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An integrated quantitative and qualitative research design was employed, to study some of the ways in which the diffusion of new information and communication technologies (ICT) is related to the disposition of physical and symbolic space within families. A typology of family types based on possession of media appliances was constructed based on over 900 telephone inter-views. This typology consisted of four types of families: 'traditional', 'intermediate 9 , and 'multimedia'. It was then used as a basis for selecting 38 families for in-depth-interviews. Out of these, ten families were chosen as case-studies to participate in a Family Interaction Game (FIG). The results of the FIG indicate first, that it is not only media appliances that induce compartmentalization, but also the conceptions and organization of space that families employ and, second, that besides the television set, the computer appears to be an important factor in shaping family space and should be studied accordingly. Furthermore, the interviews indicate that privacy is not always attainable in the family context, especially not for teenagers.

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A Partnership in Higher EducationThe “European Maturity Model for Blended Education” (EMBED) is a higher education (HE) project (2017-2020) led by a consortium of universities across Europe: KU Leuven, TU Delft, the University of Edinburgh, the University of Aarhus, Dublin City University and Tampere University of Applied Sciences. It is coordinated by The European Association of Distance Teaching Universities (EADTU) and funded by the European Commission. Aim is to support institutions when introducing, developing and implementing blended learning (BL) in HE. A reference model is created that encompasses all levels of an institution: the design of a course, organisational aspects such as policy making, staff support, training and leadership, while guarding the institution’s quality culture. Internal stakeholders include learners, teaching staff, support services, technology departments and university leaders, while external stakeholders are key persons responsible for policy making such as governments, European university networks and the EU.

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