The German IT Gipfel, an annual conference bringing together government and ICT service providers, this year promoted digital education. In her keynote address, Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel appealed to students and teachers to embrace new developments.
At the conference in Saarbrücken, the Chancellor praised the host state, Saarland, calling it a "small state with great digital literacy", the federal government reports.
Chancellor Merkel emphasised that education is a lifelong process, and that eLearning solutions should be available for all. However, a prerequisite for this is the better education of teachers and pupils, the German ‘Digitale Agenda’ portal adds.
The motto for this year’s conference was "Learning and action in the digital world". The conference allowed representatives from politics, business and science to discuss the opportunities and challenges of digital education.
Next: eHealth
The IT Gipfel has been taking place in different cities each year since 2006. Next year’s conference will take place in Ludwigshafen, and its main focus will be eHealth.
More information:
Digitale Agenda news item (in German)
Keynote by Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel (video, in German)
Heise news item (in German)
Netzpolitik comment (in German)