How Far Has The Axis Shifted - 31st January

The Programme is now up, but here are some danger bites to tempt you.  Make sure you book a place: http://bit.ly/1aGXyT0

Danger zones to visit including:

Gaming
This session will consider the current and developing context of games in education and how education can embrace the potential for these environments. We will share highlights from the Festival where participants were encouraged to be as ‘dangerous’ as possible in considering how gaming can influence pedagogy and encourage greater engagement with learning.

Walk on the Wild Side
What happened when a mix of practitioners from education and the arts went walking along the West Highland Way? What ideas have they developed and what have the put into practice? Join participants from the walk to discover what really happened and what dangerous ideas they are working on now.

Adaptive Comparative Judgement
For too long now in education we have been excusing ourselves for not developing creativity, problem solving and collaboration skills because we have no reliable way of capturing and assessing them. Adaptive Comparative Judgement technology can do exactly this. The technology is not about driving forward change within the existing system, it is about embracing radical change in education. This session will share the findings of the Adaptive Comparative Judgement pilot conducted by TAG Assessment and College Development Network after last year’s Festival of Dangerous Ideas. We will share our dangerous plans on how we intend to revolutionise assessment in 2014.

Without Walls – play time!
The vibrant team from the three colleges that now make up Ayrshire College worked the games designer and artist Thom Scullion to host an inspiring event in Dean Park, using ipads and their imagination. Their aim was to work out-with physical and metaphorical walls and to consider the role of play in learning. Members of the team will share their experience and their plans for more dangerous ideas.

Why Robert Owen Makes My Heart Sink

Whenever I hear the name Robert Owen my heart sinks.    This isn't so much to do with the reformist himself, rather the impact he has add on educational visits to New Lanark – of which I have had five!   Two when studying geography and history at school, one when briefly studying town planning (I think that visit led to a quick exist from that degree), another during my social work degree, followed by a visit during my post-grad year studying leisure , recreation and the heritage industry (strange but true).   It was suggested as a potential place to visit when I was studying for my education degree, but I declined the coach trip.  I was even there last week for the IRISS Conference, but honestly I could have led the Annie McLeod Experience tour.

So, I have to confess that when Mark Murphy @robertowenctr first told me about the Launch of the new Robert Owen Centre for Educational Change, I had to suppress the fear of another visit to New Lanark, and then rejoice that it was safely based in Glasgow University.  He did look a bit taken aback when I asked for confirmation that anyone involved with the centre wouldn’t actually have to go to New Lanark. 

Festival of Dangerous Ideas – Dangerous Design Competition

Wanted:  Visual, media, communication and creative students from the college sector for an exciting, challenging poster competition.

Prize:  This is an outstanding opportunity for a creative communicator to make their name in the industry, with a £200 prize as well as a fantastic chance to undertake a placement with a top design/advertising agency.  In addition, the winner’s name and the name of their college will appear on the final poster.

Context:  The Festival of Dangerous Ideas is an innovative and exciting national education festival which has generated lots of interest, ideas, facts and figures, which we currently have available in a very unexciting, boring and not at all dangerous format!

Public workshops - a dangerous idea?

I went to an incredibly inspiring RSA lecture by Mark Miodownik http://www.instituteofmaking.org.uk/ where he set out his argument that public libraries were set up to empower the public by giving free access to books at a time when few people could possibly own them or indeed readily access them.  However this has changed and books in general are readily available via technology.  He was arguing that  people are de-skilled in making things and we need access to public workshops we we can make things, but also borrow tools.  He also related this to creativity, innovation, enterprise, industry and cross curricula provision.  

Out of the debate and discussion that followed there was a lamenting in the audience on the demise of the technical colleges and the general split between academic and occupation/craft and skills based education.  There was a great deal of talk about the missed opportunity when some colleges became universities and how the skills based, contextualised learning had been lost in Scotland.  No-one mentioned colleges! I did my best, but it really hit home that for many people there is little knowledge of what the sector has to offer.  Who better to offer a range of skills based public workshops that a college?  What more can we do to raise the profile of the skills based learning opportunities that colleges have to offer?

I think this could be a good area to develop during the Festival of Dangerous Ideas - hands on experience of making, demonstrating cross-curricula skilled based work in action?  Let me know what you think. 

Karen

How Far has the Axis Shifted?

Friday 31 January 2014
College Development Network, Stirling

Further Information and Book Online

Please join us for this one-day event to reflect on how far the axis has shifted.  There will be opportunities to hear from our partner organisations and individuals about how they have the used the inspiration of the festival to change policy and practice, as well as sharing highlights from the festival.  There will also be opportunities to shape next year's festival happening in June 2014 all across Scotland, and beyond!

Be part of the programme!

If you were inspired by the last festival and put your dangerous idea into practice, please email Karen Lawson - we would love to give you the opportunity to share your experiences at this event.

Dangerous June 2014 - Date for your Diary

Key themes will be:

• Small nations, big ideas for education
• Games for learning
• Businesses doing it for themselves: If the trend is for businesses to offer their own degrees, academies and training, what does that say about state funded education?
• Enterprising, entrepreneurial or excluded: What skills do young people really need?
• Engaging learners: do lecturers and teachers have the  required youth work skills?
• Research: dangerous ideas from theory to practice.

Festival of Dangerous Ideas Animation

Summary of the Festival which was held from Thursday 13 June 2013 - Friday 21 June 2013.