Tim Rudd - Futurelab - UK - from the DREAM conference (Odense, Denmark)
Some of you may be familiar with Future Labs work in the UK and/or have heard Anika Small's presentation at the education.au "What's Changed" day in August - or listened to the podcast.
Tim, a senior researcher with futurelab,....(here's link to the conference papers page...PDF files) shared some of his passion for changing practices in education through social software...and framed (labelled) the processes as "c"-learning - collaboration, connected (and I've also referred to it at c for classroom learning)..
Social software provides a learning voice & choice - authentic, relevant, situated learning. Empowerment and citizenship that builds knowledge not "reguritates" it!
Current directions Future Lab are looking into include re-imaging space and place - where does learning occur and what is that future space...particularly in the school sector.
So why are Future Lab intereseted in informal learning?
Tim presented a view of the current education system (in the UK - but could probably be applied to many other countries) as immature and inadequate ...knowledge regurgitation rather than creation - with an emphasis on assessment, monitoring, control, standards..
Tightly defined curriculum and institutions creates a resticted and negative view on learner which is abstract and decontextualised knowledge.
Assessment in educational settings is about failure, focuings on what we don't know!!
Recent missed opportunities:
Personalisation: intended to offer students more voice and choice - has been transformed to customised content delivery.
Building schools for the future: new schools - same model.... not new learning spaces for the future - no vision for the future of where education is going - just reptition of current buildings...
Thanks Tim for being another voice out there, prepared to challenge the status quo and passionately engage in projects that have potential to make a difference!
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