(My) Five questions for eLearning Lisboa 2007.

The EU eLearning Lisboa 2007 is there. With a unique set of speakers and experts from different places of the world, the conference will join over 1.000 people to share experiences during the next days.

I leave here five questions that arose to me to discuss among peers during the conference:

1. eLearning or only Learning?
eLearning is nowadays a learning process supported by technology enhanced environments. Can we miss the “e”, as the technology is embedded in all modern learning processes?

2. Will e-skills be the key-factor for the European competitiveness?
Lifelong learning is a key-factor for creating a knowledge society based on e-skills (ICT related skills). Will e-skills development promote competitiveness, employability and workforce development in Europe? Can eLearning be the best way to achieve a massive distribution of knowledge towards a more cohesive society (large spread of knowledge and increase proximity between regions)? Which role is reserved to ePortfolio as an important and standardized mechanism of archiving the skills acquired?

3. Can learning processes survive without innovation?
New organisational learning uses different methods: Classroom; Online learning; Communities and Networks; Information Repositories; Access to experts and Performance Support (ex: job aids on contact centres). eLearning 2.0 uses new mobile platforms (iPod, PDA phones) and web 2.0 applications (Second Life, My Space, Wikipedia, You Tube, Blogs and Wikis). New learning contents are simulations and games - the EDUTAINMENT concept. Are we prepared for that?

4. How can the Education and Training Systems face the challenge of the Lisbon Agenda?
The present education and training systems are not yet completely equipped to face the challenge of the Lisbon Agenda and learning innovation. The learning methods should be more learner centric and supported by ICT. Are teachers and trainers prepared for that challenge?

5. What are the role of companies and public administration in the promotion of lifelong learning?
What efforts have been devoted to promote eLearning in enterprises, in the public administration and in informal learning at large? We know organisational learning should be driven by business performance management, but who is doing performance based learning? How can we implement performance management and organisational learning at large in public administration to influence the market as an example?


Mário Figueira
Associate Partner
Novabase Consulting

eLearning comes of age (Maruja Gutierrez Días)

eLearning.eu was born at Lisbon in April 2000. It is now a healthy seven years old creature. Seven is a magic figure. It is the threshold of adulthood in many cultures. It is a time for starting your way out from home and for assuming a place in society. eLearning is now starting this adult path, out of the cosy environment of fledglings, out of the limelight. Utilities become the more invisible as they are taken for granted, as they become a part of daily life, embedded in the social fabric. eLearning has been accepted as a basic tool for Learning. This is such a big step ahead that we should be most happy.

Seven years ago, most of us were labelled as visionaries, this often meaning slightly nutty. Many people thought eLearning was a new name for becoming proficient keyboarders in productivity programmes. Some people thought eLearning was a new name for getting teachers off the classroom and replacing them by computers. Some other thought eLearning was just a new money machine. Some even thought eLearning was cheap and easy.

We have come a long way, an arduous way. There have been casualties along the way, and I would like to pay tribute to some of the enthusiastic companies and people who are no more with us. But for most of us it has been a positive learning experience. Getting education and training systems to understand and adopt e-learning has required a substantial effort. To start with, it has required a substantial investment in infrastructures, equipment and training.

The extent and the speed to which this has happened in Europe is one of the major success stories of the so called Lisbon strategy. It is only right that this "coming of age" of eLearning happens also at Lisbon. Portugal is a very good example of how European countries have faced the ICT challenge and have recognised the need to equip children, students and citizens at large with the skills and competences to learn, work and live in the knowledge society.

Looking back, we could be pleased with eLearning so far. But it is not a time to look back but to look forward. The ground is laid to make eLearning what it should be: a personal tool for lifelong learning and a social tool for innovation and change in learning. We see eLearning as a basic channel to make lifelong learning accessible to all.

We can now envisage a European learning infrastructure providing access and support to all sorts of learning for all sorts of people. This wide ranging vision of learning opportunities as a service from education to society requires creativity and innovation to become true. eLearning can and must be there.

(Maruja Gutierrez Días)

The Next Generation of Workers -- and Learners -- are Driving Major Changes in E-Learning (Marc Rosenberg)

When we look to the next generation of learners, indeed the next generation of e-learners, we cannot help but be impressed with the level of computer savvy that they will bring into the workforce. As we watch them multi-task online -- doing their schoolwork, downloading music, having multiple instant messenger conversations, playing highly sophisticated games, and searching the web -- we cannot help being impressed. We need to be ready to deliver learning that meets the way these new workers live and learn on the web. Although classroom training will continue to be important, these new learners will reject a single solution, especially one that does not play to these multi-tasking, highly interactive abilities. Even more traditional e-learning that is primarily focused on pushing formal instruction at them will need to be augmented by new approaches that play to the strengths of these new learners.

This is why we must pay close attention to totally involving learners in their own learning. Learners are demanding a higher level of interactivity than ever before. Immersive games and simulations, social networking (think of MySpace, Facebook and others), instant communications and easy access to vast repositories of knowledge must become integral parts of our future e-learning repertoire.

Thus, this e-learning conference, and especially its three important themes, is so appropriate for for considering the opportunities that the next generation of worker/learners present to us. For the first time, these new learners will enter the workforce with an understanding and acceptance of what it means to work and learn online, to be truly mobile, and what it means to collaborate, discover and communicate via the web. We will not have to convince them to take part; they are already there. The danger is that if we do not live up to their expectations, they could walk away. It is they who can show us a thing or two about digital and social cohesion, the knowledge society and e-learning value and quality. The challenge for us is to listen.

Marc Rosenberg

Making Visions Real ...

I would like to share a comment of Etelberto Costa, Executive Conference Organiser, with all of you you which shows the great spirit, the conference organisation team is putting in the conference (see below)
Greetings, Ulf Ehlers

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...
Realizing that our knowledge generate an idea, one year ago, that is now becoming visible, is not a dream born from a nightmare but a secure path for all that work on it.

Who works in Education and Training knows how important is to have visions and make them real. We believe on the new vision for Education in Europe, shared and caring about others, trough and with technology.

Portugal and their citizens,massivelly and activelly are participating on the elearninglisboa. A small country with an important deficit on education levels, but showing afirmation and awareness of their Education and Training elites.

We hope to have great chances to learn more and become better European citizens.

Etelberto Costa