Keynote speakers

Lord (David) Puttnam of Queensgate CBE, former film producer and BAFTA Academy Fellow for 2006
Creative environments lead to creative learners
Creativity within education is critical if we are to develop a truly vibrant, effective society and, in turn, a world class economy. But creativity does not just magically fall from the sky; it is fundamentally linked to the priorities placed on our education system, and the environments in which learning takes place. If we are to inspire a generation of well-informed and skilled citizens to the point at which all of them are able to fulfil their potential then, using every scrap of innovative design and technology we can lay our hands on, we must be prepared to literally re-conceive the environments in which learning takes place.

Bruce Jilk
Expanding the possibilities
In the effort to design excellent learning environments we have developed processes and models that strive for the perfect solution. Achieving this ideal school design is done through a decision making process which eliminates options in order to reach the best of all possibilities. This presentation challenges this approach of 'narrowing down' and suggests we move in the opposite direction and 'open up' the possibilities for learning through the design of learning settings.

Steve Moss, Partnerships for Schools (Building Schools for the Future)
Creating and managing real and virtual spaces for learning in schools for the future
An exploration of the issues facing education, construction and ICT professionals as they work together to create innovative and effective learning spaces through the Government's Building Schools for the Future programme.

Jeffrey Revoy, Senior Director of Yahoo! Europe Search and Local
Social search and social learning
With Web 2.0, the 'search world' is expanding from presenting machine-only results to providing relevant search results driven by both machine and human responses. This presentation discusses how this development is changing the user experience, and explores further developments that will take place over the next 12 months.

Edith Ackermann, Professor of Developmental Psychology, University Aix-Marseille, (Visiting Scientist, MIT School of Architecture)
Lives in-between: inspiring a new generation of learners
Today's young people are spending more and more time on the move. How is this 'nomadic' lifestyle - virtual, digital and physical - influencing the ways they play, learn and use space? How can we tap into young people's changing interests and lifestyles, and set the stage for exciting and new learning adventures?

Presentations

Steve Thompson, University of Teesside
Extending the learning community
What is a Digital Village? Using the two communities of Skinningrove and Hunwick by way of example, this session explains how the concept can be used to give people the motivation to learn new skills and how they can connect with the world at large through digital media.

Ian Pearshouse, Learning Sciences Research Institute, The University of Nottingham
Mobile technologies and learning spaces - where next?
This presentation examines how mobile technologies are being used to enhance and transform learning in formal and informal spaces by looking at innovative ways that mobile devices are being used inside and outside of classrooms. The issue of what should happen next regarding the design of technology-enhanced learning spaces is also addressed.

Dan Medicoff, The SEA
Learning is all around you
School trips to cultural venues offer a great opportunity to test the effectiveness of mixed-reality learning. The SEA has reinvented the experience by combining mobile and web technologies to connect students to the places they visit and the objects they collect.

Chris Poole, BSF Business Manager, Microsoft
Building Schools for the Future - delivery or transformation?
BSF is described as a "once in a generation opportunity", so how can this unprecedented investment best meet the needs of future generations? Can BSF be a catalyst to shift the transformation agenda from new buildings to community renewal? Should attention extend beyond the learner to the connected citizen, increasingly able to create and not just consume services?

James Bradburne, King's College London
Learning in the wild: art, science and the future of feral learning
A look at how the environment can be designed and inhabited, by means of technology, to enable learning both in and out of school. This presentation also examines how these approaches can transform the way people learn and, in particular, how they can transform the 'traditional' institutional settings of the classroom and the museum.

Dan Sutch, Learning Researcher, Futurelab
Models of innovation
Investigating the different models of innovation adopted by a diverse range of organisations helps us to understand the strategies and conditions that can initiate and nurture innovation. This presentation explores how the creative, technology and educational sectors innovate, and considers how their approaches could be applied to the transformation of learning spaces.

Sean McDougall, Stakeholder Design
Designing for change
Learn how other countries are approaching the renewal (and, in some cases, replacement) of their educational models in preparation for the challenges posed by globalisation and the emergence of a knowledge economy. Sean references schools located in the middle of shopping centres, robotics, interactive fountains, new ways of learning and different approaches to risk management. He argues that other countries have made a crucial distinction between places of learning and ways of learning. He believes that there is a fantastic opportunity to develop, in the UK, new learning models that engage stakeholders of all ages, respond to their needs and change with the times. However, there is also a risk that we will look back on BSF as a failed opportunity. Sean explores some methodologies that can improve the effectiveness of decision-making and ‘future proof’ learning.

Jenny Leach and Tom Power, Deep Project, Open University
A new learning landscape for rural schooling in Sub Saharan Africa
How can hand-held computers and digital cameras be used to develop new learning spaces, new learning opportunities and new forms of creativity? These questions are being explored by young people and their teachers living and working in vulnerable, rural communities in the Eastern Cape, South Africa as part of the Digital Education Enhancement Project (DEEP).

Alastair Clark, NIACE (The National Institute of Adult Continuing Education)
Hang out your learning!
How a digital washing line can help learners to choose approaches to learning to suit their needs and lifestyle. This session takes lessons from the way that e-learning has been adopted in adult and community learning environments, where learners often only attend class for less than 4% of their waking week.

Mike Rumble, Qualifications Curriculum Authority (QCA)
Changing times; changing curriculum
What is the curriculum? Is it a collection of subjects and themes or is it the entire experience that a school provides for a young person? This presentation explores the difference that new technology and new approaches to learning will make to the ways in which we record and assess learning.

Anthony Bravo, Principal, Crossways Academy
World class buildings for world class education
This presentation is about the journey made and the lessons learnt in visioning, designing and building a state-of-the-art educational institution, providing a wry but practical look at the issues which occurred along the way.

Workshop

Create-A-Scape
Get to grips with this innovative mobile learning resource from Futurelab and Mobile Bristol which offers students a powerful way of engaging with the world around them. Available through a website, Create-A-Scape allows users to design their own mediascape (a digitally enabled tour) and then to undertake that mediascape using a PDA.

Hands-on session

Display of innovative technologies and resources
This showcase provides delegates with the opportunity to try out and comment on a range of projects that have transformed the learning environment, physically and virtually. Including resources developed both with and without support from Futurelab, the showcase features web-based resources and mobile technologies as well as examples of innovative building design and layout, both in and out of school.

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