PLE61
Debate Plenary
Date Thursday, Dec 6 Time – RoomPotsdam I
This House Believes All Learning Experiences Should Be Fun is the motion for this year’s OEB Global Debate. As ‘enriched’ experiences, such as gamification and virtual reality, play increasingly important roles in education and, as traditional methods of teaching come under increasing attack, this year's OEB debate is your chance to have your say on the role of 'fun' in learning. Should all learning experiences be fun, as the proposers of the motion will argue? Or are hard work, discipline and the old-fashioned ways still as important as ever? Always one of the highlights of OEB, the annual Plenary Debate is an opportunity for you to discuss one of the most important issues for the future of education with our expert speakers. The parliamentary-style format is sure to encourage a lively exchange of views - and there’ll be plenty of time for audience participation.
Alex Beard
Director of System Change, Educator, Author and Director at Teach for All, UK
Alex has worked in education for a decade. After starting out as an English teacher in a London comprehensive, he completed his MA at the Institute of Education before joining Teach For All, a growing network of independent organizations working to ensure that all children fulfil their potential. He is fortunate to spend his time travelling the world in search of the practices that will shape the future of learning and has written about his experiences for the Independent, Guardian, Financial Times and Wired. His book Natural Born Learners is a user's guide to transforming learning in the twenty-first century, taking readers on a dazzling global tour into the future of education, from Silicon Valley to Seoul, Helsinki to Hounslow.
Links
http://www.alexbeard.org/wp/about-alex-…
Elliott Masie
President, Editor of Learning TRENDS, Author and Head of the Masie Center, USA
Elliott Masie is an international analyst, experimenter, author and advocate for Learning around the world. He is the editor of Learning TRENDS by Elliott Masie, an Internet newsletter read by over 57,000 business executives worldwide, and a regular columnist in professional publications, including CLO Magazine. He is the author of a dozen books, and is the convener of Learning 2018. Elliott has been to Africa many times and was part of a major Malaria Net Project with the Canadian Red Cross in Mali.
He heads The MASIE Center, a Saratoga Springs, NY think tank focused on how organizations can support learning and knowledge within the workforce. He leads the Learning CONSORTIUM, a coalition of 200 global organizations cooperating on the evolution of learning strategies, including CNN, Walmart, American Express, Walmart, Emirates Airline, Starbucks, General Electric and Fidelity Investments.
Elliott's professional focus has been in the fields of corporate learning, organizational performance and emerging technology. He has developed models for accelerating the spread of knowledge, learning and collaboration throughout organizations. Elliott is acknowledged as the first analyst to use the term e-Learning and has advocated for a sane deployment of learning and collaboration technology as a means of supporting the effectiveness and profitability of enterprises.
Elliott is known as a highly approachable speaker and trainer, blending humor, applicable stories of best practice and high levels of audience involvement. Over the past thirty years, he has presented programs, courses and speeches to over 2,200,000 professionals around the world. He lives in Saratoga Springs, owns thoroughbred horses, is a producer/investor in Broadway shows including the TONY Award Winning Kinky Boots, as well as An American in Paris, Macbeth, Allegiance, Unknown Soldier, SpongeBob the Musical and more.
Links
Benjamin Doxtdator
Blogger and Educator at the International School of Brussels, Belgium
Benjamin Doxtdator is a First Nations teacher from Canada who now lives in Belgium and teaches Middle School English Language Arts at The International School of Brussels where he is also a co-ordinator of the Personal Learning Program. In his teaching practice, he values helping students develop their identities as readers, writers, and thinkers. In 2017, he organized a strand of Learning by Design at ISB where over 100 students worked to develop social innovation projects. He is currently planning for #ISBLbD 2019.
Benjamin received his MA in philosophy from McMaster University and his teaching degree from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education. Before moving to Brussels, he taught philosophy at a private alternative school in Toronto, and then Grade 2 in the public school system in Abu Dhabi.
Benjamin writes about the intersection of politics and pedagogy at https://longviewoneducation.org and tweets at @doxtdatorb.
Links
Patti Shank
President, Learning Designer, Analyst, Author and President of Learning Peaks, USA
Moderator
Harold Elletson
Editor / Senior Fellow, International Communications Consultant and Senior Fellow of the Institute for Statecraft, UK
Dr Harold Elletson is an International Communications Consultant and Senior Fellow of the Institute for Statecraft.
He is a founding director of the Africa Forum on Business, Investment and Security, a member of the steering committee of OEB, a member of the Organising Committee of eLearning Africa and a consultant to ICWE GmbH. He is also the editor of The eLearning Africa Report.
Dr Elletson was previously Director of the NATO Forum on Business and Security, which he created with support from the NATO Science Programme.
A former Member of the United Kingdom Parliament (from 1992-1997), he served as Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland in the early stages of the peace process and was also a member of the Select Committee on Environmental affairs. He served as a member of the Lancashire Education Authority (the Education Committee of Lancashire County Council) before being elected to Parliament where he represented the interests of schools and colleges in his constituency in discussions with Ministers and on the floor of the House of Commons. He is a Fellow of the Armed Forces Parliamentary Scheme and of the Industry and Parliament Trust.
As a communications and public affairs specialist, he has advised many leading companies on aspects of their business in challenging markets, including BP in Azerbaijan and Alstom in Siberia. He has written widely on political and historical subjects and his first book, The General Against the Kremlin, that was published by Little Brown. His journalism has been published in a variety of newspapers and magazines. Dr Elletson holds a PhD in Social Sciences from the University of Bradford.