Learning Futures Symposium September 9, 2007

With the advent of 'Web 2.0' and the new activities that it enables, the idea of education as we know it is being challenged. Instant messaging, blogging, podcasting, Skype, wikis, MySpace and the like are all part of a new 'participation' web that allows people to communicate with each other in distinct and diverse ways. And the impact that this has on education could be enormous.

The idea behind Learning Futures is to bring together delegates from both higher education and schools to discuss the future of education and how we might begin to prepare for it in the midst of the communications revolution.

Key questions to be addressed at the symposium include:

* Who are the so-called Digital Natives, i.e., those children aged under 16 or so?
* What is Web 2.0?
* How might we have to change our understanding of teaching, learning, education in the face of Web 2.0?
* What might be the implications of Web 2.0 for information, academic and technical literacy?
* What Web 2.0 tech/tools are available and how are they being used by students?
* What might be the repercussions for curriculum, for practice, for pedagogy?
* What are the legal implications of Web 2.0?
* Will the role of the university have to change?
* What are the equity and access issues for the new web?

Learning Futures will be unique in both the types of question we hope to raise in relation to teaching and learning, and also in the fact that both schools and higher education people will have a chance to listen to, and learn from, each other. We will be offering a variety of fora, including workshops, panel discussions (including a panel of older primary school children, and a panel of college and university students), and keynote addresses. There will also be space on the program for delegates to propose their own topics for sessions.

Learning Futures presents an excellent professional development opportunity for senior professionals in the field of education. The number of delegates has been restricted to one hundred from the schools sector and one hundred from the higher education sector.

Official Website: http://learningfutures.anu.edu.au