Keynote Speakers
Dr. Fanny Klett
Director German Workforce ADL Partnership Lab, Germany
Talk: Exploring the Relationship Between Higher Education, Human Resources Management and Market Needs - A Contradiction or Harmony?
Scheduled for: 6th of September, 2012
Abstract: Demographic and macroeconomic developments led to changes in Europe's industrial structure. Competitiveness-driven improvement in productivity makes governments and industry thinking about skills development as the critical issue for the European workforce, and the workplaces. There is a complex interrelationship between strategic management, competency management, assessment and the overall quality management in every educational and enterprise setting. This fact points out the need for interoperability of learning content, competency and assessment data and systems. A novel methodical approach towards Human Resources Management, and moreover workforce development as a key source of innovation and competitive improvement in enterprises, is needed to maximize the Return-On-Investment in people and technology.
This talk observes recent trends toward skills development, and job performance methodologies and technologies to answer the question that is increasingly raised in our society: Are graduates prepared for industrial and market needs? Is higher education all set to fit into the society requirements, and can it deliver individuals ready for the market needs? How can technology intertwine education strategies and workforce performance?
Against this background, a strong linkage between academia, industry and government is required to facilitate the implementation of standardized technological solutions, and bridge education effort, skills development and employment outcomes. In this scenario, the higher education system appears as a viable public catalyst for a quality improvement of processes and educational products to respond to the needs of industry, and the community. A key difficulty here is the proper matching of academic courses and curricula with the possible career pathways for students. Current and relevant career information becomes critical in helping to determine employment routes and expected carrier paths.
Finally, the talk reflects also the demand for quality education, promotion and recognition of education and training products that goes together with the need for quality management standards and a holistic approach to the management of education, competency, skills and assessment data. Technology-based solutions such as mapping of competency data, exchange of competency definitions and related standards help to leverage this central issue of Human Resources Management.
Short Bio:
Dr. Fanny Klett assumed the Directorship of the German Workforce Advanced Distributed Learning Partnership Laboratory, which is run in cooperation with the US Government, in 2009. Prior to this position, she has been with the Ilmenau University of Technology and the Fraunhofer Gesellschaft in leading positions. Fanny Klett earned her Ph.D. in Electronic Media Technology from Ilmenau University of Technology. She was Visiting Scientist at the Graz University of Technology, and nowadays, she is regularly invited as Visiting Professor and Distinguished Lecturer at universities across Europe and Asia.
Dr. Klett's research and development interests are on advanced technologies in the area of information, data and content management, technology-enhanced learning, knowledge management, competency and job performance management, e-assessment as well as metadata, repositories, data fusion and interoperability. She actively works in standardization bodies such as the IEEE Learning Technology Standards Committee, the IEEE Standards Association, the US Advanced Distributed Learning Initiative, and the ISO SC36 for learning, education and training. She is CEN WS-LT LTSO expert.
She has chaired and served on more than 20 conference planning and program committees of UNESCO, IEEE, APSCE, etc. She is associated editor of IEEE Education Society publications and serves on the peer-reviewer board of the IEEE Transactions on Education, and the IEEE Educational Technology and Society Journal. She is regularly invited as Guest Editor for Special Issues of international journals and proceedings. In addition, Fanny Klett assists the European Commission, and various governmental and industrial research funding organizations Europe-wide, and in the US, as an independent expert.
Dr. Klett is IEEE Fellow. She is actively involved in many IEEE Boards and Committees by representing also the IEEE Region 8 (Europe, Middle East, and Africa). In addition, she is Member of the Sponsor Executive Committee and Secretary of the IEEE Learning Technology Standards Committee, and Member of the Council and the Academic Board of the European Association for Education in Electrical and Information Engineering.
She has published more than 80 technical and invited papers, white papers and book chapters, and has organized numerous Special Sessions and Workshops on digital information, knowledge sharing and standardization themes at leading international conferences worldwide.
