#LWF11 – Keri Facer, Prof of Education, MMU

Keri Facer.

Can’t continue to argue about whether we focus on the individual or whether we use technology to bring learners together.

We need to learn to live with connectivity that we’ve never imagined before.  Evolution of non-human-like intelligence.

Need a curriculum for collaborative and collective intelligence.  Diminishing economy and rapidly changing aging demographic.  Need to understand the relationships between generations.  Beginning to see education become divided by wealth.  Changeing environmental situation.  Responding to refugees, water supply issues etc..

It’s all doom and gloom, but truly passionate!

We need to develop spaces where we can all come together and solve these issues.  Can’t continue the lie that  a 1st class degree will be the ticket to immunisation from these issues.  Education needed that is engaged with it’s communities.

Cooperative education movements, democratic education movements, small schools, sustainable schools and education justice collectives are all helping to bridge these gaps.

How do techs build communities and enable learners to think about their futures?  Need to start shouting about these projects and values so that the next Government might support this movement.

A highly passioned, and not surprisingly well received argument.  Graham chose these two contrasting viewpoints well, certainly enlivened the debate.