Supporting learning innovation in European Public Employment Services

Pontydysgu

Pontydysgu is a small research company based in Pontypridd in Wales. Pontydysgu was established in 1999 and originally specialized in vocational education and training, labour market research and organisational and regional development. This includes the training of teachers and trainers and the development of learning materials and resources. In the past ten years much of the organisation’s work has focused on the use of technology for teaching and learning and for knowledge development and sharing. Pontydysgu are experts in the use of social software for learning, both in educational contexts and in the workplace. Pontydysgu have acted as consultants to enterprises wishing to use technology for professional development and / or for knowledge sharing within their organisation. Pontydysgu have also developed a number of platforms and tools for learning, both for computers and mobile devices.

Pontydysgu have participated in a number of European projects, including through the Lifelong Learning Programme and the Research Framework. Recent projects include the LLL Webquest 2.0 and the G8WAY project on the use of social software to support transitions, the 7th Framework MATURE project as well as Layers and the MOOC4ALL project. Director Graham Attwell has acted as a tutor on the Stellar Network of Excellence summer schools. Graham Attwell has also acted as consultant to OECD and UNESCO on the development of Open Educational Resources. Graham Attwell and senior researcher Jenny Hughes have published extensively in both journals and on the web and Graham Attwell has been asked to give keynote presentations at numerous conferences including the EDEN conference 2011.

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Pontydysgu

Graham Attwell is Director of Pontydysgu. An Associate Fellow of the University of Warwick and a Gastwissenschaftler at the University of Bremen, he is a leading researcher on the use of technology for learning and knowledge sharing and development. His work is particularly focused on the use of technology to support work based learning and vocational education and training. He has worked as a consultant for many international organisations and has published a book for the European Commission on the use of ICT for learning in SMEs. He is experienced in the development of multi media learning materials and has published widely in journals and books.

Organization:

Pontydysgu

Jenny Hughes is a Senior Researcher for Pontydysgu. Jenny is a former Deputy Director of Education and is a leading researcher in the use of social software and web 2.0 to support teaching and learning. She is also experienced in the training of teachers and trainers and in the design and development of continuing Professional Development Programmes. She has worked on many policy initiatives at regional, national and international level and is an expert of policy and programme evaluation.

Organization:

Pontydysgu

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Christine Kunzmann studied human resource management at the Pforzheim University of Applied Sciences in Germany. She is an HR consultant with special focus on competence management, human resource development and inter-organisational process design for health care institutions. As part of her activities, she has developed a widely accepted reference model for closed-loop approaches to competence management. Since 2008, she has also been researcher in the MATURE project where she conducted ethnographically informed studies and explored motivational barriers to knowledge maturing activities and ways to overcome them. She has been continuing this research in the Learning Layers project, and has initiated the Knowledge Maturing Consulting network. She has initiated and organised the international workshop series on Motivational and Affective Aspects in TEL at ECTEL, M&C, and Professional Knowledge Management conferences. Her research interests include competence development and organisational development from a Human Resources perspective, particularly focusing on motivational aspects.

Organization:

Pontydysgu

With over 25 years of experience working in careers, employment & skills policy, research and practice, Deirdre has combined her academic research and teaching with senior advisory roles reporting to Ministers in the UK. Her PhD on the UK Evidence-Base for Careers Work has contributed to various reports to Governments, as well as post-graduate and doctoral level programmes of study. Her research interests include Employment and skills policies; the marketisation of careers work; identity transformation in Public Employment Services across Europe; urban approaches to career development for young people; career decision making; career dialogue, assessing and measuring the impact of careers education and guidance programmes and interventions; quality and evidence-based approaches to careers work; the inter-relationship between peer to peer coaching, labour market intelligence/information and ICT in careers services and public administration systems.