCFS).

Come join us for our year ending party, organised together with the Conference Streaming Solutions, which takes place on EduNation III on the winter scene holodeck. There is a large ice-skating ring, an igloo for a bonfire chat, an ice-bar with drinks to keep your hands warm, winter scenes for photo shooting, sledging and a Lebkuchen house. If you wish to bring your presents and cards, you are most welcome to rezz them under the glass tree.

As a special feature we will be enjoying the recordings of the Christmas Spectacular music show in Everett, Seattle, USA displayed on a large screen right next to the winter scene.

The show took place on 10 December and hosted a number of world class musicians and dancers as well as a ‘Prov's Got Talent' undertaken by staff members of the Providence Regional Medical Center and Swedish Hospital as well as individual employees performing singing, dancing and musical acts supported by the cast and the Dorothy Jayne Studio.

This local fund raising event benefits the Providence Children's Center and the Volunteers of America Food Bank.

Time: December 21, 2011 from 6pm to 11pm GMT / UTC

Direct link: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/EduNation%20III/112/145/23

On the 23rd of November 2011, the SVEA Conference took place in the Baden-Württembergische Landesvertretung in Brussels. All in all, it was a successful dissemination event at the end of the SVEA project - however, the topic on "Next Generation Learning" with Social Media, was not sufficiently reflected.

Speakers were the well-known colleagues Lieve Van Den Brande (European Commission), Gráinne Conole (University of Leicester) and Helen Keegan. 

It was interesting to see that the Lieve was talking about "The False Assumption and the Reality" of European projects, stating that most of the projects failed in their objective to be spread. However, on the question if this would lead to a strategy change for funding policies, she couldn't give a clear answer.

Gráinne's presentation was quite good, enriched with many personal examples, though concentrating on the academic use of Social Media. Remarkable elements were the "Learning Spaces" and the "Open Accreditation", both concepts that are closely followed also by the Learning Agency Network.

Helen reflected on her personal experiences with Twitter - both, good and bad one's. She summarised by encouraging teachers to be open for Social Media and enable students to tinker.

After a workshop session, a fishbowl discussion took place. Quite interesting approach: People are sitting in circles, in the inner circle (around 5 chairs) the discussion takes place. If someone wants to contribute, he/she can go in the inner circle and sit on a chair. 

Finally, thumbs up for the food (Brezel) and the drinks (Swabian Organic Apple Juice).

Today, an interview with the Managing Director of the Learning Agency Network was published at the blog "IvichieSays". Beside reflecting the work that LANETO is doing, Rolf Reinhardt had also the opportunity to provide his personal view on adult education and its future.

IvichieSays is run by Evita Martina, eLearning expert and adult learning evangelist. You can read the complete interview here:

http://ivichiesays.wordpress.com/2011/10/28/interview-lan/

Around 150 representatives from associations and the meeting industry came together yesterday to talk about the impact of conferences and events on both, the local and the global community.

One of the main advantages was the interactive conference format, which enabled discussions and exchange between the participants. 

Our friend Tim Casswell from www.creativeconnection.co.uk has done some excellent graphical recording, which you can see in ourFacebook album.

In summarizing the event, the following topics might become a trend for both, associations and meeting providers:

• Planning conferences will be stronger aligned on global and local objectives in terms of impact and legacy (nice-to-have becomes to at least consider) - this can be a USP for meeting organisers.
• Associations are very keen on identifying additional revenue streams - in particular training! However, associations don't know about the European VET system (ECVET, EQF) and often create certification schemes beside the existing system.
• Sustaining conferences and events (through recording and transforming into marketing or training material) plays a more important role. 
• eLearning can be a great opportunity here - in particular the service which is offered by the Learning Agency Network:  http://conference-streaming.com/index.php/en/elearning-production

Another possibility is social learning via social media - it can be more engaging and merged with a Community of Practice, however, it is more difficult to implement without any preparation. You can see a good introduction on YouTube: