 |
| The participants at Online Educa largely spoke for the changes in the teaching culture and informal learning. Both the bigger agents (an IBM function on the right) and private teachers (in the middle, Esben Lydiksen from Copenhagen) enthused over the use of social media. The only one who criticised the social media – Aric Sillman – also participated (on the left) in a lively debate. |
Online Educa was held for the fifteenth time and the conference was attended by over 2,000 online learning professionals from 90 countries. All-in-all, the topics and the speakers were interesting, but the discussions seemed to be repeating the old demands for change in teaching practices, but lacked enthusiasm for taking action. The most useful functions were, in my opinion, those which really focused on fresh approaches to teaching – for example, the Pecha Kucha presentations, social media in language teaching and designing minimalistic web environments. As a perfect finish to the first day, the audience was treated to real fireworks at the debate in which – in accordance with British tradition – two completely opposing opinions were expressed concerning the benefits of the teaching technologies. In particular, the speeches by Aric Sigman and Donald Clark electrified the atmosphere at the end of the long day – we really need to bring something like this to all conferences! My absolute favourite of the keynote speakers was Artur Dyro (Young Digital Planet), according to whom there will only be two agents in the future world of publishing: the author and the service provider. The direction of the change is obvious both in publishing as well as education, but in practice things move forward at a frustratingly slow pace. The problem is not with the technology, but in the ways people are willing to function.
 |
| Zenna Atkins gave a colourful speech on the new ways of learning available to children, and the credibility problem the schools are faced with. The only Finnish participants were the Aalto University and Metropolia, but the Berlin Christmas Market boasted some Finnish stands as well. |