How to innovate and educate ahead of the wave, Pt.3 #altc

Posted on by

‘Riding Giants: How to innovate and educate ahead of the wave’ is the title & theme for the 2014 ALT Conference – my first ALT conference.

This post is the final in my ALTC journey for 2014, and covers the keynote from Audrey Watters and the final few sessions, and a general overview ‘think’.

My final sketchnotes for ALTC are below, for Audrey Watters’ keynote which, despite everything we’ve heard about so far in the conference did not talk about learning technology at all. What we had was a fantastic journey through literature and history looking at the origins of our relationship with change (in the form of technology) and how our relationships and perceptions of change or futures are based on the self, not on the tool.

From the origins of luddites to the truth about Frankenstein (the scientist, not the monster, despite our perceptions of what you think when someone talks about Frankenstein), and many more. Audrey held us captive, took us gently through her experiences and passions, and dropped us nearly off at the end, where she started, talking about her family history and its involvement at Bletchly Park in the Second World War – yes, we did hear about pigeon-guided missiles!

Audrey Watters Keynote #ALTC: Ed Tech, Frankenstein's Monster, and Teacher Machines - page 1

Audrey Watters Keynote #ALTC: Ed Tech, Frankenstein's Monster, and Teacher Machines - page 2

Audrey Watters Keynote #ALTC: Ed Tech, Frankenstein’s Monster, and Teacher Machines

I still can’t get over the idea of pigeon-guided missiles – that’s one story I too wish Audrey’s grandfather could have shared with us!

Read Audrey’s notes for this innovative presentation here: Hack Education – EdTech’s Monsters.

In closing the conference we were once again reminded about the core themes for the three days – educate, innovate, and community. With many different presentations looking at many different aspects of modern education / learning / technology / policy / infrastructure / personal / etc. mixes (yes, those darn MOOCs again) it was a good conference designed to, as I hoped, get us thinking.

See you in Manchester in September 2015 for the next ALTC!

Original image credit: freepik.com