Taking Centre-Stage: OEB’s Learning Battle to Return

Last year’s OEB Global Conference, held on November 22 – 24 2023 in Berlin, brought together the digital learning community, with learning professionals from over 70 countries. The event featured a dynamic range of sessions, with the Learning Battle emerging as an audience favourite on the Wednesday evening. This engaging competition allowed participants to pitch their innovative educational ideas, fostering a spirited exchange of creative concepts and best practices.

The Learning Battle, led by Inge de Waard, encouraged attendees to share their latest educational innovations in a lively, competitive format. Participants had three minutes to present their ideas, followed by audience questions and applause-based voting. Last year’s winner, Maria Hutchinson from the University of Portsmouth, impressed the audience with “enABLe,” a framework designed to support innovative team-based learning.

Maria said that colleague and Dean of Digital and Distributed Learning at University of Portsmouth, ‘Alejandro Armellini told me to make my presence known at OEB23, so I took to the mic at the “join the learning battle, an open mic arena”…and won! I think that is what you call ‘job done’. She also said the Learning Battle was a ‘good opportunity to shout out about the great work we are doing’ and smiled for the camera holding the prized trophy:

“My live mic win at The Battle of the Learning Arena made it in to the highlights from OEB Global Conference. Proud to represent University of Portsmouth and promote the great work we are doing with enABLe, our framework for team-based curriculum design.”

Winner Maria Hutchinson, University of Portsmouth

“The Learning Battle kicks off the conference in Berlin. Love watching people bravely take the stage to share a three minute learning strategy.”

Katrina Kennedy, Katrina Kennedy Training

We are delighted to announce that the Learning Battle will return in 2024! The upcoming OEB Conference, scheduled for November 27 – 29 2024, promises to build on the success of the 2023 event. Attendees can expect more innovative sessions, workshops, and keynotes addressing the latest trends in digital learning.

The Learning Battle will once again invite the audience for one of our most interactive features ever, continuing to provide a platform for educators to showcase and refine their cutting-edge ideas…

Written for OEB Global 2024 by Chloë Sibley