Nieuws

20th LEARNTEC ready for take-off

• Preliminary round of HRInnovationSlam

• Trainers and coaches featured at trade fair

• Educational games at GAMES@LEARNTEC

• International keynote speakers

• Baden-Württemberg Foundation's ExpeditionMobile

Karlsruhe, 9 January 2012 – On 31 January LEARNTEC will open its doors for the 20th time in the Karlsruhe Trade Fair Center. For three days, trade visitors and interested members of the public will be able to attend the leading international trade fair and convention for vocational education, learning and IT. "A lot of large companies from the fields of education, knowledge management and media have once again registered for this anniversary LEARNTEC", says Britta Wirtz, Managing Director of Karlsruher Messeund Kongress GmbH. "We will offer our visitors numerous new and exciting events. For example, this year for the first time we well hold a preliminary round of the HRInnovationSlam directly on the stage of the GAMES@LEARNTEC area. At this competition, participants have a maximum of ten minutes to present innovative ideas, projects and products from the field of human resources. The audience – whether on location or online – can weigh in on the presentations in a live vote.

A focus of this year's LEARNTEC will be on trainers and coaches. This sector will present its portfolio in a special theme area in the exhibition hall. In addition, a  potlight will be placed on the topics of mobile learning, serious games and social media.

Learning by playing: GAMES@LEARNTEC

LEARNTEC will offer a series of activities related to games under the new GAMES@LEARNTEC label. Visitors will be able to try out and play serious games in the gaming area.

TEC will offer a series of activities related to games under the new GAMES@TEC label. Visitors will be able to try out and play serious games in the gaming area.

At the user forum, experts will present real-life best-practice cases, while game developers and designers will discuss developments in the fields of serious games and computer games as part of the LevelUp! congress.

"Whenever we play games, we learn as well", says Dr. Peter A. Henning, member of the LEARNTEC convention committee. "The didactic and technical possibilities offered by computer games are gaining in importance throughout the field of education, which is why LEARNTEC will be addressing this topic now and in the future."

International keynote speakers

Attendees at the convention can look forward to keynote speeches by thought leaders from the industry. At the educational forum on 31 January, Hannes Schwaderer, Managing Director of Intel GmbH in Germany, will speak on the topic of "Media skills = life skills? – Is it still possible to imagine everyday life without digital media?" The topic of "Social networks and young target groups – Active learning in Web 2.0" will be addressed by Stefanie Waehlert, CEO of VZ Netzwerke Ltd. On the second day of the trade fair Oskar Heer, Director of Labour Relations at Daimler AG, will hold a presentation at the convention entitled "Dual training –

Future or swansong?" Another keynote speech will focus on the topic of mobile learning. In an English-language presentation Dr. Brendan Tangney will look at "Learning with a Smartphone: The Future of Science and Technology

Training“.
"Trade fair visitors can attend three public keynote addresses as part of the education forum", explains Sünne Eichler of the LEARNTEC convention committee. "We have invited experts in several different aspects of learning: Dr.

Norbert Bolz, Antony Fedrigotti and Dr. Jørgen Bang." On the first day of the trade fair Dr. Norbert Bolz, professor of media studies at TU Berlin, will speak on "Learning means sounding things out – From the 'wisdom of the crowd' to the

fusion of tools and toys". Motivational trainer and coach Antony Fedrigotti will explain his ideas on "Power thinking – Success and change start in our heads". His aim is to show the audience how they can activate their potential to become

more successful. Dr. Jørgen Bang, professor at Aarhus University, will examine the university and its role as an education provider in his presentation titled "How to organise life long learning".

Sustainable learning for the future

As part of its "Expedition N" information and education initiative, the Baden-Württemberg Foundation will make a stop at LEARNTEC with its ExpeditionMobile. Activities and presentations related to the topic of sustainability will encourage visitors to use energy more carefully. The Energy Game, a serious game inside the ExpeditionMobile, unites fun and sustainable behaviour.

Improving children's media skills

Parallel to LEARNTEC, on 2 February representatives of the media, government and education sector will come together for the Media Competence Day being held in the Baden- Württemberg State Media Centre. They will discuss early childhood education and how media skills can be developed in young people. Another event, initiated by the Baden- Württemberg Ministry of Education and Culture, will look at

the schoolbook of the future. At the symposium representatives of schoolbook publishers will explore how teaching materials of the future will look and how online and off-line media can be optimally combined in schools.

The 20th LEARNTEC will be held at the Karlsruhe Trade Fair Center from 31 January to 2 February 2012.