On 6 September more than 300 participants attended the conference “education in a digitized world” in the the Paul-Löbe-Haus in Berlin. Among others they discussed the necessary framework of digital education.
aconium GmbH is active in the field of digital education at the general management of the initiative D21. Together with other partners it analyzed challenges and requirements of a modern media education in schools in the study media education at German schools. At the conference, aconium GmbH gathered information about the latest developments and shared ideas and experiences with education experts.
Digitization should not be an additional burden but part of the regular school development processes, determined Dirk Loßack, State Secretary at the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training Schleswig-Holstein, in his opening speech. Prof. Dr. Jürgen Handke from the university of Marburg characterized the digitization of higher education teaching at its very beginning and requested more commitment from students, who could function as the driving force of digital education.
In workshops, the participants discussed about opportunities and requirements of digital education. They concluded that digital learning should be an obligatory part of training for teachers and vocational teachers. Moreover, there should be a common understanding about the competences to be achieved. Computer sciences and learning about and with media should be part of every schedule at school.
The subsequent plenary discussion showed that there are two main factors needed for a successful implementation of digital education: political measures for creating frameworks as well as great engagement by activists and those interested in digitization. This is the only way that changes can reach the sceptics. Additionally, missing infrastructure is another problem in many schools. Fast internet connections are necessary to achieve better results in the field of education.
The SPD member of the Bundestag and rapporteur for digital education, Saskia Esken, finalized the conference with an outlook at adult education. In her view, digital education has to be more focalised in future; in the adult education, especially at vocational schools, the potential of digital learning is hardly taken care of yet.