Keeping your feet in a digitally mobile world
The hyper-connected individual has vast power beneath his fingertips. Logging onto the internet may have become a banality of the modern age, but our engagement with it promises vast benefits - and hitherto unheard-of dangers. This was one of the focal points of the Opening Plenary at ONLINE EDUCA BERLIN 2013.
Uniting experts from very different fields under the general Conference theme, "Learning Moves", the plenary addressed three vital trends in modern e-learning:, neuroscientific research, leadership and big data.
For the learner of the near future, in what Jeff Borden calls Education 3.0, "perception is everything". Learning will be about using connectivity to achieve heightened awareness of the dimensions attached to a learning task, to achieve mastery of challenges and gain control of the direction education takes.
At the same time, as Gianpietro Petriglieri described, people are becoming more mobile: and the leaders of the modern age will be a "nomadic elite" who must use technology to provide the human connection - vital to leadership - to the majority.
Individuals who connect to the world of possibilities within the internet also create data. Statistics quoted by Prof Viktor Mayer-Schönberger show that, in terms of the growth in the amount of data produced, the big data revolution is ten times the size of that caused by the invention of the printing press. Data has become an exceptionally powerful tool - allowing educators to correlate variables in learners' study paths and outcomes.
But the future may not be so rosy. To great applause, Prof. Viktor Mayer-Schönberger warned the audience of the need to make sure that big data is not held in the hands of the few: "data monopolies and oligarchies" could well be the tyrants of the hyperconnected future.
The plenary also featured a video welcome message from José Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission, speaking about the EC's grand new project, "Opening Up Education" - to boost innovation, digital skills and access, and address pressing needs within the EU's teaching and learning community.
Journalist, Author, Producer and Founder of THE NEW//AFRICA Beate Wedekind served as chairperson, leading the proceedings and greeting the attendant ministers and ambassadors.
ONLINE EDUCA BERLIN has united over 2,000 people from over 90 countries with a desire to expand their ideas of what is possible in e-learning and to discover the directions in which learning is moving today and tomorrow.
From hugely diverse backgrounds, what these digital pioneers share is a common belief in the power of connectivity for good.
For more information, please visit www.online-educa.com.
Notes for Editors
ONLINE EDUCA BERLIN 2013
19th International Conference on Technology Supported Learning and Training
December 4 ? 6, 2013
Organisers: ICWE GmbH, Leibnizstr. 32, 10625 Berlin
Contact: Rebecca Stromeyer, info@online-educa.com, Tel.: +49 (0)30 310 18 18-0,www.online-educa.com
News Portal: www.newsportal.online-educa.com
Twitter: @OEBconference #oeb13,
Facebook: www.facebook.com/ONLINEEDUCABERLIN,
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?home=&gid=1085877&trk=anet_ug_hm