Edith Ackermann

Professor of Developmental Psychology, University Aix-Marseille, (Visiting Scientist, MIT School of Architecture)

Currently a Visiting Scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology School of Architecture, Center for Advanced Visual Studies, and Visiting Professor at the University of Siena, Department of Communication, Edith teaches graduate students, conducts research and consults for companies, institutions and organisations interested in the intersections between learning, teaching, design and digital technologies. Previously she was a Senior Research Scientist at MERL (Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratory), an Associate Professor of Media Arts and Sciences at the MIT Media laboratory, and a Scientific Collaborator at the Centre International d'Epistémologie Génétique, under the direction of Jean Piaget.

Anthony Bravo

Principal, Crossways Academy

Anthony qualified as a teacher after gaining a degree in Agriculture and Environmental Science. Although he loved being in education he went into the private sector as Marks & Spencer's first black graduate management trainee. He was also the first to initiate their training in the legendary Marble Arch store and continued his career in retail, particularly Area Management and Training, until his move to education. He has spent the last 15 years in an inner-city FE environment, particularly focusing on partnership, community, income generation and most recently workforce development. Major recent projects have included securing lottery funding for the Black Leadership Centre, a multi-million pound capacity-building project for community groups (European Social Fund), and the setting up and expansion of LearnDirect for the North London (central) region.

James Bradburne

Director, Next Generation Foundation

James is a British-Canadian architect, designer and museum specialist who has designed World's Fair Pavilions, science centres and internal art exhibitions. He has developed numerous exhibitions, research projects and symposia for UNESO, UNICEF, national governments, private foundations and museums worldwide over the past 20 years. In 1994 he joined newMetropolis Science and Technology Centre in Amsterdam as Head of Design, Research and Development, and prior to that he directed the museum für Angewandte Junst in Frankfurt am Main. James currently directs the Next Generation Foundation (NFG), an independent foundation to promote innovation in informal learning initiated by the president of LEGO, Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen. He sits on several international advisory committees and museum boards, lectures internationally and has published extensively.

Alastair Clark

Development Officer, NIACE (The National Institute of Adult Continuing Education)

After graduating in politics and geography, Alastair travelled in Africa and spent a year working in France on voluntary projects. He has worked as a van driver, teacher, adventure playground leader, youth worker and adult education manager. In his MEd he studied the experiences of adult learners in France and the UK. He worked at Becta for three years, mainly supporting community ICT projects such as UK online centres, and has worked for the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education (NIACE) since 2003, where he is a Development Officer in the ICT and Learning team. He has worked on the LSC e-learning programme for adult community learning, a European Learning Centres project and the UNESCO Avicenna project.

Constance Fleuriot

Featherhouse Independent Research

Constance is a freelance consultant in user research and locative media design, who is particularly interested in the use of locative media for creative play and imaginative engagement with the environment. She led Mobile Bristol research into community values and use of mediascapes with the project ‘A New Sense of Place?’, working with school children and senior citizens. Constance has worked on research projects for Intel, Futurelab, and HP Labs, and is currently working for HP and eGovt in Northern Ireland to develop mediascapes in schools.

Bruce Jilk

Educational consultant

Bruce has worked for educational clients since the mid-60s, focusing on projects with innovative programs. Currently his work includes the development of Learning Communities and related issues such as lifelong learning, connections between conventional educational services and enterprise, linking further education with the world of work, use of new information and communication technologies, and the integration of services such as health and education through new technologies. He has consulted and designed learning environments in Austria, Australia, Azerbaijan, Canada, Egypt, Finland, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Saudi Arabia and the US. He is currently working on the learning environment research project 'View-of-the-Child' in the UK. Experiences include those of educator, author, research, planner and architect. In 2005 Bruce was chosen as CEFPI Planner of the Year.

Dr Jenny Leach

Co-Director, Teacher Education in Sub Saharan Africa (TESSA) programme; Lead Researcher, Digital Education Enhancement Project (DEEP), Open University

Jenny has been involved in teacher education at the Open University (OU) since 1993. Her writing and research has focused particularly on the use of new technologies for teacher development; publications include 'Learners and Pedagogy' (Sage 1999), 'Open and Distance Learning for Teacher Education in Africa: Innovation and Change' (World Bank 2005), both with her colleague Bob Moon, and 'DEEP IMPACT: An Investigation of the Use of ICT for Teacher Education in the Global South' (DFID 2005). She is co-editor of the international journal 'Learning, Media and Technology' (Routledge) and a member of the national Poetry Archive web project led by poet laureate Andrew Motion. Jenny has worked on UNESCO, British Council, COL and EU-funded projects in South Africa, Egypt, Jordan, Hungary, Albania, the Caribbean and Ethiopia.

Sean McDougall

Managing Director, Stakeholder Design

Sean is MD of Stakeholder Design, an international innovation agency for education and the public services. He was a founder member of the DfES Schools Design Advisory Council. Recent UK work includes local authorities, manufacturers of school furniture, the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust, the NAHT and Futurelab, with whom he is developing ideas for an ‘intelligent fountain’ shaped and developed by primary school children. Sean has just returned from a three-month tour of the world’s most innovative learning environments and will be drawing on this research during his talk.

Dan Medicoff

Commercial Director, The SEA

Dan has been helping large service organisations to create new experiences for over 15 years. Most recently, he was a senior executive in Vodafone responsible for launching new mobile data services in the UK. He has an MBA in marketing and a BA in Economics and Finance.

Steve Moss

Assistant Director of Education (ICT), Partnerships for Schools

Steve has specialist responsibility within PfS for ICT in the Building Schools for the Future programme. He works with national agencies, local authorities and the ICT industry to ensure that the ICT solutions procured as part of BSF can have a transformational effect on the processes of learning, teaching and administration in schools. Prior to joining PfS, he was Assistant Chief Education Officer with Manchester City Council from 2003-2005, Senior Inspector/Adviser (ICT) in Cumbria LEA from 1988-2002 and, prior to that, lectured in initial teacher training following a school-based career which culminated in headship of a school in Walsall LEA. Steve has wide-ranging experience of the strategic development of ICT in education and has worked with Ofsted on local and national inspection and evaluation projects. He was Chairman of the Board of NAACE, the professional association for ICT advisers and consultants, in 1998.

Ian Pearshouse

Learning Research Systems Manager, Learning Sciences Research Institute, The University of Nottingham

The LSRI is a leading research institute for learning sciences and technological innovation, and an international centre of excellence for research on mobile learning. Research at the Institute explores the cognitive, social and cultural aspects of learning and designs innovative technologies and environments for learners. Ian is responsible for the design of the LSRI's unique combination of systems and spaces including its Flexible Learning Room, Usability Lab and Informal Learning Area. His roles at CETADL and the LSRI have influenced the development of UK strategy for multimedia-based teaching and learning and the development of University strategy for IT-based teaching and learning.

Chris Poole

BSF Business Manager, Microsoft

Before joining Microsoft Chris was Deputy Headteacher of a comprehensive school in Reading, where he was the driving force behind the groundbreaking Highdown Information Hub superhighways trial which set out to make the vision of a Connected Learning Community a reality and became the subject of great interest internationally. Chris joined Microsoft eight years ago to manage the Anytime Anywhere Learning programme in the UK, set within the broader Microsoft vision of Connected Learning Communities and focused on mobility in education with the ultimate vision of 1:1 access. In the last year Chris has been responsible for the investments Microsoft have made in the development of a series of interlinked BSF Blueprints covering area-wide technology architecture, educational scenarios and business value arguments in the context of a transformed education service.

Tom Power

Co-Director, Digital Education Enhancement Project (DEEP), Open University

Tom has been involved with teacher education at the Open University (UK) since 2000, previously with the Learning Schools programme, and is also currently leading on web and media issues for the OU's Teacher Education in Sub-Saharan Africa (TESSA) programme. Tom has written on the use of mobile digital tools for teacher professional development and has recently focused on the forms of appropriate ICT for development, and models of costing these (Power 2004, Power 2005). He is leading on a research project investigating the use of hand-held computers by rural teachers in South Africa's Eastern Cape, funded by bridges.org. Tom has worked on DFID and British Council-funded projects in South Africa and Egypt.

David Puttnam (Lord Puttnam of Queensgate)

After ten years in the advertising industry, David Puttnam spent 30 years as an independent film producer (his many award-winning films include The Mission, The Killing Fields, Local Hero and Chariots of Fire). He was Chair and Chief Executive Officer of Columbia Pictures from 1986 to 1988 - the only non-American ever to run a Hollywood Studio. David retired from film production in 1998 and now focuses on his work in education. He was the founder (in 1998) and is Chair of Trustees of the National Teaching Awards. In addition to having served as the first Chair of the General Teaching Council (2000-2002), he has also served on a variety of other public bodies. He was founding Chair of NESTA, and for ten years chaired the National Museum of Photography, Film and Television. He was also Vice President and Chair of Trustees at BAFTA from 1994 to 2004 and was awarded a BAFTA Fellowship in 2006. In February 2006 he was appointed Deputy Chairman of Channel Four. In July 2002, David was appointed President of UNICEF UK, and has played a key role in promoting UNICEF's advocacy, awareness and fundraising objectives, in 2003 launching their End Child Exploitation campaign. In the UK he has been instrumental in helping to forge new fundraising partnerships within the film, music and property industries, and has spoken at numerous events. David was awarded a CBE in 1982, received a Knighthood in 1995 and was appointed to the House of Lords in 1997.

Mike Rumble

Adviser for E-learning, Qualification & Curriculum Authority

Mike has been a teacher, local authority advisory teacher and the inspector for ICT in Northamptonshire as well as an OFSTED registered inspector. After working as an independent consultant to the education ICT industry, local education authorities, schools and government bodies and chairing NAACE on three occasions, Mike moved to Australia where he tries to live. At present he is working for the Qualification & Curriculum Authority as Adviser for E-learning in the Futures, Innovation & E-learning team, which works to achieve QCA's key result area to "Develop a modern world-class curriculum that will inspire and challenge all learners and prepare them for the future".

Steve Thompson

Community Media Animateur

Steve is recognised in the UK as a leading figure in the world of community engagement through ICT and community media. After a successful career as a professional songwriter he ran the highly acclaimed community radio project Wolf FM in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, before joining the University of Teesside in 2000 to run the ICT project Tees Valley Communities Online, and subsequently e-Create. These projects have both been recognised for innovation and invention in the field of community ICT. Steve's work continues in the Tees Valley and increasingly further afield, working with vastly disparate groups and assisting each to achieve digital inclusion through community media.