About Conference

The theme and the priorities of the conference refl ect the conceptual principles underlying the modernization of education and the reform of the educational systems in European countries, as well as national development strategies for the 21st century. One of the European Union’s key educational objectives is the provision of equal opportunities for all with regard to access to learning and knowledge, regardless of gender, fi nancial and physical ability, and place of residence. That is why, distance learning has now been granted a status of high priority. If introduced on a wide scale, distance learning and teaching may make a signifi cant contribution towards the achievement of educational goals in member states. The Faculty of Arts and Scien ces of Education at the University of Silesia, Poland has extensive experience in the implementation of distance learning in other departments across the university. The Faculty’s Distance Learning Platform operates smoothly and continues to expand. The conference is designed to bring together all agents involved in e-learning – university students, faculty staff , and educators – to explore and share experiences with e-learning and distance learning, both at home and abroad. The partners and the co-organizers of the previous editions of the DLCC conference 2009–2013 include the University of Ostrava (Czech Republic), Matej Bel University in Banská Bystrica (Slovak Republic), Silesian University in Opava (Czech Republic), Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra (Slovak Republic), which are also involved in many activities in the fi eld of e-learning and ICT in particular in the framework of a joint project “E-learning as a road to communicating in the multicultural environment”, supported by the International Visegrad Fund (IVF). Among our participants there were researchers and scientists from diff erent countries. Strengthening and widening the international cooperation led to another international scientifi c project IRNet International Research Network for study and development of new tools and methods for advanced pedagogical science in the fi eld of ICT instruments, e-learning and intercultural competences (www.irnet. us.edu.pl). The project was financed by the European Commission under the 7th Framework Programme, within the Marie Curie Actions International Research Staff Exchange Scheme (2014–2017) with participating 10 Universities from 9 countries: University of Silesia in Katowice (US), Poland, (Coordinator), University of Twente (UT, The Netherlands), University of Extremadura (UEx, Spain), Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra (UKF, Slovakia), Lisbon Lusíada University (LU, Portugal), University of Ostrava (OU, Czech Republic), Curtin University in Perth (CU, Australia), Borys Grinchenko Kyiv University (BGKU, Ukraine), Dniprodzerzhinsk State Technical University (DSTU, Ukraine), Herzen State Pedagogical University of Russia, St. Petersburg (HSPU, Russian Federation). The start of the new international project “FITPED – Work-based Learning in Future IT Professionals Education” 2018–2021 (www.fitped.eu), with participation of Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra, Slovakia (coordinator), University of Silesia in Katowice, Poland, Pedagogical University of Cracow, Poland, Mendel University in Brno, Czech Republic, University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain, Helix5, Netherland, Teacher.sk, Slovakia and “FITPED-AI – Future IT Professionals EDucation in Artificial Intelligence) was determined by the digitization of the society and the automation of many processes which bring new opportunities and types of jobs as well as an important contemporary important direction – artifi cial intelligence will be one of the fastest-growing areas in the coming years, creating many high value-added jobs. The number of employees employed in the IT sector is continually growing. The employees in the European Union urge that there is an increasing lack of IT specialists, mainly in the field of software development, data analysis and data science. The theme of the 14th annual scientific international conference DLCC2022 was: “E-learning in the Transformation of Education in Digital Society”. The theme of the 15th annual scientific international conference DLCC2023 was: “E-learning & Artificial intelligence (AI)”, the subtitle of the 16th annual scientific international conference DLCC2024 will be ” E-learning & Enhensing Soft Skills” .