Title of Workshop:

Envisioning Our Global Learning Future

Leader:

Françoise Lequarre, Institute of Tropical Medicine, Belgium

John Traxler, Learning Lab, UK
Steve Vosloo, Shuttleworth Foundation, South Africa
Jacqueline Batchelor, University of Pretoria, South Africa

Content:

Within eLearning (and mLearning in particular) there is a lot of focus on technology and especially on the belief that technology will ensure a better education. But is technology the best basis to make assumptions on how to get every youngster and person involved in education? How do we envision the future of (global) learning? Will it be ubiquitous, personal, mobile, immersed in technology or not? Shouldn't learning be all about constructing knowledge, about pedagogical strategies, philosophies on what people really need? If so, why has the focus of eLearning and mLearning been on technology?

What factors should be optimised to allow learners to gain access to knowledge and how do we ensure learning for all?

In order to get the discussion, going three speakers with a clear vision on the future of learning will start the discussion, after which all the participants will join in.

Agenda:
The invited speakers elaborate on their viewpoints on the future of learning (each 8 – 10 minutes maximum). After that any participant in the room can invite one of those speakers to an 'opinion battle'. The opinion battle (involving two speakers) has the following format: speaker one (the challenger) starts to put their opinion across for 3 minutes, after this the second speaker (the one that is challenged) has 3 minutes to counter or add to the first speaker. After these 3 minutes each, the participants in the room are asked which speakers viewpoint they liked most. The coordinator of this workshop will also be the moderator.

The room will be set up as a speakers circle: circular rows of chairs around the centre; at the centre the different speakers will take their places.

Target Audience:

This workshop is aimed at all educational practioners that are involved in eLearning and who have an interest in the future of learning. Because the topic of this workshop includes discussions on pedagogical methods and educational philosophies, educators with an intermediate to advanced level of knowledge in eLearning will benefit most.

Prerequisite Knowledge:

Participants should have an intermediate to advanced knowledge in pedagogical issues and theory of eLearning.

Outcomes:

The participants joining this workshop will have the possibility to exchange their views on future learning and to fit it into their local learning context, but with time restraints indicated by the moderator. This reflexive workshop will enable participants to get a more indepth understanding of their own perspectives on learning and eLearning in particular, and will them to more critically analyse the possible applications of solutions and studies put forward during the conference. Main discussion points will be taken out of the workshop for possible further follow-up.