The twelfth annual European Conference on Technology-Enhanced Learning (EC-TEL) is a conference devoted to current challenges and advances in the field of education. It invites researchers, entrepreneurs, policy makers and all involved in education to rethink the future of learning and teaching. This year’s theme, ‘Data Driven Approaches in Digital Education’, will focus on transforming education with the use of modern technologies.

With an increasing amount of wearable devices and tracking sensors, all people involved in education can gather data about the quality of various forms of learning – from individual education, group-based teaching, to digital learning. The conference will explore various methods in which this data can be used to enhance teaching – for instance, by personalization or feedback. Some of the topics of the conference include augmented reality, serious games, semantic web, MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses), reflective learning or lifelong learning. A full list of topics is available on the event website.

Multiple practical workshops will take place on the first two days of the conference. They will touch upon difficult topics of ethics and privacy, suggest applications for mobile-based learning, and introduce the technology of eye-tracking as a tool to measure the users’ attention.

The last two days are devoted to an Industry Track, where education experts will have a chance to collaborate with entrepreneurs and designers following the Industry 4.0 trend. Participants will have a chance to diagnose the most common issues of current training methods, design the workplace of the future and discuss methods to elevate the motivation of workers.

Additionally, all participants will have an opportunity to listen to three keynotes touching upon some of the challenges of contemporary education. Prof. Stephanie Teasley from the University of Michigan will focus on using learning analytics to improve teaching methods and student outcomes. Prof. Gerhard Fischer from the University of Colorado will talk about data driven approach in envisioning new educational designs, while Marco Marsella, who works at the European Commission, will give the audience an insight into the future of digital learning.