Opening Education reports
Futurelab’s ‘blue skies’ series - intended to open up areas for debate, to provoke, challenge and stimulate new visions for education.
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November 2008
Perspectives on early years and digital technologies
This publication presents early work from Futurelab's PhD studentship network, set up to explore questions around the role of digital technologies in young children’s learning.
- pdf version (pdf, 1MB)
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October 2008
Designing for social justice: people, technology, learning
An introduction to the concept of social justice and practices of user-centred design, looking at how theories for changing the world marry up with methods to implement these changes.
- pdf version (pdf, 960KB)
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June 2007
2020 and beyond
This report explores predictions about developments in digital technologies over the next 13 years, examines the implications for education, sets out some future scenarios and suggests how we might harness the changes.
- pdf version (pdf, 1MB)
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June 2007
Beyond the digital divide
There is overwhelming evidence that as ICT becomes part of everyday life the divisions in its use are strengthening rather than diminishing. This report explores why the digital divide remains a complex social problem.
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December 2006
Towards new learning networks
What should the educational landscape of the future look like? Where, and with whom, should learning happen? This report argues for a move towards the network logic of the learning community.
- pdf version (pdf, 2MB)
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October 2006
What if...? Re-imagining learning spaces
We are currently witnessing a massive investment in the design and build of new schools to equip the UK education system for the 21st century. But how much of this effort has been inspired by an equally wide-reaching educational vision?
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July 2006
Social software and learning
This report explores the relationship between the emergence of social software and the personalisation of education, suggesting that there is a changing view of what education is for, with a need for young people to develop skills for the evolving global knowledge economy.
- pdf version (pdf, 994KB)
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May 2006
The potential of open source approaches for education
Open source is an example of peer-production driven by collaborative modes of interaction and knowledge exchange. This paper discusses some of the ways in which these approaches might be applied in educational contexts.
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November 2005
Personalisation and digital technologies
This report sets out some of the challenges and opportunities that might form the basis for dialogue about personalisation, and the role of digital resources in enabling and shaping this arena. It also includes a 'Learner’s Charter' for a personalised learning environment.
- pdf version (pdf, 1MB)