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20/ 2005
Bonn, 10.05.2005
New approaches for lifelong learning in IT vocational education and training
- experts from Germany and the USA discuss market-oriented, flexible and sustained educational approaches -
Developing new ways to sustained initial and further training in the information and telecommunications sector (IT) in order to match the dynamic changes in all branches of IT is the theme of a meeting of international experts from 10-12 May in Bonn to hold discussions and exchange experiences, within the framework of the international congress "New Approaches for Lifelong Learning in Vocational Education and Training, Certified IT Skills and Blended Learning", about new and better educational approaches for trainees and employees in IT qualification.
More than 60 experts on vocational education and training from Germany, the USA and other EU member states, from the IT supplier and end-user industries, from trade unions and employers' associations and from state and private educational institutions are taking part in the congress. The event is being organized by the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BIBB), in Bonn, and American Association of Community Colleges (AACC), in Washington D.C., which have long maintained transatlantic links for the purpose of exchanging views on questions of mutual interest in the field of vocational education and training.
The focal point of the congress will be how rapid IT developments are changing initial and further training in many occupations and how training concepts and programmes which are flexible and sustained enough to be adapted to the continually altered skills requirements can be used to match these developments. "Blended Learning", which combines traditional learning methods like classroom teaching with tele-learning, e-learning and workplace-integrated learning, will be a key topic here.
The specialist congress concentrates on main topic areas in
- certified IT qualification and new approaches to and issues of learning and career paths,
- acquisition and validation of skills in certified IT qualification,
- the contribution made by non-formal IT qualification to the development of qualification standards,
- systems and instruments to provide transparency in certified IT qualification,
- Blended Learning within the framework of modern business processes.
Holding a joint international expert congress is the result of a partnership between the BIBB and the AACC which was formally sealed in 2003 with the signing of a cooperation agreement between the two institutions. Both the BIBB and the AACC play an essential role in the development and organisation of vocational and educational training in their respective countries. The aim of their partnership is to exchange experiences within the area of vocational education and training, including lifelong learning, to gather information about organisational developments and managerial concepts and to use this exchange as a basis for contributing to an improvement in mutual understanding and appreciation of the each other's culture and educational system.
