INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR ON E-LEARNING

SPEAKERS

Luciano Battezzati
Chief of Area New Media and Project Manager for Training Programmes

Company/Organisation:
Isvor Fiat
Italy

Education:

Key qualifications:

• He is an expert in Training and a Project Leader in Training Courses for Company Trainers, with specific expertise in:
• Design and implementation of multimedia and modular didactic packages
• Design and implementation of industrial training schools
• Design and implementation of projects of long distance learning

Worldwide professional experiences:

Professional experiences in Italy:

Publications:

• Isvor Notizie n. 20 - luglio '95 "La cooperazione tra Imprese ed Aziende Formative - Formazione continua"
• Glossario dei termini della formazione su supporto ipertestuale - Pubblicazione Isvor - 1996
• "La progettazione formativa e i supporti per l'apprendimento" - Politecnico di Torino - COREP - 1998
• "Insegnare all'Università: Formazione dei docenti e qualità della didattica" (volume) - UTET Libreria srl - Giugno 1999
• "Come orientare il cliente" (articolo) - ITER, Isvor-Fiat Training and Education Review - Anno II, n° 2, Gennaio 1999
• "Portare la formazione al cliente" (articolo) - ITER, Isvor-Fiat Training and Education Review - Anno II, n° 3, Luglio 1999
• "Cataloghi online e Learning Center nelle fabbriche Fiat: Isvor punta sull'utilizzo delle nuove tecnologie" (articolo) - Affari&Finanza, p.36 - 12 Luglio 1999
• "Un Learning Campus da Melfi a Nanchino: la didattica online secondo Isvor Fiat" (articolo) - Ingenium, Multimedia Online - N° 25, Settembre 1999
• "Soluzione flessibile e capillare: Torino e Melfi collegate del Learning Center" (articolo) - Il Sole24Ore Rapporti, p.3 - 5 Novembre 1999
• "Progettare e gestire percorsi di formazione in videoconferenza e in business television", FOR n° 40, giugno-dicembre 1999
• "La formazione del futuro. Nuove modalità di delivery: Learning Center e Learning Point" , BANCARIA - Supplemento Banca & Lavoro - n° 1, marzo 2001

Mike Couzens
Marketing & Training Director

Company/Organisation:
Cisco Systems, EMEA
United Kingdom

Mike Couzens joined the IT industry in 1977 as a software support manager for Wang Laboratories. In 1981, Couzens moved to NCR where he was appointed Sales Director for the company's channel and distribution operations. In 1986, Couzens went to Philips as Product Marketing Director with responsibility for business and consumer electronics.
Five years later, Couzens was appointed European Marketing Director for Intel where he leveraged his expertise in consumer marketing to develop the Intel Inside Ingredient brand campaign.
In 1996, Couzens was approached by Cisco Systems EMEA to become its Marketing and Training Director responsible for all brand management and training activities across the European, Middle East and African marketplaces. Two years later, Couzens was promoted to Managing Director of Corporate Communications and Training EMEA.
Couzens graduated from Southampton University with a BSc in Psychology and Statistics. He also holds a PGCE in Physical Education from Loughborough College and an MSC in Computing from Hull University.
Prior to joining the IT industry, Couzens taught Research, Measurement and computing at the London School of Economics.

Jonathan Darby
Director of Technology-Assisted Lifelong Learning
Department for Continuing Education

Company/Organisation:
University of Oxford
United Kingdom

Jonathan Darby is Director of Technology-Assisted Lifelong Learning in the Department for Continuing Education of the University of Oxford and a Fellow of Kellogg College. He has been involved in technology-based learning since the pre-microcomputer mid-seventies, initially in the field of school education, and since 1980, at the University of Oxford. He is an Edinburgh University zoology graduate with secondary school teaching experience in biology, physics and mathematics. From 1988 to 1996 he directed the UK's Computers in Teaching Initiative which provides information, advice, support and training to academic staff in all of the UK's universities and colleges of higher education, a post which provided an unparalleled vantage point from which to observe the strengths and weaknesses of technology applied to education. In his present post he is directing a rapidly expanding research and development programme concerned with the creation of Internet-delivered courses and educational services which extend the opportunities for study at Oxford.
Jonathan Darby is known internationally as a speaker and writer. He is co-author of Managing Change in Higher Education: A Learning Environment Architecture, former Editor of Active Learning, the UK's leading learning technology journal, and is on the editorial boards of the Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks and the Association for Learning Technology Journal. He has been an auditor for BT's University Development Awards Scheme and a consultant for C&A Europe, the British Council, the Australian Department of Employment, Education and Training and the Higher Education Funding Council for England (on the e-University Project). He is currently External Examiner for the Open University's MA in Distance and Open Education. He was Founder President of the Association for Learning Technology and is a member of the Government's Joint Information Systems Committee on Awareness, Liaison and Training.

Antonio Dias de Figueiredo
Professor of Information Systems
Department of Informatics Engineering

Company/Organisation:
University of Coimbra
Portugal

Antonio Dias de Figueiredo is a Full Professor of Informatics Engineering at the Faculty of Science and Technology of the University of Coimbra, Portugal since 1984. He obtained his Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Manchester, U.K., in 1976. His current research and consulting interests centre on Business Information Systems, Knowledge Management and Organizational Learning, and ICT in Learning and Education. His activity as a Senior Consultant takes place through Instituto Pedro Nunes, the University/Enterprise interface institute of the University of Coimbra. For a period of six years he represented Portugal in the Intergovernmental Informatics Programme of UNESCO, where he was elected Vice-President for the Western Europe Region (1994/1996). At the invitation of the NATO Science Committee, Brussels, he integrated for a period of four years the NATO Special Programme Panel on Advanced Educational Technology. He has participated in various European projects, both as a partner and as a science advisor, and acted on various occasions as a consultant to the European Commission in matters regarding the definition of strategies for information and communications technologies in education. At the invitation of the European Commission, he contributed in 1995 to the preparation of the White Book on Education and Training for the XXI Century. He has collaborated with OECD on various occasions in initiatives regarding Information and Communication Technologies in Education. He was the Chairman of PROMETEUS (PROmoting Multimedia access to Education and Training in EUropean Society), a Memorandum of Understanding promoted by the European Commission, between March 200 and March 2001. He was awarded an Honoris Causa by Universidade Aberta, the Portuguese Open University, in 1997, and the Sigillum Magnum by the University of Bologna, Italy, in 2000. He is the author of over 170 papers and presented over 180 communications at national and international conferences. He has integrated over 60 organising and science committees of national and international conferences. He is currently a member of the editorial board of Information & Management, an Elsevier North-Holland journal, and of the Portuguese Management Journal.

Gabriel Ferraté
Rector

Company/Organisation:
Universitat Oberta de Catalunya
Spain

Gabriel Ferraté is, today, an undisputed figure of authority in the academic world. His prestige is based, essentially, on two key facts: the transformation, throughout his 22 years as vice-chancellor, of the Polytechnic University of Catalonia into the neuralgic centre of technological growth in the country, and the successful creation and development of the UOC (Open University of Catalonia).
When Gabriel Ferraté was elected as the first vice-chancellor of the Polytechnic University of Barcelona in 1972, he in fact took over the running of a group of Higher Technical Institutions which already existed and have since become independent -the most significant being the Barcelona Schools of Engineering and Architecture. All these had outstanding professional prestige and academic reputation, but a somewhat limited budget and obsolete facilities.
When Prof. Ferraté left office in 1994, his institution had become a true university and had renewed its name as the Polytechnic University of Catalonia. It had a high level of research and a growing number of students, professors, and different centres. The University had undergone a total transformation, becoming the first centre of transfer of technology in Spain and a reference point in the areas of research and innovation. Moreover Prof. Ferraté had endowed it with an efficient management structure and had ensured its full integration within the academic, cultural, social and political life of the country.
In 1976 he was nominated General Director of Universities in Spain and he later became General Director of Scientific Policy in the country's first democratic government. He subsequently returned to university life in 1978 when he was re-elected Vice-chancellor of the Polytechnic University of Catalonia, a post he held until 1994.
During this period he founded and directed the Institute of Cybernetics (in association with the Higher Council of Scientific Research of Spain). He was Chairman of the Spanish Society of Bioengineering (1980-1985) and Chairman of the Interdepartmental Commission for Technological Research and Innovation (CIRIT) of the Autonomous Government of Catalonia (1980-1989). He also presided over the BCD Foundation (Barcelona Centre of Design) (1982-1992). His international prestige and scientific and academic work led to his election as a member of the Executive Committee of the International Federation of Automatic Control (IFAC) and his presidency of the Spanish Committee of IFAC. From 1984 until 1987 he was a member of the Consulting Committee of the Intergovernmental Bureau of Informatics (IBI), established by the United Nations Organisation.
In 1994, the Government of Catalonia entrusted him with the creation of a distance university. He left the Polytechnic University of Catalonia and began working on the revolutionary project of establishing a university wholly based on the integral use of Information and Communication Technologies. It was a project which aimed to make university education accessible to all types of people, overcoming personal barriers as well as limitations of space and time. The UOC has become a reference model for many universities throughout the world. It has not only transformed the concept of distance education, but also the pedagogical model, the role of teaching teams, the academic management, the organisation and representation of the university, and the use and application of technology in education. Moreover, it is clear from the vertiginous growth of the UOC that Prof. Ferraté has endowed it with a style and flexibility which allows it to easily adapt to a rapidly-changing world and, simultaneously, favours its global expansion, based on the design of a new university ecosystem (the concept of a Metacampus).
The success of the UOC has been recognised, on an international level, on several occasions: it was awarded the European Union "Bangemann Challenge Prize" as the best European initiative in Distance Education (1997) and the "World Best Digital Opportunity Prize" by the World Information Technologies and Services Alliance (WITSA) (2000).
At present Prof. Ferraté is particularly involved in research into the use and application of Information Technologies in education and other sectors of knowledge and society. His diverse activities in the scientific and university world have led to his inclusion in the prestigious list of Academics and other Institutions devoted to the service of cultural activities and science.
Gabriel Ferraté was born into a society and family environment where innovation, entrepreneurial initiative and cultural activity were of supreme importance. In line with this tradition, in 1958 he founded a company, CIBER, devoted to the design and production of electronic control equipment and systems. During this period Prof. Ferraté was a pioneer in the use of artificial intelligence applied to urban traffic computer control. His ideas were applied, to wide acclaim, throughout Spain and in several other countries.
At present, besides being vice-chancellor of the Open University of Catalonia he is President of the Tarragona Savings Bank and Chairman of the Catalan Council for Sustainable Development, a government institution dealing with the ecological and sustainable development of the country.
Prof. Ferraté is also a great humanist and a bibliophile. He has an outstanding collection of historical books and chronicles and an important collection of Catalan poetry containing approximately six thousand volumes. Both aspects -the humanistic and the technological- confirm the two inseparable aspects of the civil and academic personality of Gabriel Ferraté.

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K.C. Gupta
Professor, Dept. of Elec. & Comptr. Engg.

Company/Organisation:
IEEE, University of Colorado
USA

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Professor K.C. Gupta has been a Professor at the University of Colorado since 1983. Presently, he is also the Associate Director for the NSF I/UCR Center for Advanced Manufacturing and Packaging of Microwave, Optical and Digital Electronics (CAMPmode) at the University of Colorado; and a Guest Researcher with RF Technology Group of National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) at Boulder. Dr. Gupta received the B.E. and M.E. degrees in Electrical Communication Engineering from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India, in 1961 an 1962, respectively, and the Ph.D. degree from the Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani, India, in 1969.
Dr. Gupta's current research interests are in the area of computer-aided design techniques (including ANN applications) for microwave and millimeter-wave integrated circuits, nonlinear characterization and modeling, RF MEMS, and reconfigurable antennas. He is the author or co-author of eight books including Microstrip Line and Slotlines (Artech House, 1979; revised second edition, 1996); CAD of Microwave Circuits (Artech House, 1981; Chinese Scientific Press, 1986; Radio I Syvaz, 1987); Microstrip Antenna Design (Artech House, 1988); and Neural Networks for RF and Microwave Design (Artech House 2000). Also, he has contributed chapters to the Handbook of Microstrip Antennas (Peter Peregrinus, 1989); the Handbook of Microwave and Optical Components, vol. 1 (John Wiley, 1989); Microwave Solid State Circuit Design (John Wiley, 1988); Numerical Techniques for Microwave and Millimeter Wave Passive Structures (John Wiley, 1989), and Encyclopedia of Electrical and Electronics Engineering (John Wiley 1999). Dr. Gupta has published about 200 research papers and holds four patents in the microwave area.
Dr. Gupta is a Fellow of the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, USA); a Fellow of the Institution of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineers (India); a Member of URSI (Commission D, USA); and a Member of the Electromagnetics Academy (MIT, USA). He is a recipient of IEEE-MTTS Distinguished Educator Award, IEEE Third Millennium Medal, a member of the ADCOM for the MTT Society of IEEE, chair of the IEEE MTT-S standing committee on Education, past co-chair of the IEEE MTT-S Technical Committee on CAD (MTT-1), a member of the IEEE Technical Committee on Microwave Field Theory (MTT-15), a member of IEEE-EAB Committee on Continuing Education, a member of IEEE-EAB Societies Education Committee, and on the Technical Program Committees for MTT-S International Symposia. He is the founding editor of the International Journal of RF and Microwave Computer-Aided Engineering, published by John Wiley since 1991. He is an Associate Editor for IEEE Microwave Magazine, on the editorial boards of IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques, Microwave and Optical Technology Letters (John Wiley), and International Journal of Numerical Modeling (John Wiley, U.K.). He is listed in Who's Who in America, Who's Who in the World, Who's Who in Engineering, and Who's Who in American Education.

Colin G. Harrison
Director, Institute for Advanced Education

Company/Organisation:
IBM T. J. Watson Research Center
USA

Colin Harrison is a director at the IBM T. J. Watson Research Center in New York and is leading the establishment of new program in e-Learning. Following his thesis work in materials science at Imperial College, London, he spent several years at CERN developing the real-time control system for the SPS accelarator. He then returned to EMI Central Research Laboratories in London, and lead the development of the world's first clinically-useful MRI system. He joined IBM in San Jose and has enjoyed a career leading from magnetics, to medical imaging, parallel computing, mobile networking, intelligent agents, telecommunications services, and knowledge management. During 1997 - 2001 he had broad responsibility for the application of research skills in IBM's services businesses.

John Kruper
Executive Director of Course Development

Company/Organisation:
UNext
USA

Ross Mackenzie
Web Development Team Leader

Company/Organisation:
Open University
United Kingdom

Ross Mackenzie has approximately 20 years experience in the development of software for research and educational applications. Over the last 10 years he has been involved with the development of education software for CD-ROM and web delivery for both conventional and distance education institutions. He is currently one of the Leaders of the group that develop the educational websites that are a key element of many Open University courses.

Gianfranco Manes
Deputy for Information Technology

Company/Organisation:
University of Florence
Italy

Gianfranco Manes was born in Florence, Italy on November 16^th, 1944. He became Associate Professor in 1980 and Full Professor of Electrical Engineering in 1985.
Dr. Manes contributed, since 1973, in the field of Surface-Acoustic-Wave (SAW) technology for RADAR signal processing and ECM applications. Major contributions were in introducing novel FIR synthesis techniques, fast analogue spectrum analysis configurations and FH waveform synthesis.
In the period 1975 - 1987 Dr Manes was involved in advanced researches in the field of ultrasound applications for medical diagnostics, contributing to the development of novel electronic beam forming/focussing techniques and Doppler analysis techniques.
Since early 80's Dr Manes is active in the field of microwave modelling and design. In the early 90's he founded and is currently leading the Microelectronics Lab of the University of Florence, committed to researches in the field of Microwave Devices.
In 1982 he was committed to build-up a facility for the design and production of SAW and MIC/MMIC devices, as a subsidiary of a Florence' Radar Company, SMA Spa. In 1984 the facility became a standing alone, privately owned, microwave company, Micrel SpA, operating in the field of Defence Electronics and Space Communications. Dr Manes was a co-founder and shareholder of Micrel and served since 1984 to 1992 as Director, committed to strategic planning and Innovation.
In the period 1996-2000 he was involved in IV FW projects, in the field of Information Technology applied to the Cultural Heritage. In particular Dr Manes was Project Manger of the TOSCA Project, a distinguished project which set new standards for applications of Info-mobility to the Cultural Heritage.
In this fields he regularly contributes to the Commission's activity in Advisory panels and Consultations meetings, mainly in the area of mobile applications for Travel & Tourism. He is an invited speaker on Mobile Killer Applications at the 2001 IST Event, to be held in Düsseldorf.
Dr Manes' present research interest is in the field of Resonant Interband Tunneling Devices (RITD) devices for Microwave applications and HEMT modeling for downscaling. His Group is involved in a number of scientific collaborations with Motorola Labs, ST Microelectronics and Ericsson Research Labs.
The results of the work on RITD were presented in a full-day workshop, jointly organised by Dr Manes and Dr V Nair, Motorola Labs, at 2000 IMS-MTT IEEE Conference, Phoenix Az.
Based on the consolidated research activity jointly carried-out, the University of Florence and Physical Research Motorola Labs, on November 2000, decided to establish MIDRA, a research Consortium committed to multi-disciplinar research activities. Dr Manes is presently President of MIDRA.
Dr Manes is member of the Board of Italian Electronics Society and Director of the National PhD School in Electronics.
In November 2000 he was appointed Deputy for Information Technology of the University of Florence.
Dr Manes authored more than one hundred scientific papers in learned society journals and presented at International Conferences.

George Metakides
Director
Essential Information Society Technologies and Infrastructures

Company/Organisation:
European Commission, Directorate-General Information Society
Belgium

Dr. Metakides received as a Fulbright scholar his Master of Sciences degree on Electrical Engineering and Doctor of Philosophy degree in Mathematical Logic from Cornell University in 1971. He pursued an academic career in the U.S. at Rochester University, Cornell and MIT until 1978, when he returned to Greece to take the Chair of Logic at the University of Patras, Greece.
He has published numerous articles and books in the areas of Mathematical Logic, Computer Science and Science Policy. He has received honorary doctorates from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne and the University of Bucharest. He is an honorary member of the Romanian Academy and received the Medal of Honour of the Bulgarian Academy. He is an honorary professor of the University of Moscow and a foreign member of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences.
At different times during 1984 to 1987, he held the positions of president of the Research Group of the Council of the EC, and member of the ESPRIT Management Committee and of the NATO Science Committee. He was head of the Unit for Basic Research and Scientific Relations in Information Technologies at the CEC from 1988 to 1993. He was the director of the ESPRIT Programme from 1993 until its completion in 1998.
He is currently director of Essential Technologies and Infrastructures of the Information Society Technologies (IST) Programme.
He is an active contributor to the promotion of co-operation between the European Union and the Accession countries as well as the Balkan and the Mediterranean regions.

Joseph N. Mildenhall
Director of Online Technology

Company/Organisation:
University of Phoenix
USA

Joe Mildenhall is the Director of Online Technology for the University of Phoenix Online. He has been involved in creating technology solutions for education for the past 22 years. He is a graduate of Brigham Young University with a B.S. in Accounting. From 1979 to 1988 he held increasingly responsible roles in software development at J&K Computer Systems eventually becoming co-owner and vice president of software development. After J&K Computer Systems was acquired in 1988 by National Computer Systems (now NCS Pearson) he served as vice president of development and director of technology for the education business group until leaving in 1998. In his present post he directed the design, development and deployment of the University of Phoenix student and faculty Internet portal and the Online education environment supporting the rapid growth of the Online campus.

BS Accounting, 1979, Brigham Young University
Programmer Analyst, 1979, J&K Computer Systems
Vice President of Development, 1985, J&K Computer Systems
Director of Development, 1988, National Computer Systems
Director of Technology, 1994, National Computer Systems
Consultant, 1998
Director of Technology, 1999, Apollo Group
Director of Online Technology, 2001, University of Phoenix Online

Lisa Neal
Editor-in-Chief
Consultant Architect

Company/Organisation:
eLearn Magazine
EDS Web Universities & Training
United Kingdom

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Lisa Neal is a managing consultant with Electronic Data Systems (EDS). She consults on e-learning projects with corporate and academic clients; her recent clients include FranklinCovey, Harvard Kennedy School of Government, Laborers-AGC, Aptima, and the University of Puerto Rico. She has also developed and delivered e-learning classes at EDS using a variety of synchronous and asynchronous technologies.
Lisa is a frequent presenter and tutorial instructor at conferences, most recently at ASTD 2001, OnLine Learning 2001 Europe, Online Educa Berlin 2000, and TechLearn 2000. She offered keynote addresses at conferences this spring in Poland and Mexico. Her recent papers include "Storytelling at a Distance" at HCI International 2001 and "Scenario Building to Plan a Distance Learning Program" at ED-MEDIA 2000.
Lisa was recently appointed Adjunct Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health at Tufts University.
Lisa is Editor-in-Chief of eLearn, ACM's new online magazine on e-learning. Her recent column at www.eLearnmag.org addresses how e-learning technologies and methods can improve the effectiveness of remote meetings.
Lisa received a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Harvard University.

Fergus O'Sullivan
Director of Content Development

Company/Organisation:
Smartforce's Development Headquarters
Ireland

I joined CBT Systems (now Smartforce)-July '95 as Director Of Quality Assurance.
In this role I was tasked with the objective of implementing an integrated quality management system throughout the Product Development Lifecycle encompassing Technical Writing, Graphic Design, Simulation Development , Editing and Testing.. This involved reviewing the then current work processes , procedures and guidelines for each of these skillsets. Working with Departmental Managers in identifying tasks that need to be reengineered or dropped, the formulation of new processes, procedures and practices with the end goal of ensuring we streamlined our production lifecycle and implemented steps to integrate quality into the Design and Development phases of developing CBT Courseware. Once this was achieved, in order to facilitate the fusion of a comprehensive quality management system and to expedite the lifecycle to meet the business goal of bringing product to market quicker.
This system managed the Design and Development of all CBT developed at our Development Center. This integrated Quality/Project Tracking system managed the Design and scheduling of all CBT Courseware, tracked key tasks in the development lifecycle and produced metrics on the performance of these steps.
I was promoted to Director Of Product Development.
Within this role in order to facilitate our change to an e-Learning/Internet enviroment I initiated the re-enginnering of every aspect of our Development System/Process. This involved the re-organizing of our departmental structures in to a internal team oriented production environment, developing a new product architecture with tools and technologies compatible for internet deployment, re-training all personnel in the use of new techniques and tools and the development of an new internal production process.

Albert Sangrà Morer
Academic Director

Company/Organisation:
Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC)
Spain

Albert Sangrà has got a degree in Pedagogy by the Universitat de Barcelona (Catalonia, Spain) and has specialised in School Management and Educational Technology, has a Postgraduate in "Applications of Information and Communication Technology in Open and Distance Education" by the Open University (UK), and the Certificate in "Strategic Use of IT in Education" by the Harvard University (USA). On the other hand, he is an expert in non-formal and distance education, being his focus research in e-learning.
He has a wide experience in the world of the education in Catalonia, teaching at different levels of the Catalan education system (from primary school to university) and has been adviser of several educational institutions. For three years, he was in charge of training at the Catalan Government for Catalan educational institutions.
Nowadays, he is acting as the Academic Director of the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC), a new and innovative distance-learning university model, which is mainly based on a learning virtual environment: the "Virtual Campus", from its very beginning (1995). He is in charge of the development of the pedagogical model of the university and on-line teaching functions, and has established the elaboration process of the learning materials, i.e. structure and pedagogical functionality.
At the same time, he is Director of Edu Lab, an educational innovation laboratory specialised in the application of new technologies to distance education.
Member of the Editorial Board of The American Journal of Distance Education (AJDE) and Consulting Editor of the International Review of Research in open and Distance Learning (IRRODL).
He has worked as a consultant in several virtual educational projects in Europe, America, and Asia. His latest book's participation: Herramienta de autor para diseño de casos (1998), Aprenentatge i virtualitat (2000), and Aprender en la virtualidad (2001)
Co-ordinator and Co-author of the postgraduate course Design and Production of Multimedia Educational Software (1999)

asangra@campus.uoc.es
http://www.uoc.es
http://www.edulab.net

Riitta Vänskä
Manager, New Learning Solutions

Company/Organisation:
Nokia Corporation
Finland

Riitta Vänskä, M.Sc., has a computer science background. During the last 10 years she has been working on corporate sector in competence development area developing distance learning possibilities. She has been developing distance learning possibilities with different distance learning technologies; audiographics, audio conference, recorded video, computer based training, computer conference and Internet based learning. During the last three years her responsibility area has been 'Research, Recommendation and Support for new Learning solutions in Nokia' and the focus area has been e-learning - the effective use of internet based learning and mobile learning.

Annamaria Venezia
Director of Training & Certification

Company/Organisation:
Microsoft
Italy

Annamaria Venezia joined Microsoft in 1997, coming from AT&T where she was involved in Indirect Channel Marketing activities.
She is in charge of all Microsoft Training and Certification programs, initiatives and partners. She works on both the training areas: the social-based training initiatives and the technical-based training activities related to Microsoft new technology. She's closingly working with some of the most important Ministerial Agencies and Depts, in order to spread the IT competencies using all the solution and tools available in the training market (on line, classroom, self-paced).