The association is named “Institut für virtuelles and reales Lernen in der Erwachsenenbildung an der Universität Ulm (ILEU) e.V.” (Institute for virtual and face-to-face learning in the area of adult education at Ulm University). ILEU was founded in 2002 and is a small but effective working non-governmental association with a president, an office and project workers. The association executes model projects and qualification training and offers services in the area of general project consultation and guidance in the above mentioned context. To aid adults in coping with new tasks and activities in society, economics and science, the association provides further qualifications and offers consultation to persons in all phases of life. The association also offers services in the area of virtual and face-to-face learning.
Current focus of work:
– Development and testing of new forms of face-to-face and virtual learning and initiation of learning communities in the area of general academic based education in national and international projects.
Activities in the frame of the international cooperation in the Danube Region within the educational network Danube-Networkers (www.danube-networkers.eu),
– Development of new forms of general education utilizing creative activating non-formal and informal methods for different target groups for strengthening of European awareness and European identity by means of cooperation in projects and encounters,
– Development and testing of innovative concepts for discovering other countries and cultures, especially Southeast European countries, via creative cooperative methods of exploring, traveling and encounters for citizens of all ages, especially older people (http://www.thewanteddanube.eu/home and http://tastes-of-danube.eu/ ),
– Provision of commissioned work in the area of general continuing education and new media (reports, consultancy, organization and the implementation of education events such as The Participation Day of the EUSDR 2015 or the International Conference Tastes of Danube-Let’s taste it in 2016.
ILEU is active member of national and international educational networks, especially the network Danube-Networkers (www.danube-networkers.eu)
ILEU cooperates closely with the Centre for General Scientific Continuing Education (ZAWiW) of Ulm University, the German national Association Virtual and Face-to-face Learning and Competence Network for Older Adults (ViLE) e.V., The Danube Office of Ulm city, the international Association Danube Networkers for Europe (DANET) and cooperates closely with the International Association of the Universities of the Third Age (AIUTA) and other associations. For several years Carmen Stadelhofer had been the Vice-president for Europe of the AIUTA.
LEU e.V. had been the coordinator of several successful European projects and partnerships financed by the European Commission, the State Ministry of Baden-Württemberg, the Baden-Württemberg Foundation and other sponsors. The person responsible for the project, Carmen Stadelhofer, had been the Academic Director of the Centre for General Scientific Continuing Education (ZAWiW) of Ulm University for more than 18 years and during this time had implemented many projects (e.g. DANET, DASUN, DALEG, DASTO, Town Stories, EWA, Unlearned Lessons), some of them were awarded by the European commission for being good practice projects. She initiated in 1995 the non-formal European network Learning in Later Life (LiLL), (www.lill-online.eu, coordination until 2008), in 2008 the European network Danube Networkers (www.danube-networkers.eu). Mrs Stadelhofer organized several international LiLL-conferences and published a large number of articles and books.
Since her retirement she works as a volunteer. She is President of ILEU e.V. and President of the International Association Danube-Networkers for Europe (DANET) e.V., which she initiated with partner organizations in 2014. She is co-founder and member of the board of the Danube Civil Society Forum (DCSF).
Mrs. Stadelhofer’s personal professional specialization is the development of new activating methods in adult education utilizing action research, with focus on promoting lifelong learning for older adults, social participation and intergenerational dialogue with the aid of the new media. 2013-15 she was responsible for the international project “The Wanted Danube” (www.thewanteddanube.eu) in which more than 6.000 people from 8 Danube countries participated. This project was awarded with the European Citizen’s Prize 2015 of the European Parliament and the “Europalilie” of the German European Union. In 2016 she initiated and was responsible for the international project “Tastes of Danube.Bread.Wine.Herbs” (www.tastes-of-danube.eu) in which more than 100 organizations working in the areas of education, culture, social affairs and environment from 11 countries of the Danube Region participated. This project, financed mainly by the State Ministry of Baden-Württemberg has been continuing in 2017/2018 with the thematic focus “Bread connects”. The Danube projects include people of all ages, ethnic origins and life backgrounds and are supported by many (senior) volunteers in all Danube countries.