No-one is anonymous

I forget sometimes just how connected we all are. At today's ALT-C plenary Martin Bean took a question from the floor after ending his superb keynote speech. The delegate said his name and then asked his question. While Martin Bean answered, I noticed one or two people in the auditorium checking out the questioner's website to see who he was and what his research profile was. I wonder how many more times that's been done during this conference? People are surrepticiously checking each other out all the time here it seems, using their iPhones, laptops, searching on Google, and so on. It will be QR tags and facial recognition software next. No-one is anonymous anymore.

I thought that Martin Bean nailed it on the question of how we can engage our learners. He told the story of a 14 year old boy who was heard to remark that going to school was like getting on a plane. 'You sit in rows, place your trust in someone you don't know, and you have to turn off all electronic devices,' he said. It raised one of the biggest laughs of Martin's talk, but there was also a very serious underlying message. Why should we cut young people off from their connections just when they need them the most? In many cases, formal education simply does not offer enough encouragement for flexible learning through technology.

Bean talked about massification, privatisation and other moves to bring education to the masses. One of the questions from the floor was whether massification ran counter to personalisation of learning, but Bean believes that the two are not contradictory. Massification brings learning to populations who were previously disenfrachised, whilst the personal element can still be achieved through innovative use of Web 2.0 technologies. He clearly sees e-learning as a major component in the future success of higher education, and advocates using any tools that have a cultural relevance for youth. He's not afraid to criticise government attempts to jump onto the bandwagon either, and thinks that there are smarter people outside government than are inside it.

I think Martin Bean will be a good Vice-Chancellor of the Open University when he assumes his post in a few weeks. He is following in some illustrious footsteps, but I don't think he will disappoint. He is not so much Mr Bean, more like Martin the Magnificent.