ICOFE 2015 - International Conference on Open and Flexible Education

Open education has become more than a global trend. Open education approaches and practices are adopted in virtually all areas of education. Besides open universities that have been offering open education courses, a fast growing number of conventional institutions have become involved in open education in an increasing number of aspects. Modes of learning and teaching are becoming more flexible in terms of time, space, curriculum contents and organisation, pedagogical methods, infrastructure, and requirements. This conference aims to:
1. provide a platform for sharing research, practices and views relevant to open and flexible education using the latest technologies and innovations;
2. facilitate networking and cross-institutional collaboration among researchers and educators in the field; and
3. promote open and flexible education to enhance educational access and quality.
Conference theme
The theme for the Inaugural International Conference on Open and Flexible Education is ‘Making Learning Open and Flexible: Emerging Modes and Approaches’. It will focus primarily on exploring which of the latest technologies and innovations can facilitate the further development of open learning towards a more flexible and personalized mode of education catering for the diverse needs of different learning communities and how these technologies can do so.
Subthemes include the following:
1. new trends in teaching and learning in technology-rich environments;
2. institutional changes towards more open and flexible learning;
3. the use of technologies to enhance teaching and learning;
4. innovations in curriculum development and pedagogy;
5. technology-mediated learning communities; and
6. the use of Web-based open educational resources, e.g. massive open online courses and other large-population courses.
Conference language
The Conference will be conducted in English.
Papers submitted for presentation should be in English. Papers in Chinese will also be considered, and should be submitted together with paper titles and abstracts in English. Accepted papers in Chinese will be presented in Putonghua.
Conference publication
Accepted papers will be included in the conference proceedings. Authors of selected papers may also be invited to submit an extended version of their papers for journal publication.