Global IT innovators gather in Berlin for Online Educa 2008

2008’s Online Educa Berlin (OEB) international conference opened this week. Playing host to education and IT innovators from over all over the world, it is the largest e-learning event aimed at the corporate, education and public service sectors.

The Jisc stand (C101) is attracting considerable interest and discussion with its showreels, publications and regular demonstrations of Jisc-funded projects. These include representatives from the MOOSE project (Modeling of Second Life Environments), Open Habitat (a Multi-User Virtual Environment) and Web2Rights, an online diagnostic tool and animation concerning intellectual property rights in the Web 2.0 world.

Over 25 nations are represented so far in Jisc’s delegate survey, which seeks to uncover key international concerns in the field of online education. Capturing the opinions of respondents from Europe, Congo, Nigeria, Brazil and Scandinavia, early survey results outline several challenges that the online education sector needs to consider, many of which are already being addressed by Jisc projects and programmes.

Key challenges highlighted by Jisc’s ongoing survey:

• Web 2.0
• Mobile learning
• Public accessibility
• Teaching using games and simulators
• Providing technological infrastructure
• Integrating ICT and digital learning in teacher education
• Balance between physical and virtual learning spaces
• How to connect with what others are providing
• Managing the speed of technological change
• Development of e-learning leadership

A keynote speaker was Dr Michael Wesch, a cultural anthropologist from the University of Kansas renowned for producing a most-watched YouTube short film concerning how technology is changing the student experience. In his speech entitled concerning the ‘crisis of significance of education’, Wesch discussed how new interactive technologies are changing not just learning and teaching but society at large, emphasizing ‘the constant process of trying to understand these new, collaborative mediascapes’.                    

Online Educa, Berlin, continues until 5 December 2008 and this article will be updated on 8 December 2008 with further coverage.