Organised by EDEN in collaboration with Universidade Aberta, University of Porto and with the support of the European Commission DG Education and Culture, the theme of the conference is Incubating Creativity and the Capacity for Innovation: Open Content, Social Networking Tools and Creative Learning for All.

The conference will offer the opportunity to European schools and teachers to present and reflect upon their innovative experiences, to enhance cross-country good practice on introducing and managing innovation in the school systems.

In the age of the Social Web (Web 2.0/3.0), virtual learning environments empower teachers and learners to open their classrooms and be part of emerging folksonomies – the social construction of learning. Teachers and learners alike are now using ICT very differently from one another and ever more creatively.

The Porto Open Classroom Conference will explore:

• how schools cope with the potential of collaborative knowledge building;
• what is the essence of learner control (empowerment of the learner) for different age groups, disciplines and learning environments;
• how do new learning solutions (open content, open source software, social networking) are introducing innovative experiences and facilitate learning as a creative process;
• what key competences are needed to be an active lifelong learner in the 21st century multicultural society;
• what is the emerging role of the school-teacher in the European School 2.0.

Openness and flexibility will characterise both the content and format of the Porto Open Classroom Conference, and the programme has succeeded in assembling the largest and perhaps one of the best selections of contributions on the subject, including ten keynote speakers, almost sixty paper and demo presentations, and five workshops. The programme committee has even been fortunate to find an absolute gender parity which is still rare in this kind of event. Keynote presentations will be followed by moderated discussions, exhibition and presentation of innovative tools and methods will be intertwined with hands-on exploration of their potentials by participants.