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Coding for Young People at Digital Festival 2016

On 21 June 2016, as an official side-event of the first Digital Festival in Brussels, the Digital Leadership Institute will carry out a best practices roundtable on Coding for Young People in Europe and an Android coding workshop for young people, on behalf of the ERASMUS+ Coding for Young People project.

At this event targeting students, educators, administrators and policy-makers, expert panelists will lead a roundtable discussion on best practices in coding initiatives for youth from across Europe. The roundtable will be followed by an Android smartphone coding workshop for young people which is also open to members of the public (details below).  Participation is free of charge but both a ticket to the Digital Festival as well as a booking for the current event is required.

Draft Agenda:
14:30-14:35:  Welcome by Cheryl Miller, Cofounder, Digital Leadership Institute
14:35-14:50:  Coding for Young People Project Overview by Valentina Platzgummer, Consulta Europa

14:50-16:00:  Expert-led Best Practices Roundtable:

Moderator:  Ms. Cheryl Miller, Cofounder, Digital Leadership Institute

15:45-17:30: Android Coding Workshop for Young People:
Following the best practices roundtable, Ms. Rosanna Kurrer, Digital Leadership Institute Cofounder, and Friedger Müffke of OpenIntents.org, will lead a hands-on Android Coding workshop with MIT App Inventor, targeting young people ages 11 and up.  Participation in the workshop is free but places are limited so reservation is required.  In addition, attendees should bring their own laptop or contact the organizers if they need to reserve one (limited supply).

Coding for Young People Project Partners

    

 

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Girl Tech Fest Brussels

On 30 April at European School IV in Brussels, 250 girls from thirty-three schools across Belgium celebrated International Girls in ICT Day 2016 by participating in Belgium’s first-ever Digital Muse “Girl Tech Fest,” an all-day event promoting digital and creative skills to girls aged 11 to 15. The first Girl Tech Fest was carried out in Dutch, French and English and organized by the Digital Leadership Institute with support from Google, IBM, Amazon Web Services, Cisco, Dell and the ULB. The event involved over 100 volunteers who organised more than forty workshops and twenty Digital Muse Lab activities that showcased high-tech gadgets and activities like Cooking with Watson, Google Cardboard, and Smartgurlz Drones designed, powered and modeled after girls.

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Participants also took advantage of hands-on workshops teaching such skills as how to “Lead Like a Girl” and “Write in Wikipedia,” and they got to design and build their own gadgets like computer-powered legos and 3D holograms. The first-ever Girl Tech Fest also featured inspiring talks by role models from GTF partners, as well as former European Digital Girls of the Year, Miss Lune Van Ewijk and Miss Manon Van Hoorebeke. Ms. Lorena Boix Alonso of the European Commission and Ms. Saskia Van Uffelen, Digital Champion for Belgium were also guests of honour.

DM1 ArtOn the occasion of the first Girl Tech Fest, the Digital Leadership Institute also released its first music compilation, Digital Muse One – DM1, featuring top women electronic musicians from the past and present. Ms. Maya Postepski, aka Princess Century, who composed a DM1 track called “California,” also delivered an inspiring talk at the Girl Tech Fest, organized several workshops on “digital music composition” and had several girls to join her in DJ-ing at a GTF disco during the lunch break.

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The closing GTF plenary showcased amazing digital creations of the day for which the girls themselves were responsible, including an original Digital Muse letter font, digital music compositions, and high-tech fashion designs. Prizes were given to outstanding digital muses who inspired their fellow participants during the day with insight, helpfulness, and general enthusiasm about the event and their fellow digital muses.

By all measures, the inaugural Girl Tech Fest Brussels was an unqualified success, and DLI is grateful to all its partners, volunteers and sponsors for the hard work, commitment and love with which this amazing event was delivered. In the meantime, the feedback from the school was so great that we have already been invited back next year– but this time with twice as many participants! 😮

Better start getting ready for 29 April 2017 when we will kick off Girl Tech Fest Brussels 2017!!! 🙂

If you or or your organisation would like to support future editions of the Digital Muse Girl Tech Fest in Brussels or elsewhere — with expert-led workshops, sponsorship, promotional consideration, media coverage, technical infrastructure or onsite volunteers — please contact us.

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DLI Update – April 2016

April 2016 is one for the record books! In celebration of the sixth annual International Girls in ICT Day, DLI organised and collaborated on four events promoting greater participation of girls and women in technology sectors, including our very first Digital Muse Girl Tech Fest!  Across these events, DLI reached over 350 girls with hands-on workshops teaching ESTEAM* skills, and upwards of 700 adult women who were event participants, workshop leaders and inspiring role models from technology sectors.

The DLI Board and Executive Team are actively involved in initiatives with partners and stakeholders around the world that promote ESTEAM* leadership by girls and women. Find out below about our work in April 2016, learn here about future activities we are involved in, and visit our calendar for upcoming events that DLI is organising. *entrepreneurship, science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics

ACCELERATE_Logo8 April – Accelerate! Women in Media: Amplifying the Voice of Female Experts (Brussels): On behalf of GAMAG Europe, Ms. Cheryl Miller, DLI Founder, provided input to an expert panel on “Who Makes the News?” as part of the Accelerate! Women in Media conference taking place on 8 April in Brussels.

a4f973a5a7-logo-reunion_GAMAG15 April – GAMAG Europe Meeting at Gender in Journalism Conference (Barcelona):  On 15 April, on behalf of DLI–a founding member Global Alliance on Media and Gender European Chapter, Ms. Cheryl Miller contributed to the first-ever GAMAG Europe Meeting as part of the Gender in Journalism conference, a joint-collaboration of GAMAG Europe and the sixth annual meeting of International Network of Journalists with Gender Vision.

ECWC25 April – “Getting and Keeping Girls and Women in Digital Studies and Careers in Europe” Best Practices Session at European Celebration of Women in Computing (Brussels): On 25 April in Brussels, Ms. Cheryl Miller and Ms. Rosanna Kurrer, DLI cofounders, organised a best practices session on “increasing participation of girls and women in digital studies and careers in Europe” at the first-ever European Celebration of Women in Computing, which took place on 25-26 April in Brussels.  The DLI-led best practices session included the following:

  1. high-level “disruptive recruiting” panel on best practices for recruiting and retaining women in tech careers in Europe;
  2. lightening talks from European women in tech role models and Ada Award-winners;
  3. launch of the 2016-2017 European Ada Awards; and
  4. hands-on Android smartphone app workshop with MIT App Inventor with participation by the Royal Atheneum of Etterbeek.

Be sure to visit our Calendar, Upcoming Activities page, and sign up for the DLI Newsletter in order to keep up with DLI events and activities!

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Join Europe's Largest Women in Tech Event Ever

On 25-26 April in Brussels, in honour of 2016 International Girls in ICT Day, the Digital Leadership Institute is proud to partner with the European Centre for Women and Technology and others to organise the very first European Celebration of Women in Computing, Europe’s largest #WomenInTech event ever!  ECWC16 will take place at the Proximus Lounge in Brussels, and aims to bring together industry practitioners, policy-makers, digital society decision-makers and young and experienced women pursuing studies and careers in digital fields.

Digital Leadership:  As official partner to ECWC16, DLI will deliver several elements of the event, including:

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Digital Luminaries: With keynote presentations by global luminaries of digital transformation — including Ms. Irina Bokova, UNESCO Director General, Mr. Andrus Ansip, European Commission Vice President responsible for the Digital Single Market, and Ms. Terry Reintke, MEP and Rapporteur of the European Parliament Report on gender equality and empowering women in the digital age — ECWC16 provides attendees an exclusive opportunity to:

  • Meet and greet practitioners and decision-makers from leading tech, consulting and public policy organisations in Europe and the world;
  • Participate in a job fair just with hundreds of top university, masters and PhD candidates, and recruiters from Europe and beyond;
  • Network and connect with Europe’s largest community focused on building the digital future and guaranteeing the place of women in it.

Community-Building: In particular, ECWC16 seeks to ignite a pan-European community engaged in promoting European digital competitiveness who are:

  • Women*; and
  • European university bachelors, masters or PhD program students; and/or
  • in Computer Science or other study disciplines; and/or
  • Early, mid- or advanced-career professionals;

*anyone who identifies as a woman.

Partners and Participants:  If you would like to be involved as an organisation or individual in any of the DLI activities or in the wider ECWC16 event, please contact us!

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DLI Update – March 2016

March has been a roller-coaster of a month at the Digital Leadership Institute. It roared in like a lion celebrating International Women’s Day with DLI’s favorite Belgian and international stakeholders, and went out like a lamb seeking community with loved ones near and far in the wake of the Brussels tragedies that DLI Founder, Ms. Cheryl Miller and so many others experienced first-hand.  In between, we advocated for greater participation of women in media, peacekeeping and global leadership at the annual Commission on the Status of Women in New York, and brushed up our expertise portfolio with Ms. Rosanna Kurrer–DLI Cofounder’s graduation from a Certified Trainer in Mobile Educational Computing program at MIT.  Herewith you can find details about it all shared with, as Cheryl wrote, the expression of our heartfelt grief for the people whose losses are so much greater than ours, and a wish for continued vigilance on all our part in the work for peace.

The DLI Board and Executive Team are actively involved in initiatives with partners and stakeholders around the world that promote ESTEAM* leadership by girls and women. Find out below about our work in March 2016, learn here about future activities we are involved in, and visit our calendar for upcoming events that DLI is organising. *entrepreneurship, science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics

EP2 March – European Parliament Media Conference “Women Refugees & Asylum-seekers in Europe” (Brussels): In celebration of International Women’s Day 2016, Ms. Cheryl Miller, DLI Founder, moderated a conference for European media on the subject of “Women Refugees and Asylum-seekers in Europe,” which took place at the European Parliament in Brussels on 2 March.

us seal7 March – US Embassy to the Kingdom of Belgium Roundtable on “Civil Society as Change Makers” (Brussels): On 7 March, Ms. Cheryl Miller, DLI Founder,  joined a roundtable on the subject of “Civil Society as Change Makers,” on invitation from her Excellency Denise Campbell Bauer, US Ambassador to the Kingdom of Belgium.

useu8 March – US Mission to the European Union Roundtable on “Empowering Women Entrepreneurs in the Tech Sector” (Brussels):  Ms. Cheryl Miller, DLI Founder, contributed to a moderated roundtable on the subject of “Empowering Women Entrepreneurs in the Tech Sector,” hosted by the US permanent mission to the European Union in Brussels in celebration of International Women’s Day 2016.   The event was part of a pan-European initiative to promote greater participation of women in tech on the part of the US Commercial Service in Europe and led by the honorable Penny Pritzker, US Secretary of Commerce.  Photos of the Brussels event, attended by leading policy players in Belgium and Europe, may be found here.

codeweek-badge10 March – European Code Week Ambassadors Meeting (Brussels):  On 10 March, Ms. Rosanna Kurrer, DLI Cofounder, joined the annual meeting of European Code Week Ambassadors as 2016 Ambassador for Belgium.

GSMA_logo15 March – GSMA Mobile Meeting Series “Digital economy: Balancing inclusion, opportunities, and access for women” (Brussels):  On 15 March, Ms. Cheryl Miller, DLI Founder, contributed to a GSMA Mobile Meeting breakfast on the topic of  “Digital economy: Balancing inclusion, opportunities, and access for women,” report for which may be found here.

Facebook18 March – Facebook Roundtable on “Women’s Online Safety” (New York, New York):  Ms. Cheryl Miller, DLI Founder, contributed to an international roundtable on the topic of  “Women’s Online Safety,” that took place at Facebook New York HQ as part of the 60th Meeting of the Commission on the Status of Women.

gamag19 March – GAMAG Europe & North America Panel at 60th Meeting of the Commission on the Status of Women (New York): Ms. Cheryl Miller, DLI Founder, moderated a Global Alliance on Gender and Media panel at the 60th Meeting of the Commission on the Status of Women, that took place at the United Nations in New York, on 19 March.

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Be sure to visit our Calendar, Upcoming Activities page, and sign up for the DLI Newsletter in order to keep up with DLI events and activities!

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DLI Update – January and February 2016

The Digital Leadership Institute kicked off 2016 with aplomb by launching our first Move It Forward event giving Brussels teen and adult women the skills to deploy projects promoting online safety and tackling cyberviolence against girls and women.  In the first week of February, DLI  also coordinated Brussels Region activities for the launch of Europe’s first “Startup Europe Week,” which reached thousands of participants across 200+ European cities.

The DLI Board and Executive Team are actively involved in initiatives with partners and stakeholders around the world that promote ESTEAM* leadership by girls and women. Find out below about our work in January and February 2016, learn here about future activities we are involved in, and visit our calendar for upcoming events that DLI is organising. *entrepreneurship, science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics

cpdp228 January – Computer Privacy & Data Protection Conference (Brussels):  On 28 January,  DLI Founder, Ms. Cheryl Miller,  contributed to a worldclass panel on Loving the No-Hate Web: Another Look into Women’s Digital Rights, where the discussion centered on whether digital citizenship is equal and unprejudiced, in theory and practice.

sewlogo_3001-5 February – Startup Europe Week (Europe): As Brussels Coordinator for the first edition of Startup Europe Week, DLI Founder, Ms. Cheryl Miller, coordinated organisation of four free events on the topic of “Brussels: The Heart of Startup,” from 1 to 5 February in Brussels.  These events, organised by DLI and other top ecosystem players in Brussels, reached hundreds of (aspiring) starters and addressed such themes as “Promoting Tech Startup in Brussels” (DLI & Finnova), “Embrace Your Inner Entrepreneur” (Co.Station), “From Success to First Steps” (Betacowork), and “Women and the Cloud” (inQube/DLI).  The Startup Europe Week Launch Event was also held in Brussels on 1 February.

DLearn11 February – European Digital Learning Network (Brussels): On 11 February, DLI Founder, Ms. Cheryl Miller,  spoke at a Digital Agenda for Europe roundtable on the subject of  Increasing Participation of Girls and Women in Digital Sectors, for the European Digital Learning Network.

wehubs15 February – WeHubs Webinar (Online):  On 15 February, 11:00-12:00CET, DLI Founder, Ms. Cheryl Miller, contributed to an online expert webinar open to the public on addressing European support programs for female web entrepreneurs, as part of the WeHubs project.

MWC1624-25 February – Mobile World Congress (Barcelona): DLI Founder, Ms. Cheryl Miller, joined a Connected Women panel on “eSkills and Gender” as part of the Women Leadership Accelerating the Digital Age event at Mobile World Congress 2016 in Barcelona, 24-25 February.

unwomen24 February – “Monitoring the 2030 Agenda & SDGs from a Gender Equality & Women’s Empowerment Perspective” (Brussels): On 24 February, DLI Cofounder, Ms. Rosanna Kurrer  joined a UN Women lunch debate on the topic of “Monitoring the 2030 Agenda and SDGs from a Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment Perspective” in Brussels.

Be sure to visit our calendar and sign up for the DLI Newsletter in order to keep up with DLI events and activities!

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Girl Tech Fest Brussels 2016

In celebration of International Girls in ICT Day 2016, on 30 April in Brussels the Digital Leadership Institute will launch the first-ever Digital Muse “Girl Tech Fest” — an all-day event promoting digital and creative skills to 11-15 year old girls from the greater Brussels region. Supported by top technology companies, youth networks, and public and private partners in Belgium and Europe, GTF aims to increase participation of girls in ESTEAM* studies and careers through hands-on workshops at the intersection of creative and digital endeavor.

Digital Muse Girl Tech Fest:  The first-ever Girl Tech Fest will showcase inspiring women role models in tech, a Digital Muse Lab where girls can experiment with the latest high-tech gadgets, and dozens of hands-on workshops promoting digital skills and creativity with subjects like “The Future of Fashion,” “Digital Music Composition,” and “Building Smarter SmartPhone Apps.”

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Digital Muse One – Music Compilation Release:  On the occasion of the Girl Tech Fest, the Digital Leadership Institute will also release its first compilation album, “Digital Muse One – DM1,” featuring top women electronic musicians from the past and present.  Album artists will join the Girl Tech Fest as speakers and workshop leaders, and will perform at the DM1 Release party and GTF after-party to be held the evening of 30 April at a central Brussels location.  Proceeds from the DM1 release event and sale of the album will benefit this and future Digital Muse activities.

If you or or your organisation would like to support the Digital Muse Girl Tech Fest — with expert-led workshops, sponsorship, promotional consideration, media coverage, technical infrastructure or onsite volunteers, please contact us.  We are looking forward to launching this world-first for International Girls in ICT Day in Brussels on 30 April 2016 with you!

*Entrepreneurship, Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts & Mathematics

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Brussels Women Move It Forward

Winning Project and Judges - MIF Brussels 2016
ENAC: Best Overall Project & Jury – MIF Brussels 2016

On 23-24 January, forty young and adult women gathered at DLI’s inQube space in Brussels to develop websites and smartphone applications, and to launch their own enterprises to tackle cyberviolence and promote online safety for girls and women.  Participants of the first-ever Move It Forward Brussels female digital starter weekend — organised by DLI and subsidised by the Brussels Capital Region — came from across Brussels and around the world, to improve their tech skills and try their hand at entrepreneurship.

Move It Forward Participants Create First Smartphone App
Move It Forward Participants Create First Smartphone App
Move It Forward Team-building
Move It Forward Team-building

Says Bianca Debaets, Brussels Minister for Equal Opportunity and Digitalisation, and supporter of the Move It Forward initiative:  “When women take up an active role in the ICT and business worlds, they are stronger. And that should reduce cyberviolence against women too. In that way, Move It Forward serves a dual purpose: It makes more women entrepreneurs and it empowers them digitally.”  (Read a full press release about the Move It Forward event in Dutch here: Move It Forward Persbericht 2016.)

Worldclass Tech Partners - Tableau Software
Worldclass Tech Partners – Tableau Software

Attendees of Move It Forward Brussels, from 14 to 54 in age and representing upwards of twenty-two nationalities, dedicated an entire weekend to learning digital and entrepreneurial skills taught by DLI and its worldclass technology partners, including Tableau Software, Amazon Web Services, WordPress and AppInventor.  With the help of a dedicated and talented team of coaches, participants developed innovative projects that they presented to a jury on Sunday evening for top honors.  Jury-members included Ms. Maité Morren, Councilmember for Ixelles responsible for ICT, and representatives from European Schoolnet, Child Focus Belgium, DLI and AWS.

Ms. Ellen Van Den Berghe - Inspiring Young ICT Lady of the Year
Ms. Ellen Van Den Berghe –  Belgian Young ICT Lady of the Year

The two-day Move It Forward Brussels initiative kicked off on Saturday morning with a keynote presentation by Ms. Ellen Van den Berghe, 2015 Young ICT Lady of the Year in Belgium, and closed with an inspiring talk by Ms. Terry Reintke, Member of European Parliament who recently authored a report on Women and the Digital Society.

Awesome Team, Coaches & Partners
Awesome Move It Forward Team, Coaches & Partners

Top awards for the weekend were presented to ENAC, Detrolled and iCompassion-Ubuntu, each promoting a unique approach for addressing cyberviolence against girls and women.  All winning teams receive several months’ inQubation and startup coaching at DLI and free membership for one year on the Amazon Web Service platform. Each member of the Overall Best project team also received Amazon Fire tablets.  In addition, several follow-up workshops are already planned to allow inQube community members to further develop the digital and entrepreneurship skills they started learning at Move It Forward Brussels.

Move It Forward Women
Move It Forward Women

Organisations across Europe have expressed interest in organising Move It Forward events in their own cities, and future plans for the Brussels inQube community include taking on additional challenges faced by Europe’s girls and women, including immigration and asylum-seeking, health and nutrition, media portrayal, etc.  Please contact us if you would like to learn more about the Move It Forward initiative, to partner with DLI/inQube, and/or to organise a Move It Forward event in your city!

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Dedicated Team-members
Dedicated Team-members
The Jury
The Jury:  Child Focus, European Schoolnet & Amazon Web Services
Pitching Projects to Tackle Cyberviolence
Pitching Projects to Tackle Cyberviolence
Dedicated DLI Staff
Dedicated DLI Team
"Check out this exciting line-up!"
“Check out this exciting line-up!”
Brainstorming to Tackle Online Violence
Brainstorming to Tackle Online Violence
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Support the First Startup Europe Week

SEWBru16 Flyer-1During the week of 1-5 February 2016, hundreds of regions and cities across Europe will be celebrating the power of startups to revitalise the economy, stimulate job creation and address our most pressing social needs in innovative ways.  Actors — from governmental authorities to university incubators and grassroots organisations — are all on board to support the first-ever Startup Europe Week by showcasing the opportunities, resources and support available to individuals in their communities who are eager to launch a new enterprise.

Ms. Cheryl Miller, DLI Founder, is coordinating 2016 Startup Europe Week activities for the Brussels Capital Region, numbering four events organised by local startup ecosystem leaders and collectively presented as “Brussels: The Heart of Startup.”  In addition, the launch event for Startup Europe Week will also take place in Brussels at the European Committee of the Regions premises.

For more information and to register for the Startup Europe Week 2016 activities taking place in Brussels from 1 to 5 February, please follow the below links:

Event organisers across Europe look forward to welcoming you in their cities and regions for this inaugural Startup Europe Week, and we especially welcome your involvement in “Brussels:  The Heart of Startup!”

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DLI Update – December 2015

The Digital Leadership Institute closed out 2015 in style. After organising twenty events reaching over 500 girls and women in only ten months as Europe’s first female digital innovation center, the DLI team, along with you, is ready to tackle another fabulous year with even greater ambitions! But first, let’s take a quick a look back on the final weeks of 2015 — highlighted by DLI founder, Cheryl Miller, becoming a small-time Spanish celebrity after a video interview with Vodafone was carried in El Mundo, one of Spain’s largest newspapers! 😉 Check out the video, and the rest of our December 2015 news, here!

The DLI Board and Executive Team are actively involved in initiatives with partners and stakeholders around the world that promote ESTEAM* leadership by girls and women. Find out below about our work in December 2015, learn here about future activities we are involved in, and visit our calendar for upcoming events that DLI is organising. *entrepreneurship, science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics

gamag7-8 December – GAMAG Europe Launch (Geneva): As part of the International Dialogue on Gender Equality in the Media, DLI Founder, Ms. Cheryl Miller, contributed to the incorporation meeting for the Europe region of the UNESCO-supported Global Alliance on Gender and Media, which took place at the UN Palace of Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. Read our article and press release about this ground-breaking event here.

wep9 December – Women Entrepreneurship Platform Lunch Debate & General Assembly (Brussels): DLI Cofounder, Ms. Rosanna Kurrer,  contributed to a WEP Lunch debate on the topic of Digital Networking hosted at the European Parliament Members’ Salon by Ms. Sirpa Pietikainen, Member of European Parliament. The lunch debate was followed by the first annual general assembly of the WEP membership.

gamag9-10 December – GAMAG First Assembly (Geneva): Ms. Cheryl Miller, DLI Founder, joined the first General Assembly of the UNESCO-supported Global Alliance on Gender and Media, which took place at the UN Palace of Nations in Geneva, Switzerland on December 9-10. Read our article and press release about this ground-breaking event here.

emtech15-16 December – Emerging Technologies France (Toulouse): On 15 December, Ms. Cheryl Miller, DLI Founder, led debate on the future of education with a world class panel at the premier Emerging Technology event in Europe, Emerging Technologies France.  See a video of the event here:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtSHTGusnVU

 

Be sure to visit our Calendar, Upcoming Activities page, and sign up for the DLI Newsletter in order to keep up with DLI events and activities!

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