Recent waves of economic crisis and uncertainty have realigned a range of European and global issues. This sense of crisis and challenge however may also serve to energize system transformations, identify alternatives, suggest new directions, and act as a driving motivating force when old modes are broken.

The aim of EDEN Open Classroom 2011 is to familiarize teachers, policy makers, and learning- community stakeholders with leading-edge educational technologies, innovation methods, opinion sharing, collegial discussions, and training experiences that will provide an alternative to crisis: new educational tools, inclusive strategies, and creative best-practice methodologies.

The Conference will cover areas related to innovative education technologies and current best-practice trends in education, transformative inclusion, and teachers' professional development.

The Open Classroom conference includes presentations and practical sessions (workshops) on educational technology and innovation. It consists of two days of lectures and demonstrations, eight hands-on workshops, and eight parallel sessions. The lectures and demonstrations will be held in an auditorium. Workshops and parallel sessions will be held in multimedia laboratories, where participants will have direct access to a PC in order to carry out planned exercises.

The EDEN Open Classroom Working Group supports the preparations and professional academic content of the Conference. The group intends to elaborate a recommendation for the Commission on the theme of "Life Long Learning in Schools after 2013".