Border crossings

As ever, the Learning without Frontiers conference and festival was a rallying point for those who are at the forefront of innovation in education. All sectors were represented, and with the Learning and Development professionals conference in tandem on the floor above, the joint event showed real attempts to embrace all education and training practices. A few of the invited speakers were shared across both events, giving presentations to two separate audiences in two different venues within the Olympia complex. Hosting the two major events in tandem for the first time was an experiment that was simultaneously exhilarating and frustrating. It was exhilarating because so many members of the extended UK learning community were together in one place for the first time, but frustrating because those of us who habituate both events were well and truly torn between what to attend. Both events are enjoyable and memorable, not least because of the enthusiasm, passion and openness of the people who attend.

Upstairs in the Learning Technologies event, over 500 delegates listened to presentations from the likes of Edward de Bono, Donald Clark, Joanne Jacobs, Nigel Paine, and myself as well as shared speakers Stephen Heppell, Jaron Lanier and Ray Kurzweil. Generally the same message was dominant in both events, namely that learning is undergoing a makeover, but that it needs to go more than skin deep. Indeed there were signs that things are changing, slowly but surely. I noticed a concerted effort this year for example, that 'downstairs' in the main conference exhibition area, efforts were being made to percolate some of the innovative practices talked about 'upstairs' into the free public vendor area. The LT Exchange stand hosted a number of live interviews with a variety of presenters amidst a relaxed environment, complete with a catering facility. Questions of the hour were pinned to the wall for open discussion with the presenters. This at least brought the cut and thrust of the live presentations downstairs for greater exposure and wider discussion outside the main conference. Videos of the keynotes were played out regularly to the downstairs delegates too, giving them a flavour of the proceedings in the main conference auditorium. Such features at least partially addressed the conceptual divide I wrote about in Upstairs Downstairs about last year's event.

Both events featured presentations with flare, but in my opinion it was within the Learning without Frontiers event that innovation was at its most evident. As ever, the LWF team were trying to push boundaries with a programme of quick fire main hall presentations and a fast moving programme of peripheral events. In yesterday's post I featured the iconic inflatable dome village, which was a tangible counterpoint to the more staid, traditional conference exhibition just across the landing.

The event focused on learning 'without frontiers', but conferences impose barriers by their very nature. The sentinels at the gate dividing the two exhibitions represented the organisational border point, and one passport (either conference badge would do) was scanned repeatedly as people passed from one 'country' into another. I was left wondering why the border crossing was necessary. Was it there to separate the two tribes - corporate and public sector? It created a log jam when several people wished to cross between the two exhibition zones simultaneously, and the bar-code scanners were working overtime.

For me, the border between the two events also signified a metaphorical divide between the conservative and the radical. In just a few paces, one was able to move from a traditional conference stand exhibiting corporate training packages and organisational planning tools to inflatable domes with interactive robotic displays or Lego building playzones. It reminded me of a backwards in time journey from the world of work and business to school. Significantly, good learning is required in both those spheres of activity, and the methods employs to deliver these opportunities can be vastly different. That was a part of the appeal of the marriage between the two events. The question running through my mind throughout the entire joint event though, was whether there will be a movement of business and industry learning and development towards the game based, interactive and exciting methods beginning to emerge in the compulsory education sector. And how far will public sector education be able to move in new directions without the funding available to most private sector initiatives?

We were reminded once more that the schools sector is itself far from perfect. Speakers such as Stephen 'remove your shoes' Heppell and Francis Gilbert eloquently challenged the tired old school formula with clarion calls for better learner engagement, student centred approaches and innovative technology applications in radical new learning environments. Others spoke repeatedly about the 'purpose of education', putting excitement back in to learning, and breaking the old paradigms. Ellen MacArthur inspired us all as she related her personal journey. Ray Kurzweil blinded us with computer science, whilst Michael Brooks urged us to be mavericks and to push the boundaries of possibilities to make the change. It was all heady stuff, but how much of the idealism and fervour of this event can and will be taken back and actually allowed to be embedded in everyday practice? We shall see, but I suspect that as always, it will be the lone rangers who forge ahead with their leading edge practices, and it will be a long time before most institutions change their ways. But it was another restart, a boost to our collective self esteem, a charging of the batteries .... and we can all hope that it won't be long before the border crossing disappears.


Border crossings by Steve Wheeler is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.