Thursday, October 14, 2010

MUN's Murphy Mashup: Learning in a Smarter World

I am attending the EDGE 2010 Conference in St. John's Newfoundland today, and felt the urge to blog about an excellent keynote by Dr. Elizabeth Murphy (and not just because I enjoyed Mark, Mary, Dale and Michael's panel on blogging!).

Dr. Elizabeth Murphy's keynote presentation, entitled "Learning in a Smarter World: Imagining the Future", was delightfully different (at least to me).  Dr. Murphy provided a brief introduction and concluding remarks that framed an engaging media mashup that she thoughtfully prepared ahead of time. Dr. Murphy's call to action focused on using our imagination and innovative technological resources to design smarter learning and learners. Key messages include:
  • Imagine a world in which every child is capable of critical and rational thinking. Imagine a world in which every child has access to all knowledge. 
  • Imagine every child regardless of gender, geography religion,  race or income with open access to all knowledge and to sophisticated learning tools.
  • Imagine more intelligent computers that help all students learn more effectively and efficiently. Imagine high quality learning activities and materials in the hands of every child.  
  • Imagine children learning through play. Imagine children engaged and enthralled by every learning experience.
  • Imagine learning experiences designed for the whole child. Imagine a system of learning that responds to children's individual needs.
Dr. Murphy skillfully wove together readily available YouTube videos with thoughtful commentary in a compelling media mashup about smarter learning and the future of education. She distributed cards with a link to a set of delicious bookmarks she prepared so that people could enjoy the videos again after the presentation.  Murphy's media mashup was a great approach to a keynote about imagining smarter learning.

I encourage you to experience a version of Dr. Murphy's presentation as preserved using delicious bookmarks and comments:  Elizabeth Murphy's Edge 2010 keynote, Learning in a smarter world: Imaging the future

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