News and Background Information on the Conference

E-Learning for Small and Medium Sized Companies

Berlin - City of Knowledge can be found at stand number D128 on the ground floor of the exhibition. Christian Lippmann from structura GoresPieper, Voß GbR, one of the demonstrators of the Berlin - City of Knowledge, will make a presentation at COM62, Focus on SMEs, on Friday, December 1, 2006, 14:15 – 16:00: “Forget the Term 'e-learning' in Cooperation with a Small and Medium Sized Enterprise!”.

With more than a thousand HFE institutions to its name, the Berlin region is well equipped in the higher and further education sector. The comprehensive range of courses on offer, however, has been geared primarily to classical forms of instruction.

E-learning is largely confined to in-house use at large corporations, which have all the resources necessary for setting up and running the associated infrastructure.

In responding to a society that puts an increasingly high premium on knowledge and learning, an alliance of Berlin technologists and further education providers has set out to revamp the image of regional e-learning for users and providers alike. Launched under the banner: Berlin – City of Knowledge, the campaign is supported by grants from the EU Structural Funds (EFRE). One of its key elements involves the development of a cost-effective technology platform aimed at promoting the gradual introduction of e-learning into small and medium-sized firms.

The core team

The core members of the Alliance are Condat AG, Cornelsen Verlag, the Berlin Chamber of Commerce, e.V., and the “Future Project” , a regional initiative of the Berlin Senate (Department for Economics, Labour and Women`s Issues). Condat AG has been developing systemic integration solutions since 1979 and is an established supplier of technology in the area of e-learning. Cornelsen Verlag, founded in Berlin in 1946, is one of the leading educational publishers in Germany. Its publishing programme ranges from textbooks and specialised literature to HFE seminars, multi-media software, and e-learning products. e.V. is an association of IT companies and scientific institutions from across the region of Berlin/Brandenburg, all engaged in establishing XML as a base technology.

Strategic objectives

the provision of an attractive framework within which education providers can operate
the establishment of a service-based infrastructure
the creation of prototypical programmes in the area of foreign languages
the promotion of knowledge transfer
the establishment of an integrated network of HFE providers in the Berlin region
the embedding of e-learning approaches and methodologies
the support of activities aimed at standardising teaching and learning methods

Contact

Rainer Thiem, Dr. Joachim Quantz, e.V., Kleiststrasse 23-26, 10787 Berlin, Tel.: +49/30/210 01 407, e-mail: info@xmlcityberlin.de, www.xmlcityberlin.de.

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