Making learning surprising

Professor Stephen Heppell (UK) is one of the leading experts on the use of ICT in education. His brilliant and humorous presentation at Ci2011 focused on the topic “Making learning surprising: The interface of education, technology and the economics of business”. We live in a world where we come across many surprises which are a bolt from the blue – the ever-rising advancement of technology takes us so much closer to the boundaries than we could go before. There are always risks associated with every progression in the world. Certainly as technology advances, our risks will increase and our lives in this decade will be, as they already are, full of huge surprises. For us all to endure as the surprises grow in scale and frequency we need people who are ready for anything, who take pleasure in challenges and know how to work together. These people can survive awful consequences and harness the finest opportunities. It is not adequate to just train our learners with the set of courses that characterized the last century’s factory schools. Our learners need to be surprised, astounded, enchanted and their learning lives need to be crammed with challenges and ambitions. An unvarying syllabus is an immense danger but is avoidable at the same time. Providentially new technology in the classroom is already injecting the surprise, bewilderment, aspiration and enjoyment that is required.