Education Worldwide

Brit Svoen

Film som læringsressurs kan sies å ikke bare ha en renessanse, men har også fått et mye større gjennomslag enn den tradisjonelle undervisningsfilmen noen gang fikk. Særlig som del av såkalte sammensatte, eller multimodale, tekster får visuelle medier en stadig mer sentral plass i læreplanene. Gjennom de siste 30 år har det også skjedd en endring i den pedagogiske praksisen- fra primært lærerstyrt undervisning til mer elevsentrert læring. Denne myndiggjøringen av barn og unge gjenspeiles også i deres mediebruk, hvor de i tillegg til den tradisjonelle konsumentrollen i stadig økende grad har blitt deltakere og (med)produsenter. Samtidig ser vi en forskyvning av pedagogiske filmer og program fra TV og video/DVD til nettbaserte læringsressurser, som igjen innebærer en endring fra sendeskjema og massedistribusjon til individuelle on-demand leksjoner. Denne utviklingen har ført til en fornyet og voksende interesse for læringsressursmarkedet, ikke minst blant private aktører. Film og TV-program blir resirkulerte ved bruk av digitale arkiver, hvor de deles opp i selvstendige og søkbare fragmenter. Disse tilpasningene til nettbaserte løsninger kan gjøres effektivt og rimelig, men et viktig spørsmål er hvordan barn og unge forholder seg til disse ressursene. I foredraget belyses dette gjennom tre casestudier fra henholdsvis den norske allmennkringkasteren NRK, det globale og kommersielle Discovery Communications og den regionale TV-stasjonen KLCS som eies av Los Angeles skoledistrikt.

The world’s poorest children can learn to use computers on their own
Sugata Mitra

Groups of children given access to shared, publicly accessible computers in playgrounds and other public areas, will teach themselves to use the technology and use these competences to learn completely new subjects on their own, irrespective of who or where they are.

That’s the results of the 'Hole in the wall' experiments done by Sugata Mitra, Professor of Educational Technology at Newcastle University. Through nine years of rigorous measurements across the Indian subcontinent his results were verified amongst 250.000 of the world’s poorest children.

In this talk Sugata Mitra will discuss the effects of remoteness on the quality of education and relate this to the outsourcing of jobs from the developed to the developing economies.

He will describe the effect of self organization on primary education:

1. The quality of education reduces with 'remoteness'
2. Educational technology should be designed for and go to the remotest areas first
3. Learning is a process of self organisation
4. We can design alternative pedagogy for places where good teachers do not want to go or are not available

The talk is illustrated with slides, research results and several video clippings.

Barbara Rejak

The path towards successful integration and inclusion crosses matters like cultural, social and language barriers. Initiatives that have proven their worth include active support of networking, and ensuring that good practice is actively shared.

Careful planning and implementation of flexible and combined courses is another keystone to success.

Get your share of knowledge and good practice from the Kumulus project in Berlin and become inspired to change or innovate initiatives regarding inclusion and integration in school and work.

Jon Nicholls

How do schools take advantage of the learning potential of new technologies? What has been the impact of Web 2.0 and why is it important for us to provide opportunities for young people to become producers and co-creators of their learning?

Thomas Tallis School in Greenwich, London is a specialist arts college with a commitment to creative approaches to learning and teaching.
The school works closely with a range of professionals from the creative sector for the benefit of the community both inside and outside school.
In this presentation Jon Nicholls, Arts College Manager describes Thomas Tallis school’s experiments with a variety of new tools for learning, from photoblogging to mobile phone films and much more besides. Using a series of examples, he hopes to explore some practical solutions for schools aiming to engage their learners and enhance their creativity through new technologies.

Doug Brown

The number of ways in which young people interact, communicate and create using technology is increasing more rapidly than ever.
Often only a limited subset of these possibilities are used in schools - even though students' would like to do so.
What are the reasons for this discrepancy and what actions could be taken to close this gap?
To prepare young people for a changing world we must consider the future of technology and learning now.
Anywhere, anytime access is what the so-called "digital natives"entering the school system already expect.

Pekka Pirttiaho

Mr. Pekka Pirttiaho director of MobileTools in Finland has a broad experience from making learning mobile.

Over the years he has among other things worked as a multimedia lecturer and educator for hundreds of students in vocational institutes and colleges. More recently, he led the eTaitava mobile learning software development. eTaitava, a mobile feedback system for vocational on-the-job learning, won the award for the best Finnish e-learning tool in 2007.

His current focus is on innovating and implementing the best mobile learning practices to educators worldwide, with clients ranging from educational institutions to global businesses.

At the session Mr. Pirttiaho will share his experiences and perspectives on mobile learning including how mobile learning solutions can be used as tools to support learning processes.