Since 1995, OEB has been the leading international cross-sector event on technology supported learning and training. Every year hundreds of experts from the higher education, industry, government, and civil society sectors meet in order to share and discuss technology opportunities and challenges when it comes to digitalization and transformation of learning experiences.

Renowned speakers like the communications expert John Helmer, creator and moderator of the Learning Hack Podcast, or Maria Spies, co-CEO of HolonIQ, share their experiences and knowledge as well as ideas for how to shape the future of learning. We participated in debates, panel discussions and enjoyed a lot of networking with open and curious minds all around future models for digital learning and classroom experiences in a post-pandemic world.

We attended the conference not only because of our interest as e-learning expert in new technologies or best practices from the edTech world, but also to explore how the post-pandemic world has been impacted, particularly in terms of the digitalization of learning materials and formats. We wondered what the mood is after the removal of severe social restrictions. Do people want to return to pre-pandemic levels, where in-person training and seminars were status quo? Or should virtual classrooms and asynchronous learning remain as the new standard?

Our impression gained from the OEB is that hybrid learning and teaching approaches and models are the ideal solution and the future for corporate and institutional education.

The term Metaverse in the world of online education, learning and teaching means to use augmented reality technology to foster social learning and student interaction as well as to improve the online learning experience.

Nowadays, the Metaverse has many uses but when it comes to e-learning the solutions and options are quite rare and a lot is still to be developed. But is implementing AR solutions really the way to optimize learning experiences and knowledge enhancement? Njeri Mwagiru has also asked herself this question and is of the opinion, that Metaverse is one of many online learning solutions but not the only one. Instead of focusing on only one solution, learning offerings have to include many different options of interaction and collaboration. But when applying different approaches the quality of the contents and of the tools should never suffer.

Watch the recording of her keynote here.

Anca Iordache, Learning & Development Consultant at Citibank in Switzerland, talked in her keynote about how the global COVID-19 pandemic has affected not only online learning but also the digitization of many workplaces.​People were forced to rethink. Businesses had to respond quickly to the restrictions in order to stay operational. All that without being prepared or having the proper tools in place. From one day to the next the world was shifted from everything in-person to fully online and remote.
Now that the strict contact restrictions have been lifted, many companies are beginning to evaluate whether a fully remote work environment continues to make sense or whether to go back to “normality”. But what means “normality” now after 2 years of working fully-digital?

Anca Iordache talks about hybrid models, especially when it comes to corporate learning and up-skilling of employees. She mentions to build learning cultures in order to build the stable basis for the future workforce that supports the organization's long-term goals.

Here are some key points of what matters in learning cultures:

• Building a learning mindset -why, how and what and opportunities and habits
• Need analysis & learning policy
• Continuous adaption baked on feedback and experiences
• Offer every day learning
• Offer both, up- and re-skilling

Important is, that companies need to identify when to use virtual reality and when to use in-person moments for strengthening social learning, collaboration and interaction.

Watch the recording of her keynote here.

Another big highlight for us was to meet our strong partners of Annoto and BigBlueButton on the conference in Berlin.

Annoto is a powerful and effective tool in order to foster collaboration and social learning. We as a verified Open edX® platform service provider offer implementing it in the online learning platforms for our clients. The most important features in Annoto are the private notes as well as the option to discuss with other learners about a video, a specific sequence of the video, a text, a podcast classification or any other components in the courseware. Especially in online courses where collaboration and sharing are important, Annoto is a great addition to the already rich component architecture in the Open edX® platform.

BigBlueButton is a professional Open Source solution for online and remote teaching. Among other things, the software enables the sharing of audio, video, slides, chat and screen in real time. The use of different tools in one live session for knowledge transfer and query can have a motivating effect and a positive impact on the concentration of the course participants. In the latest version 2.4 of BigBlueButton live analytics and usability enhancements were introduced. The enhancements respond to the feedback from educators and teachers around the world. Learn more here.

Source: https://bigbluebutton.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/24-learning-dashboard-2-1536x534.png

We at Abstract Technology take care of the standard implementation and consulting of the Open edX® platform technology, BigBlueButton and Annoto for the creation of unique and highly interactive online courses. Our planning and implementation phase is very agile, which leaves room for every individual requirements.