I have been invited to facilitate a workshop at Zukunftsforum Erwachsenenbildung, taking place from July 2-4 in Bolzano, South Tyrol. The key question will be, if new forms of online learning can contribute to the attractiveness of adult education for the younger generation. I would like to invite two or three young people with experience with MOOCs or webinars to join this session online on July 3 between 15.45 and 17.30 CET. If you are interested, please let me know via email or comment this post.
(Session at Zukunftsforum Erwachsenenbildung 2013 in Innsbruck, photograph by Christian Freisleben-Teutscher)
eLearning and especially MOOCs and webinars are rather new approaches in adult education. Massive open online courses are arguably the most revolutionary facet of higher education today and the concepts tend to spread beyond. Building on the foundations of existing online courses, these courses are open to anyone, anywhere, with enrollments in the thousands. For some young people it is fun to study with international colleagues and to build new relationships. MOOCs offer a diverse range of subjects. Furthermore they strengthen digital competences. This workshop will discuss together with young people via a live online session how they have perceived such formats. The following questions will be raised with young people and the workshop participants:
- How do today’s youths and young adults perceive adult education and adult education centres?
- How do they experience MOOCs and webinars?
- How could adult education centres react or even start the implementation of these formats?
Thesis Technology attracts young people. The implementation of eLearning (e.g. use of social media, introduction of webinars and MOOCs) will better address young adults as they are using online tools on a daily basis. We are still in the Stone Age of online learning, so we should experiment with new approaches, make mistakes and learn from failures to finally succeed.