Education as a superstructure
Noam will discuss the role of education and its function as a superstructure to reinforce and legitimise the economic foundation of society.
Why has education failed to adapt and change to the challenges of the 21st century?
Because it has not recognises the seismic shift in the underlying foundation as we shift from the post-industrial age to the post-modern "Digital Society" where the brands that exist in the superstructure also function in societies economic foundation.
Learning in the future
Ray will discuss his predictions about the exponential rate of change in technological advance that will lead to machine intelligence by 2030 and how this will fundamentally change what we learn, how we learn and how we will be assessed. A child entering full-time education today will enter the workplace by 2030. If we are planning an industrial scale education system for this latest cohort of learners then shouldn't we understand the world in which they will be expected to inhabit and the challenges they will face?
Apps for Good were invited to present a keynote talk at last years LWF Conference. At the same time they scooped 2 awards in the LWF Awards for Innovation.
In the 12 months since Apps for Good has experienced rapid growth as schools throughout the UK have come forward to participate in the programme.
Debbie Forster will present a summary update and explain why this programme is a new indicator for learning in the future.
Apps for Good aims to:
During the Apps for Good course, students go through a kind of entrepreneurial process whereby they identify what is wrong with their world before designing a way of fixing it with a mobile app. We combine a broad range of areas in the course, giving young people a foundation in entrepreneurship, community involvement, problem-solving and team work, as well as design and some technical skills
Panel TBC: Nicole Yershon, Shannon Vaughan (Ogilvy Digital Labs), Chris Thompson (Ravensbourne), David Holloway (The Ideas Foundation), Marc Lewis, Adah Parris (The School of Communication Arts), Sophie Water (OneDotZero Cascade) , Sherilyn Shackell (Marketing Academy)
Alvin Toffler said: “The illiterate of the future will not be the person who cannot read. It will be the person who does not know how to learn.”
How does a rapidly changing digital society prepare for its own future when it can’t predict what jobs will be needed? A story, a discussion and case studies on educational innovation, action and responsibility.
Case studies: Sophie Bosworth (Ideas Foundation/ School of Communication Arts), Will Harvey (Ravensbourne/ Ogilvy Digital Labs)
A collaboration led by Ogilvy Digital Labs, with The Ideas Foundation, The School of Communication Arts, Ravensbourne University, OneDotZero Cascade and The Marketing Academy.
Intro: The story - 10 minutes
Panel session/debate - 70 mins
Summary and what next - 10 mins
Student Digital Leaders: Driving change - engaging learners
SDL Schools engage students as a strategy to improve the embedding of technology and maximising the impact of their ICT budget. Staff development, ICT strategy, resource creation, new reporting, curriculum development - all areas where Student Digital Leaders make a huge difference. Forget token schools councils and learner voice projects - this is real day to day school improvement driven by students for students and joined up through a national network!
In these sessions students from the SDL network will show you how they make a difference in their schools.
Learning from the collective
In his recent book "You Are Not a Gadget" Jaron takes a contrary position and counter argument to the popularity of online collectivism, web 2.0, open source and user-generated content. He points out dangerous trends in Internet culture and argues that the rise of open culture is not only hurting content producers but degrading the quality of information available. He discusses the concept of technological lock-in where design decisions made early in the development of digital systems can have enormous and often unintended consequences at a later stage in the evolution of that system where designs, knowledge and even the way we think become "locked-in" as a permanent part of the web's very structure. In an emerging "Digital Society" this could have very serious repercussions indeed.
Learning for a sustainable future
Ellen MacArthur will discuss the work of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation that links education and business to inspire young people to re-think and re-design their future through the vision of a circular, sustainable economy that acknowledges the finite resources of our planet against an ever-growing population.
Learning while mobile
In 1995 there were 5 million mobile connections in the world. By the end of 2011 there will be more than 6 billion. This is expected to more than double by 2020. Michael O'Hara will discuss the impact of this rapid growth where mobile connects everything in our lives and transforms society in a way that will have a profound effect on the way we interact not only with each other, but also with our surroundings. GSMA, the trade body representing most of the worlds mobile operators, has embarked on a global "Mobile Education" initiative to accelerate the adoption of mobile technologies within mainstream education settings.
Learning futures
Keri will discuss some of the key points of leverage for radical change in education that are emerging around economics, personal data and social movements. She will talk about the wholesale rethinking of education that she envisaged in her recently published book "Learning Futures: Education, Technology and Social Change". And she'll showcase the work of inspiring collaborators across the UK, highlighting projects ranging from co-operative schools to alternative universities to biodomes.
A debate loosely in the form of the Oxford Union to discuss in a robust, competitive and entertaining manner the value or not of Virtual Learning Environments or Learning Platforms commonly used in schools and universities.
"This house proposes that VLEs are dead"
Chair:
Michael Shaw, Deputy Editor, TES Magazine
Speaking FOR:
Principle speaker - Steve Wheeler
Second speaker - Ian Addison (primary teacher, former VLE advisor for Hants. uses FREE webtools instead of VLE for his school)
Speaking AGAINST:
Principle speaker - Drew Buddie
Second speaker - Dughall McCormick (advisor for Kirkless and VLE advocate)
Running in parallel with the WISE Prize for Education, the WISE Awards are designed to identify, showcase and promote innovative educational projects from all regions of the world and all education fields to inspire change in education.
1.30 pm – 1.45 pm Presentation of 2011 WISE Awards winning project School-Business Partnerships, represented by Mhammed Abbad Andaloussi
1.45 pm – 2.00 pm Presentation of 2010 WISE Awards winning project Rewrite the Future - Save the Children, represented by Desmond Bermingham
2.00 pm – 2.15 pm Presentation of 2011 WISE Awards winning project Teacher Education in Sub-Saharan Africa (TESSA), represented by Freda Wolfenden
How do governments learn to do new things?
In theory, everything starts by some new awareness emerging within the public opinion. It is then picked up by politicians competing for office and translated into law. Law, then, is enacted into new policy. In practice, elected officials and public servants live in a far messier world, characterized by inertia, windows of opportunity, technocracy, information asymmetries, and all kinds of "short circuits" for vested interests to influence policy without going through a public debate (lobbying being exhibit A).
Our policy space is still geared towards traditional ways of learning. Edgeryders aims to change that and challenge mantras in European policy. So we're opening channel of interlocution towards the European Commission and member states. This session can be summarised as an interactive conversation on how to teach a new trick to old dogs. We think it is especially relevant to people with experiences from processes to make voices heard in the policy space as well as those interested in doing lobbying through new channels.
Global innovation in learning
Having recently authored the book "Innovation in Education: Lessons from Pioneers around the World" on behalf of WISE (World Innovation Summit for Education) Charles will discuss how traditional education systems often fail and provides examples of radical educational innovators who, starting in the margins rather than the mainstream, create new and effective ways of delivering education through networks and movements that offer not only "more" but "better" and "different".
Risk-It uses simple patterns to describe common relationships that exist in life, projects and businesses. Understanding and identifying these patterns helps people to innovate effectively - from generating new ideas to being able to critique how successful they could be. The pathways in Risk-It also enable an understanding of the skills required and the processes that will convert the idea into deliverable products and services. Risk-It draws its inspiration from the 'Chaos' notion that small differences can generate big changes in outcomes.
'A small number of rules or laws can generate systems of surprising complexity' John H Holland 'Emergence'
Making maths beautiful
The importance of math to jobs, society and thinking has exploded over the last few decades. Meanwhile, math education has gotten stuck or has even slipped backward. Why has this chasm opened up? It's all about computers: when they do the calculating, people can work on harder questions, try more concepts, and play with a multitude of new ideas. Conrad Wolfram will discuss a new project to build a completely new math curriculum with computer-based computation at its heart - alongside a campaign to refocus math education away from historical hand-calculating techniques and toward relevant and conceptually interesting topics.
Recipe: With just a few music based iOS apps you too could become the next household DJ.
Find out how to lay down a couple of beats, sample a few soundbites, add some music and create your first mashup.
Engagement matters: if you don’t feel engaged in what you’re doing, you won’t care about it, and you’re unlikely to succeed. If you aren’t engaged in your learning in school, this is likely to affect not only your academic achievement, but also your future engagement in work, and in your community. This session will provide education professionals with tried-and-tested strategies for raising student engagement that they can take back to their schools, through a set of discussions and exercises that model engaging approaches to teaching and learning. During the session, each participant will develop their own plans for creating engaging learning experiences. At the end of the session, participants will receive a set of free tools for creating engaging learning.
The anarchy of science
When Jake Davis, the alleged spokesperson for the teenage hacking group LulzSec, was released from court on bail he left holding a copy of Michael Brooks book "Free Radicals: The Secret Anarchy of Science". Michael Brooks will discuss how many of of Davis' generation think science is dull, beyond them and something that has no need of their input and that this is because every generation before them has colluded in creating the myth that science is boring, that scientists are dull, passionless, cold and logical. He will argue that science is far too important to our futures to let this situation roll on through another generation given that these are the people who will have to make decisions about climate change, genetic engineering, medical technologies and energy production.
Learning to compute
Google's technology platforms have shaped the way we use the internet and has had a profound impact on numerous industries in numerous sectors including education and learning. Andrew will talk about the Google story, the importance of STEM education, the UK's failure to capitalise on its record of innovation and engineering and Google's position on this.
Ed Vaizey will discuss the UK Governments position on innovation, creativity and growth.
How do you teach the world to become web makers?
Come hear about Mozilla's plan for combining interest-based learning with badge earning, and help us debate some key issues going forward.
What are the basic web skills that people need to know?
What's the most effective way to create a distributed teaching and learning network that people will actually use?
How can we dream even bigger, and how can you help make it happen?
Learning with LEGO
Jacob is committed to making a positive difference to children in their development and will discuss the many initiatives that LEGO Education are undertaking throughout the world that help children to better understand their world, its challenges and how they may embrace their own creativity and innovation to solve bigger problems from renewable energy to green cities, after-school clubs to robotics from pre-school through the secondary education.
Join some of the UK’s leading edu and learning tech startups for a fast paced session as they pitch their business ideas to a panel of experts from education, tech and investment sectors.
Find out first about amazing ideas, technology and innovation and hear whether the experts think they will sink or swim.
Get involved by asking your questions and casting your vote for the winning idea.
Fast, chaotic and fun, this edu tech meetup will link you into one of the most vibrant parts of the education world!
Hosted by Ed Baker, entrepreneur and Anna Pedroza, organisers of the recent successful Startup Weekend Education London:
http://londonedu.startupweekend.org/
Interested in pitching? Contact the team: hello@educationgamesnetwork.com
This session will take delegates through a fast paced collaborative process that will encourage them to explore radically different approaches to education in the light of economic, environmental, technological and political changes. It will explore emerging trends and significant potential disruptions, and encourage participants to confront their own fears and aspirations, and find practical steps towards creative educational change.
Learning to innovate
Geoff will discuss what he considers to be one the most important needs for innovation in schooling in the UK. He looks at the priority of bringing together two sets of problems, the challenge of large numbers of bored teenagers who just don't like school and can't see the relationship between what they learn at school and future jobs, and employers who complain that young people leaving school without necessary skills or right attitude. Geoff will consider a new form of schooling that focused its curriculum on real life practical projects working on commission to business, NGO's and others where the students have "coaches" as much as "teachers".
A reception hosted by the World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE) with author of WISE publication Innovation in Education: Lesson from Pioneers around the World Charles Leadbeater
Followed by the LWF Awards.
A drinks reception hosted by GSMA providing a social environment to network with colleagues and make new contacts. Followed by the LWF Awards.
Drinks and canape receptions will be hosted in a number of the industry supported domes. This is a great opportunity to get to know fellow delegates and industry supporters in a convivial atmosphere before the LWF Awards 2012
Join Toucan Computing (Apple Solution Expert Education) for a pre-LWF Awards drink and network with colleagues and fellow delegates.
Followed by the LWF Awards
The Awards celebrate international practitioners, learners and participants who have excelled in the use of mobile, video games, social media, open source or other disruptive platforms for radically improving learning and teaching by demonstrating genuine innovation and best practice that can be shared amongst colleagues.
It is without doubt the most sociable and entertaining awards event in the education calendar. A serious, prestigious awards event that doesn’t take itself too seriously.
The opening session is introduced and chaired by Lord David Puttnam
Learning from Scratch
Mitchel Resnick's Lifelong Kindergarten research group developed the ideas and technologies underlying the LEGO Mindstorms robotic kits and the Scratch programming software used by millions of young people around the world. With these technologies, young people learn to design, create, experiment, and invent with new technologies, not merely browse, chat, and interact. Mitch also co-founded an international network of 100 after-school clubs where youth from low-income families learn to express themselves creatively with new technologies. Mitch's ideas and work are now at the centre of the debate about the curriculum for ICT in schools. Should children simply learn to use standard applications and games, or should they also have the opportunity to become creators?
Open, participative and distributed are Mozilla Foundations aims for the future of learning. Learning today happens everywhere, not just in the classroom. But it's often difficult to get recognition for skills and achievements that happen outside of schools. Mark Surman and Michelle Levesque will discuss approach's that Mozilla Foundation are taking to meet their objectives to re-invent learning and assessment with digital technologies.
iO Game Based Learning Sessions LWF 12
Overview
This session will cover three different areas of the use of games in learning and most importantly games creation in creating learning opportunities for students. The session will draw on practical experiences that have already taken place in schools, refer and develop thinking based on newly released research outcomes, and give delegates solid starting points for them to take away and develop in their schools or organisations.
10:30-11:00
“Little Big Challenge Programme and Research Outcomes”
Since September 2011 teams from 16 Secondary Schools across Wolverhampton have been participating in a challenge to create levels in Little Big Planet; following a process of brainstorming, planning, drawing developing and then creating their levels in LBP. Throughout the process research has been conducted by Don Passey from Lancaster University and who has an extensive background in research into the impact of technical interventions in education.
Don will briefly outline the tasks that the students undertook and then feedback on the research outcomes achieved. He will question the validity of the outcomes, the transfer of the skills acquired and look at how future work can capitalise on the outcomes. This is the credible research project that educators and game makers have been seeking in supporting their ongoing developments and efforts.
Don Passey
Senior Research Fellow, Department of Educational Research, Lancaster University.
11:00-11:30
“Interactive Fiction”
Interactive Fiction, also known as text adventures, are a type of game where the player interacts with the game world primarily via text. Written descriptions of a location are displayed, and the player can then examine individual items, pick up and use objects, combine objects, explore the game world and much more. Perhaps most important, by typing or clicking commands, players can influence the game environment. This kind of game was popular in the early 1980's, in the days before computers were powerful enough to handle graphics. Hot titles like INFOCOM’s Zork sold literally hundreds of thousands of copies, over 379,000 if you are counting. 30 years later, Zork is still hugely popular. However, creating your own interactive fiction still required basic programming skills, that is until now and some of the tools that are available.
This session will explore how classroom practitioners have enabled their students to start writing, creating and engaging with Interactive Fiction games. The speakers will examine how disengaged readers are now reading and even better engaged in writing games. Examples of how IF is being used in other subject areas such as Science are being explored and developed.
Speaker Panel
Kristian Still, Assistant Headteacher, Hamble College
Alex Ward, textadventures.co.uk expert and programmer
Tom Cole, Teacher and 2nd Year Games Design Student
“Creating Games for Learning Opportunities at School”
For several years educators have seen the benefits in students consuming games and indeed the LWF conferences have been instrumental in developing and forwarding the debates and outcomes. Since the publishing of the Next Gen Review last year there has become an emphasis on a requirement for students capable of creating games coming through from Universities and into the creative digital industries, were there is presently a skills shortage that is undermining the industries contribution to the UK economy.
So in answering a highlighted careers needs and more recently also the Governments intent on developing and enriching the ICT curriculum how can students in schools create games? What is needed? What is available and most importantly what are the learning opportunities for the students. How can these activities in creating games and interactives perhaps tackle whole school agenda items around literacy, numeracy and other high order issues?
Speaker Panel
Ray Maguire, Chairman Interactive Opportunities Ltd and ex MD of Sony PlayStation
Andy Goff, Managing Director Interactive Opportunities Ltd
Richard Healey, Ex CLC Manager
"There is much rhetoric today about Learner Voice and the impact that it might have towards the task of making learning more effective, and on increasing engagement. But simply asking students is not enough - we need them to engage in research and reflection about what their learning might be like. When we do, the results can be stellar. This session explores, very much around inputs from the students themselves, the makeover of a simple demountable hut to produce a wonderful classroom, fit for this millennium.
What choices were made, how was it done so affordably, how easy is it for other schools to copy any features that seem to fit their own local context and culture? Did exam results improve (they did!)? What can we learn about the changing expectations - entitlements indeed - that the students emerge with as they move on in education. What is the response of the new students 'inheriting" this remarkable learning space?
Do please come along. This is a very honest, revealing, optimistic conversation"
What is the Internet doing to our brains?
Dr Paul Howard-Jones, a leading expert on the role of neuroscience in educational practice and policy with a particular interest in how gaming engages the brain and the application of this knowledge in education. Paul will discuss the findings of his recent research that was supported by the Nominet Trust to review the potential effects of the internet on the brain.
Introduction to the 2nd half of the morning session by Gerard Kelly, Editor, TES who takes the chair.
Learning from the fringe
Lisa will discuss her work with fringe communities and ethnographic research. Lisa creates a series of scenarios showing functional relationships between fringe groups and the mainstream that challenges our sense of normality whilst deciphering the values, beliefs and talents of the fringe through personal encounters and the creation of unique services.
Learning via film
Jason Wishnow, FIlm Director at Large for the TED Conferences, explains how to shoot a TEDTalk.
Could this be our final century?
Whatever part of the world we live in we're going to have to contend with the fact that the world is getting more crowded and that each individual is going to become more demanding of resources, energy and food. If we are to cope with this more crowded world we are going to have to deploy science and technology in a more optimum way, a way that requires international partnerships. Martin Rees will present the case that scientists have a special role to play in promoting this discussion amongst the general public and politicians so that important long term issues remain high on the agenda.
Learning from games
Jesse Schell believes that the future of learning is beautiful. Renowned video game designer and frequently credited with popularising the concept of employing gaming mechanics to solve problems and engage audiences in non-gaming software in a technique known as "gamification". Jesse Schell will discuss his thoughts and experiences of how to make learning and education beautiful by using customisation and gaming techniques within the learning experience rather than the kind of standardisation that produces standardised output.
Book signing with author of WISE publication Innovation in Education: Lessons from Pioneers around the World Charles Leadbeater
This session hosted by Dawn Hallybone and featuring children, teachers and lecturers from across key stages and the country will showcase what is happening in schools at the moment, from early years to higher education. For us the future is now and is happening - come along and found out how schools are using apps, games based learning,social media, blogs and other tools to explore and promote learning in the classroom. Come along during lunch and find out more and join the discussion to ensure that the learning continues to happen now - not in the future.
Speakers will include:
Dawn Hallybone - Senior Teacher Oakdale Junior School winner of LWF special achievement award 2009
Ian Addison Google Certified Teacher,
Julian Woods Deputy Head and Microsoft Partners in Learning award winner
Dr. Nick Dennis ICT and assistant head at Felstead
Oliver Quinlan - Lecturer at Plymouth University
Cloudlearn has been a research project, funded by the Nominet Trust. The catalyst for this research was a growing awareness of a deep schism developing between those schools who were embracing social media and portable devices (specifically mobile and smart phones) and those schools maintaining a policy of banning, locking and blocking.
The research team's concerns were twofold: the embracing schools were achieving greater engagement, a significant component in improving standards, and that opportunity was lost to the locking and blocking schools; secondly, they had an acute concern that locking and blocking might be potentially dangerous, for a number of reasons, a concern which the research reaffirmed.
What emerged from the research was the headline that many teachers, departments, schools and individuals around the world had arrived at very simliar sets of common sense, professionally evolved, cautiously applied, effective and tested policy guidelines for using social media and portable devices safely, effectively and engagingly. Phones, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and more are being harnessed effectively and safely. Cloudlearn.net has aggregated this shared experience, to produce a safe, tested starting point for others also seeking the engagement, the effective practice and the resource savings that follow.
This session explores the methodology - crowd sourced research - and points to some of the clear, practical, effective and tested advice that emerged.
Running in parallel with the WISE Prize for Education, the WISE Awards are designed to identify, showcase and promote innovative educational projects from all regions of the world and all education fields to inspire change in education.
1.45 pm – 1:55 pm Presentation of 2011 WISE Awards winning project School-Business Partnerships, represented by Mhammed Abbad Andaloussi
1.55 pm – 2.05 pm Presentation of 2010 WISE Awards winning project Rewrite the Future - Save the Children, represented by Desmond Bermingham
2.05 pm – 2.15 pm Presentation of 2011 WISE Awards winning project Teacher Education in Sub-Saharan Africa (TESSA), represented by Freda Wolfenden
Breaking the education cartel
Technology plus people break cartels. Recent disruptions brought about by the availability of inexpensive technologies and pervasive connectivity has shown that cartels can fail as a result. The music industry is a good example of this. But education has remained resistant to change. Why is this? Stephen Heppell will discuss.
Having sent his son to a private school when he was five years old, Francis Gilbert saw first hand the harmful effects of the private system. He discovered that the teaching was poor and his son was being bullied both by the children and the system in general. His son's life changed immeasurably for the better since he started attending the local state primary a few years ago, improving academically and in confidence. Above all, being part of the local community has made him - and the family in general - much happier in himself. Francis will make the case for supporting local state schools correcting the myths and untruths that are spread about local state schools.
Engagement matters: if you don’t feel engaged in what you’re doing, you won’t care about it, and you’re unlikely to succeed. If you aren’t engaged in your learning in school, this is likely to affect not only your academic achievement, but also your future engagement in work, and in your community. This session will provide education professionals with tried-and-tested strategies for raising student engagement that they can take back to their schools, through a set of discussions and exercises that model engaging approaches to teaching and learning. During the session, each participant will develop their own plans for creating engaging learning experiences. At the end of the session, participants will receive a set of free tools for creating engaging learning.
Student Digital Leaders: Driving change - engaging learners
SDL Schools engage students as a strategy to improve the embedding of technology and maximising the impact of their ICT budget. Staff development, ICT strategy, resource creation, new reporting, curriculum development - all areas where Student Digital Leaders make a huge difference. Forget token schools councils and learner voice projects - this is real day to day school improvement driven by students for students and joined up through a national network!
In these sessions students from the SDL network will show you how they make a difference in their schools.
Anthony will discuss how he believes technology can be used to make a difference on learning, how learners and teachers can be empowered with new techniques and experiences that connect them to 21st century skills that enable them not only contribute to the economic workforce but also to solve some of the challenges that we're facing on the planet.
What if Steve Jobs had re-invented the education system rather the computer and consumer electronics industry?
Steve Jobs was a contradictory character, combining control freak and Zen Buddhist, and technology with design. He had a revolutionary impact on computing, animation, the music industry, printing, and publishing. Last year he and Bill Gates together expressed surprise at how little impact technology had had on schools. Jobs's wife is an educational reformer, he was a college dropout; but what would it have been like if Steve Jobs had focussed on education? What would the Jobs School be like?
Behind this fanciful question is the serious question of whether we are willing to be truly revolutionary in our thinking about schools. Are we brave enough to truly challenge the many forces of conservatism in education? Can we "invent the future" for education? Can we show learners what they really want and make schools "insanely great". Can learning become so intuitive, seductive and personal that every child is engaged, progresses, and fulfils their potential?
Young Rewired State is the philanthropic arm of Rewired State and is a network of developers aged 18 and under.
Its primary focus is to find and foster the young children and teenagers who are driven to teaching themselves how to code, how to program the world around them. This is a mighty challenge though well-supported with free tutorials online, but inevitably an isolating and solitary activity.
Young Rewired State developers, as well as developers from Rewired State and Coding for Kids will be taking part in an LWF hack style event, where everyone will be in a pod, coding throughout the entire conference, including the night - fuelled by coke and pizza. The pod will be open so everyone can come in and see what is going on and talk to the young programmers about challenges that might be resolved during the course of the conference - also people who are not already a part of the YRS, RWS or CfK communities can take part as well if they can programme or design.
The resulting prototypes they have built will be shown just before the final keynote, in a rapid-fire 3 minute show and tell.
Intermission whilst preparing for closing keynote delivered by live video link from Los Angeles with Sir Ken Robinson
Sir Ken Robinson provides the closing statement for the LWF 12 conference under the theme "leading a learning revolution". Reforms are required for our industrial scale education systems but what forms shall they take, what will they value and what purpose shall they serve? In closing the conference Sir Ken will reflect on earlier speakers statements and offer a call to action for the delegates to look at the future with a new determination based upon the challenges that future generations face and where our education systems will need to nurture the creative innovators upon which our future well-being will be placed.
