Informal learning has been a global hot topic for the past several years. The growth of the internet and the pervasiveness of computers in everyday life means that a huge part of this informal learning is done through a computer. In the European Union, since the official recognition of informal learning in 1999 with the Bologna Treaty, a number of guidelines and proposals have been published providing techniques and recommendations for translating informal learning outcomes to formal competences. Most of these guidelines depend on an evaluator (internal or external) to oversee and certify the process. In our work, we propose the usage of a more social and dynamic framework for gathering, validating and promoting a learner´s digital informal learning. This framework is based primarily on peer interaction and peer assessment instead of employing experts and provides mechanisms for personalized recommendations in order to introduce further informal learning opportunities to the learners. We propose an approach where a learner´s evaluation happens organically while other learners adopt the same activities and evaluate them positively or negatively.

Free Libre Open Source Software (FLOSS) has become a strategic asset in software development, and open source communities behind FLOSS are a key player in the field.The analysis of open source community dynamics is a key capability in risk management practices focused on the integration of FLOSS in all types of organizations. We are conducting research in developing methodologies for managing risks of FLOSS adoption and deployment in various application domains. This paper is about the ability to systematically capture, filter, analyze, reason about, and build theories upon, the behavior of an open source community in combination with the structured elicitation of expert opinions on potential organizational business risk. The novel methodology presented here blends together qualitative and quantitative information as part of a wider analytics platform. The approach combines big data analytics with automatic scripting of scenarios that permits experts to assess risk indicators and business risks in focused tactical and strategic workshops. These workshops generate data that is used to construct Bayesian networks that map data from community risk drivers into statistical distributions that are feeding the platform risk management dashboard. A special feature of this model is that the dynamics of an open source community are tracked using social network metrics that capture the structure of unstructured chat data. The method is illustrated with a running example based on experience gained in implementing our approach in an academic smart environment setting including Moodbile, a Mobile Learning for Moodle (www.moodbile.org). This example is the first in a series of planned experiences in the domain of smart environments with the ultimate goal of deriving a complete risk model in that field.

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The placements and internships are one of the main paths to get professional background and some skills for students, especially in areas like informatics and computer sciences. The European-funded VALS project tries to promote the virtual placements and establish a new initiative in virtual placements called Semester of Code. This initiative binds higher education institutions, students, companies, foundations and Open Source projects in order to create virtual placements and solve needs that they have in relation with those placements. This paper introduces some projects about virtual placements that other institutions and companies perform, also the paper describes the needs, opinions and considerations about the virtual placements for each stakeholder involved in the placements, to finally explain the design decisions and actions behind the Semester of Code, and how they are intended to get better virtual placements and successful results.

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Validation of informal learning has been a hot topic in the European Union the past few years. A number of guidelines and proposals have been published providing competence catalogues for direct transition from informal to formal learning. In our work, we propose the usage of a more social and dynamic framework for validating and promoting a learner's informal learning.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Abstract. People do not learn only in formal educational institutions, but also throughout their lives, from their experiences, conversations, observations of others, exploration of the Internet, meetings and conferences, and chance encounters etc. However this informal and non-formal learning can easily remain largely invisible, making it hard for peers and employers to recognise or act upon it. The TRAILER project aims to make this learning visible so that it can benefit both the individual and the organisation. The proposed demonstration will show a software solution that (i) helps the learners to capture a wide range of 'informal' learning taking place in their lives, and (ii) assists the organisation and the learner in recognising this learning (to the benefit of both). This software tool has recently been used in two phases of pilot studies, which have run in four different European countries.Keywords: non-formal learning, informal learning, tagging competences, software tool.1 Background (Pedagogy)The Information & Communication Technologies (ICT) advances cause knowledge management flows about innovation-acceptation-consolidation-obsolescence that regard to both institutions and individuals. In learning contexts, ICT has changed the perspective from the different educational stakeholders that demand an increase of personalization, more connectivity with other peers, unlimited access to resources and information sources, a plenty flexibility in the way, place and time they access, and a natural and necessary coexistence of the formal and informal learning flows. Nowadays, this convergence among formal, non-formal and informal learning causes an international debate about the validity and evolution of the traditional teaching and learning models, especially in regard to the professional training processes [1,2]. Informal learning takes in place in the context of everyday experience in both workplace and higher education, emerging from the activity rather than being planned. Developing the digital literacy skills needed to be part of this participatory culture is a key challenge facing education today. These skills are way beyond simple notions of ICT literacies and are more about harnessing the affordances of social and participatory media.