“The most inspirational plenary at an education conference ever.”

A big claim, and one that was agreed with by many delegates at this year’s strategic conversation. Martin Bean, Vice-Chancellor of the Open University treated attendees to this year’s event to an ambitious, creative and socially just vision of the future of education.

High on principals and vision, Martin presented a vision of education that focused on “testing, application, reasoning and debating” as core to gaining skills that help students become knowledgeable and rigorous in the development of their judgments and beliefs.    

Technology will not replace this process but it can enhance it. We should be leveraging technology to add to the educational experiences of our members, it is what they expect but is a way of how we can help them maximise their potential. Our members should not be our only key stakeholders, potential members are not only worthy of consideration but are essential in how we develop and grow our organisations.

Martin’s advice to us was to investigate “how using technology can help us in our desire to learn, share, participate, investigate, achieve and grow and then, to build the society we need.”

I haven’t really done his plenary the justice it deserves but if you are interest in what Martin had to say a video of the session will be up soon.