At the 30th edition of the Online Educa Berlin Conference

Together with colleagues from Eumetcal and EUMeTrain, I attended the 2024 edition of the Online Educa (OEB), the global conference that brings over 2000 education professionals to Berlin every year.

This year's focus was on the changes that transform the workplace and learning. Artificial Intelligence (AI) dominated most sessions. While in previous years AI was discussed more theoretically, this year participants were able to share practical experiences of using AI. While discussions showed progress, they did not appear groundbreaking to me; rather, they showed small, incremental steps forward, accompanied by enthusiasm, excitement and concerns. 


The Future of Work: Challenges and Opportunities

Several sessions focused on the future of work. I was happy to see the emphasis being placed on organisational objectives, strategies and gaps, answering key questions, such as ‘What problem are you trying to solve?’. The immense pressure to not fall behind in the AI revolution can sometimes lead to rushed decisions, prioritizing trends over strategic needs. We were advised to resist it. 

The pre-conference workshop on this topic was hosted by Speexx. Speexx supports professional development through structured mentorship and coaching. It provides tools and frameworks to help organisations implement effective mentoring programs that encourage skills growth, collaboration and employee engagement. Read about their mentorship programme which I found interesting.

 

Another hot topic was skills-based organisational transformation as a key approach for the future of work. This involves shifting from traditional role-based structures to task-focused frameworks that emphasises internal mobility. Steps include skill inventory management, evolving outdated skills, and redesigning roles to meet the needs of a dynamic work environment.

 

The speaker, Lori Niles, suggested that the interfaces of the future will be run by a single AI agenda which will change how we interact with information.

 

What does this mean for the L&D professional? In a panel discussion with management of various global organisations, a few points came across clearly:

• If it’s about finding information, employees will find the content. Learning is outside the office. Stop focusing on the content. Focus on people.
• Focus on conversations. Conversations over content means engaging with employees to learn about their needs and challenges; engaging with management on strategy. 
• Help bridge the gap in your organisation between strategy and individual performance and development.

Great Minds on Learning: Insights from Donald Clark

As every year, the Donald Clark sessions were a personal favourite. Besides his AI- focused session, he hosted a live podcast recording on the Great Minds on Learning. Here he brought the attention to the historical evolution of learning theories and practices. His blog and podcast series offer digestible insights into education thinkers and concepts. Explore the podcasts here.

 

Reflections on Learning from Mistakes


Laura Overton and Charles Jennings hosted a session on the power of reflective thinking. Jennings, founder of the 70:20:10 Institute, highlighted the importance of key ingredients for learning: experience, practice, conversations and reflection.

Participants were invited to reflect and share in small groups on recent mistakes and lessons learned. This emphasised the importance of:

• Trust and psychological safety as prerequisites for learning.
• Research by Amy Edmondson, which stresses the need to embrace failure as part of growth. Read more on Edmondson’s research.

To support the exercise, Jennings shared the 3 Questions cards (see below).

 

 

Towards the end of the session, he also introduced another tool, the 505 Approach based on research suggesting that no change happens without management support both at the beginning and at the end of training interventions. 

Emerging tools and resources

While we cannot be certain how AI will shape the workplace, different jobs and tasks, it was argued that the technologies of the future will continue to seek and aim to deliver comfort, convenience, communication and connection.

One of the developments the learning community is excited about is expected in early 2025 from Gemini AI which will be able to analyse videos. This opens up exciting possibilities for assessments involving observation and performance analysis.

Interesting tools showcased at OEB2024:

• Portfolio integration: Portflow integrates with Moodle and supports building portfolios
• AI-powered lesson creation: Learnnetic and Adaptemy
• Daily micro-training: Memacon provides daily training via WhatsApp
• Content creation tools: Nolej AI, a free tool that simplifies content creation and delivery and Synthesia, AI-powered video creation
• Engagement tools: Voice Threads facilitates multimedia-based discussions and Engageli, an interactive platform for collaborative learning

I’m particularly excited about tools like Nolej AI which transforms content to H5P interactions.

Other resources

• 5 Moments of Need: strategies for effective learning 
• Learning Development Institute on the skills-based organisation
• ASRAI Course Design Model
• Hyflex FutureLearn Course, a hybrid-flexible learning model on FutureLearn
• COM-B Model for Behavioural Change at The Decision Lab (see below)

 

 

As every year, one of the strengths of the event was its diverse range of formats that facilitate learning and networking. One notable absence for me this year was the buzz and engagement that typically accompanied the event on platforms like Twitter (now X), lately a lot less popular within the community.

To learn more, keep an eye on the conference website where recordings of various sessions will be made available.