A nation-wide adult education conference on the topic of digitalisation in adult education was held as part of the DigCompAE project on Wednesday, 1st of October 2025, in Hannover. It was organised by VHS Hannover in cooperation with the Lower Saxonian Agency for Adult and Further education (AEWB). About 80 participants from all over Germany (with a focus on the northern provinces) attended and participated in the various workshops.
More than 80 experst in adult education attended the conference. After a keynote by Olga Kühl the audience split into a variety of workshops.
A core topic was discussing the practical application of DigComp in adult education. DigComp is the European Reference Framework for Digital Skills of Citizens, and it is the core task of the DigCompAE project to develop and test new ways of using it in the everday practice of adult education organisations. In two dedicated workshops, both lead cooperatively by VHS Wien (Austria) and VHS Hannover (Germany) staff, about 40 adult educators made themselves familiar with a) DigComp as such, and b) the current experience of VHS Wien and VHS Hannover in their attempts to make DigComp part of their regular educational planning and delivery. The two workshops draw surprisingly much attention in the expert public attending the conference (both workshops were fully booked) and from the perspective of VHS Wien and VHS Hannover it was also surprising that many adult education professionals reported that they are not really familiar with the system provided by DigComp. Hence, the brief introduction to DigComp which was Part 1 of both workshops, was welcomed very much by attendees. In the second part, participants shared their experience, thoughts, and also questions and reservations regarding the practical use of DigComp. There were also sceptical voises, not least uttered by experts of adult education organisations who already had made similar attempts of integrating DigComp into everyday work. A main issue identified was the gap between the complex categorization of digital skills as provided in DigComp, and the real needs of everyday citizens when it comes to using digital devices for simple tasks. This led to the question if approaches to communicate DigComp competence levels to the general public (= customers of adult education) is advisable at all, or if it would not rather deter potential customers, especially when they are elderly or otherwise not very much inclined to make digital technology part of their everyday life.
Doris Vickers of VHS Wien introduces workshop participants into how DigComp categorizes digital skills of the everyday person.
Other workshops included:
- Mighty machines. AI in civic education, and the question of diversity
Artificial intelligence is ubiquitous already, and inflicts not only everyday life but also politics and society in general. AI applications occur in various forms, but generally they are meant to suppot decision making based on neutral information. But is this really the case? - This workshop focusses on the political and societal dimensions of AI, including questions of affirmation of stereotypes, prejudice, and disinformation. We discuss: how must civic education be set up in order to tackle AI with awareness of diversity and a criticial approach to societal power? How can AI be dealt with in education responsibly?- Workshop lead by the Lower Saxonian Educational Initatives' Associaton (VNB) in cooperation with the Lower Saxonian Centre for Civic Education (LpB).
- Making digital education accessible for everbody
This workshop is for pedagogues and teachers in adult education who want to help people with special needs to get familiar with the digital world. The PIKSL Laboratory Hannover offers interactively tools and methods for accessible provision of digital education. The team is well-acquainted with the needs of the target group and shares its experience.
- Improving digital competences of people with a migrant background
Is digital competence of people with a background in immigration different? How can we provide digital education for groups of heterogenous character? In turn with short input presentations by the workshop facilitator, participants discuss which topics in the area of media politics are particularly imporant for immigrants. They share their best practices. - Workshop led by the Adult Education organisation of the Protestant Church in Lower Saxony.
- Digital Change - exchange of experience
In this workshop, adult educators share their experience how the digital change and the increasingly quick development of technology affects adult education in practice. Workshop led by the Lower Saxionan Agency for Adult and Further education.
