Torching the Fog: “Educators’ Visions for Learning Futures at OEB24”

As 2025 dawns, we find ourselves a quarter-century into the “new” millennium—yes, really! And 30 years since the OEB conferences series began. This pivotal moment challenges us to embrace bold new directions in education. History will record how successfully this generation of educators anticipates, researches, prepares, and pilots technology ‘for good’ in learning. At the OEB24 conference, we turned our torches toward the future, illuminating pathways through the fogs of uncertainty.

“It seemed a good idea at the time”

In the vibrant and dynamic final hours of the conference in Berlin, 100 individuals from across the globe—representing diverse ages, sectors, and disciplines—gathered to collaborate, torches in hands. Together, we had fun looking back and exploring 80 transformative technologies, from web cams to generative AI, which have shaped education from the World Wide Web’s tipping point in 1990 to the present day. The advent of the World Wide Web marks a watershed moment in human civilization, profoundly altering patterns of global interconnectivity and information dissemination. Of the WWW, Sir Tim Berners-Lee once quipped: “It seemed a good idea at the time.”

As educators, we used a mix of models to guide our thinking, along with frameworks for analysing where trends might now lead us. But mostly, we engaged in passionate, noisy, and creative idea-sharing, with prompts ‘thrown in’ from each of the previous decades as triggers for thought and discussion. Multidisciplinary collaboration groups surveyed everything from evolution to revolution in education. Despite the excitement, the groups stayed rooted in aspirations for practical, viable, constructive outcomes.

The list below captures a fraction of the energy, creativity, and conclusions from those discussions. Consider it a starting point for those who couldn’t attend. Others are most welcome to add their ideas and reflections!

The trend is your friend

To anchor our brainstorming, we posed a key question to the 10 groups. You might like to try it yourself:

The 10 Pitches:

1. MOOCs– The World Universal Library
   This group envisioned the rebirth of MOOCs, reimagined within a global library that offers personalised, on-demand learning: “My pace, my time, everywhere.” They proposed forming a federation to accredit micro-credentials and give learners greater agency.
   
   
2. Personalised Education & AI – A New Culture of Assessment
   This team advocated for deeply personalised education powered by mindful AI use, urging a culture shift in assessment practices. Their rallying cry for change? “C’mon, get used to it!”
   
   
3. Intelligent Tutors & Self-Directed Learning
   By integrating intelligent tutoring systems, this band predicted a rise in self-directed learning, transforming the teacher’s role into that of a guide and mentor alongside AI—a change they championed as overwhelmingly positive.
   
   
4. Generation Alpha’s Multi-Modal Future
   With a focus on Generation Alpha (born 2010–2025), this unit argued for multi-modal, context-aware learning that promotes well-being while accommodating diverse knowledge needs and skills for lifelong success.
   
   
5. Human-Centric Technology & Synergy
   Exploring and seeking agnostic technologies, this group highlighted the paramount importance of synergy. Their plea: “Keep human presence and connections at the heart of learning.”
   
   
6. The Four Ps: A New Educational Mission
   This team promoted a transformative framework centred on the (new) Four Ps—Planet, People, Purpose, Prosperity—to create an education system for everyone and offers a beneficial future.
   
   
7. The Decentralised Metaverse
   This set’s vision featured a ubiquitous metaverse powered by AI and VR, decentralising learning locations while minimising environmental harm.
   
   
8. Sustainability through AI Localisation and Collaboration
   Concerned with planetary care, this crew emphasised the potential of AI-driven localisation and collaboration to advance environmental sustainability, alongside increased learning.
   
   
9. Miniaturisation Meets Computing Power
   This group explored the intersection of miniaturisation and exponentially growing computing power. They suggested that wearable—or even subcutaneous—technology could rise to prominence in education.
   
   
10. Supreme Hybridisation – Be More Human
    This group championed the idea of supreme hybridisation, deploying AI. They warned of the need for humans to “take charge” to ensure equitable access to learning and technology throughout all societies.
    
    

Reflections and thoughts for the New Year:

The energy of this final session was electric, fuelled by the diversity of perspectives and the shared belief in technology’s power to transform learning. Whether exploring evolutionary tweaks or revolutionary overhauls, every group contributed to a vision of education that is bold, inclusive, and future-ready.

As we celebrate and usher in the 2025 New Year and face up to foggy but ever-accelerating futures, these trends are not just foresights. They are tools from which to choose where to put our efforts and to shape what happens next. This is surely our responsibility as educators. The workshop reminded us that education is both a mirror of society and a lighthouse for its progress. If we embrace these insights with courage and curiosity, we can build a future where technology empowers every learner, nurtures the planet, and strengthens the connections that make us human. The challenge now is to take these ideas and act—to research, prepare, adapt, create and innovate for the futures we cannot yet fully see. What steps will you take? We could monitor our progress at OEB25!



See 3 short articles summarising the decades of learning technologies:

Written for OEB Global 2024 by Professor Gilly Salmon

Much admiration and many thanks to Wilfred Rubens for co-hosting with me the ‘Trend is your Friend’ workshop at OEB24, and to the facilitators Rod Angood, Paul Bacsich, Donna Carroll, Dimitri van Dillen, Herman van der Merwe, Brayden Milam, Tamara Powell, Jef Staes, Abboy Verkuilen and to all participators and contributors.