Probably...
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Thursday 16 June 2011
Learning Skills Group Conference - Olympia
Tuesday 14th June meant a trip on the train up to Olympia for the Learning Skills Group Conference. I made a mental note on the way up of the number of technologies that people were using on the train. Essentially everyone had a mobile phone of some kind, some of whom were using them for using music - others had dedicated music players. The surprise for me was the number of Kindles, I expected one or two but there was a glut of them - I had missed how popular they have become.
At the conference after the opening welcome by the ever-engaging Don Taylor we were treated to the work of Professor Chris Bones. Great speaker - excellent rhetoric in his material about how to manage change. The crux being to lead, but to let the people you have run free in the search for a solution to a problem - let them provide the answer - don't give it to them. As a leader you are there to be allow the collective to succeed, not be the hero yourself.
Thought-provoking stuff, he also provided me with my favourite quote of the day "You can trust me on this - I'm a professor".
Next session was with my new Learning Tech hero - Professor Steve Wheeler. He spoke of the tech of the past and where we're going. A difficult if not impossible thing to predict but it was equally difficult to suggest that his thoughts might be wrong. He spoke of the significance of personalising learning - letting the learner decide how, when and where to learn - the move from Managed Learning Environments and the rise of the Personalised Learning Environment.
The future is to draw on the 'listening culture', augmented reality, visual through 'infographics', and of course the ubiquitous mobile device.
The steps of learning become:
Learn to Learn >> Critical thinking >> Collaboration >> Creativity >> Reflection >> Evaluation
I chatted with Steve in the lunch period and was fascinated by his stories - very inspirational guy. One of the things he said was that 'Intelligent Semantic Technology' has been developed and is coming soon. A device reading your facial expression and reacting accordingly. When it sees confusion on your face it will offer more help and so on - amazing, mind-blowing technology.
My afternoon was spent watching Andy Tedd, formerly of the BBC and now the Centre for Excellence in Media Practice, who spoke of the use of Social Media and the right choices to be made in order to use it successfully.
One of the main pitfalls would seem to be to provide your learner with something that is too complete - an "I'm telling you" didactic approach - rather than giving the learner space to think and to go with thier gut. People learn most through conversation.
It was a very well-organised and informative day and I was able to make some interesting connections - which may bear fruit - that remains to be seen but my ever-optimistic fingers are crossed :o)
At the conference after the opening welcome by the ever-engaging Don Taylor we were treated to the work of Professor Chris Bones. Great speaker - excellent rhetoric in his material about how to manage change. The crux being to lead, but to let the people you have run free in the search for a solution to a problem - let them provide the answer - don't give it to them. As a leader you are there to be allow the collective to succeed, not be the hero yourself.
Thought-provoking stuff, he also provided me with my favourite quote of the day "You can trust me on this - I'm a professor".
Next session was with my new Learning Tech hero - Professor Steve Wheeler. He spoke of the tech of the past and where we're going. A difficult if not impossible thing to predict but it was equally difficult to suggest that his thoughts might be wrong. He spoke of the significance of personalising learning - letting the learner decide how, when and where to learn - the move from Managed Learning Environments and the rise of the Personalised Learning Environment.
The future is to draw on the 'listening culture', augmented reality, visual through 'infographics', and of course the ubiquitous mobile device.
The steps of learning become:
Learn to Learn >> Critical thinking >> Collaboration >> Creativity >> Reflection >> Evaluation
I chatted with Steve in the lunch period and was fascinated by his stories - very inspirational guy. One of the things he said was that 'Intelligent Semantic Technology' has been developed and is coming soon. A device reading your facial expression and reacting accordingly. When it sees confusion on your face it will offer more help and so on - amazing, mind-blowing technology.
My afternoon was spent watching Andy Tedd, formerly of the BBC and now the Centre for Excellence in Media Practice, who spoke of the use of Social Media and the right choices to be made in order to use it successfully.
One of the main pitfalls would seem to be to provide your learner with something that is too complete - an "I'm telling you" didactic approach - rather than giving the learner space to think and to go with thier gut. People learn most through conversation.
It was a very well-organised and informative day and I was able to make some interesting connections - which may bear fruit - that remains to be seen but my ever-optimistic fingers are crossed :o)
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