The eLearning World Is Networking

Seekers of information on the state of play in technologically supported education and training and future trends were able choose from about 350 keynotes, lectures, workshops, and forums. Furthermore, about 130 exhibitors from 25 countries presented themselves and their products at the accompanying exhibition. eLearning is developing away from the isolated swapping of ideas at the monitor towards collaboration and cooperation. That is the message heard from leading experts at the ONLINE EDUCA Berlin.

The future ICT ecosystem is open

"The services that support the knowledge worker in his competition for know-how are the future", according to Richard Straub from IBM. It is no longer the technology itself but its intelligent use that will form the innovative potential.

Straub made an appeal for an ICT Ecosystem (ICT: information and communication technology) based on open standards as a foundation for life-long learning. "Concerning the basic technologies variety makes no sense. Only by open architectures can the critical masses be obtained that will then use those technologies on all fronts and on a higher level."

The wave of web-based services is getting under way

"Smart tools embedded in formal and informal learning processes are the future", said Umberto Paolucci, Microsoft EMEA, confirming the trend toward services and applications. The answer from Redmond to the challenges of the future is: "Integration and accreditation of conventional and informal learning in connected communities". This will be made possible by ICT tools that prioritize, visualize and make the data volume controllable.

Wikis & Blogs - sold out!

The call for a new learning design and new learning arrangements was the thread that ran through keynotes and sections. Because of the enormous rush, some attendees were not able to enter the series of lectures on "Wikis, Blogs and other Innovative Internet Applications".

How to approach wikis and blogs as a new method of learning was shown by Jere Majava from the University of Helsinki among others. At his Institution, wikis serve as a project-oriented user interface for teams and blogs as a feedback tool or even as a substitute for learning platforms. A central finding was that group blogs don't work; blogs are always individual. They live from personal credibility and freedom. Control and hidden arrière-pensées take revenge immediately.

Wanted: fascinating content

Also looking forward was the demand for effortless and thereby more exciting content and forms of exchange of experience. An exemplary outstanding masterstroke is the simulation "Pax Warrior". Developed by a Canadian think tank, this educational game teaches decision making and crisis management using the horrific genocide in Rwanda as its setting. Against the background of the historical facts and incidents, several players try to save the lives of millions by peaceful means, making "Pax Warrior" emotionally fascinating.

The "Homo Zappiens" & his Peers

Prof. Wim Veen from the Delft University of Technology warned against dismissing game-based learning as gewgaws or doubting the didactic added value of blogs and wikis. In his talk he made the "Homo Zappiens" and his educational requests accessible to an astonished audience through an impressing multimedia show

The young generation has grown up with remote controls, computers, and mobile phones. Anyone wanting to reach them has to do some rethinking according to Veen. They scan information, process it with multi-tasking, and no longer learn linearly but in an explorative way. They loathe spoon-fed knowledge, books or just lectured lessons.

Veen: "The new generation learns by monitors, icons, sounds, games and exploration. The Homo Zappiens wants to learn with or from like-minded people (peers) or he searches for the right information with self-responsibility. He is able to control the information flow and to handle the fullness of information."

In his vision of the learning mall in the year 2020, distributed virtual knowledge-centers, robots will deliver personalized learning. In the future online library, we will be able to call learning modules "just in time", "just enough" or "just for you".

What Homo Zappiens wants are tools that support him in information processing and communication. Three principles are important for the new learning processes: "Self-control, challenge and consolidation. The young generation learns independently, collaboratively and with the extensive use of technology."

Will we only be trained?

With all the discussions about the chances presented by new technologies, the keynote of Prof. Riccardo Petrella, president of the Group of Lisbon, created a thoughtful frame. The combative professor, who teaches "Globalization" and "Information Society" at the University of Leuven (Belgium) found tough words: "Nowadays we are no longer dealing with education. We all are only trained as fast as possible and as cheaply as possible. Education is degenerating to a commodity, only existing to survive in the global and personal competition." Technology will strengthen this trend. "Far too often it is only used to individualize learning. This trend threatens the community."

It is a good thing that the younger generation is reviving collaboration to a certain extent.