DIE Zeitschrift für Erwachsenenbildung

Net based communication is changing business and private life and education and learning of adults as well. Important condition for using new chances by new information and communication technologies for learning processes is media competence. – The authors describe components of media competence as a pedagogical target including technical competence, communicative competence and the competence of coping with the information flood. Problems are restrictions of participation on net based communication, selection by financial reasons or by user-inadequate software, and differences between individuals using new media. Since media competence is necessary not only for learners but also for teachers, there have to be consequences at the levels of teacher training.

One of the challenges in the pedagogical use of new technologies is gaining understanding of the babylonic confusion of new concepts and terms. The author enumerates some of the most essential terms. His key questions are: Does e-learning really change education and learning fundamentally? Is the acquisition of knowledge by electronic means really totally different from most traditional ways? – „Computers don’t teach. Only educators do”.

Working biographies today do not last for life. The author describes the concepts of labour entrepreneur as a new type of labour which means that employees put their competence to the market. Characteristics of the labour entrepreneur is responsibilityfor the organisation and the marketing of one’s own competence. As a consequence in adult education didactical and methodical concepts for the interpretation and self-reflection of one’s own biography have to be developed.

10% of German adults are estimated 1995 by OECD to be on a very low level of literacy, about 30% are on a low level. The author explores definitions and dimension of basic education. Restrictions exist for discussion in the lack of University research and the fact that illiterates form a part of the population described to be on a low level of literacy. But basic education is the prerequisite for independent, self-organized learning and the basis of general education. Therefore concepts to integrate basic and general education of adults are to be developed under the perspective of building up subject-oriented competences and attitudes.

The article points out the need and the direction of changes in points of view, the planning and the character of programmes, the role of teachers and the organizational structures regarding the further development of the German Adult Education Institute „Volkshochschule”. Schneider identifies development processes towards a customer-oriented institution as balancing out different interests of different learners, clients and cooperation partners, and education management as a new competence of leadership.

Political education as a par t of general adult and continuing education with regards to lifelong learning and on the background of social change, is confronted with a new challenge. Science, economics, representatives responsible for education and learning of adults and politics are looking for instruments to navigate the consequences of globalization. – The author focusses – besides social questions of inequality – problems of cultural identity as one of these consequences and identifies learning of democratical forms of coexistence with others as the coming essential topic in the field of political education.