Child led learning

Graham Brown Martin's wonderful annual Learning Without Frontiers event embraced a huge diversity of folk who cared about, well, just that. The audience was buzzing the debates were tough, the coffee shops or bars filled and fun.

This was me chatting about Child Led Learning back in 2012, before the UK's olympic summer. Curiously learner led has (and it took a while to push that snowball of the cliff!) become understood and an avalanche of change - very much bottom up - is now driven by the simple detail that it works.

Anyway, here's that talk.

parents: why change learning spaces?

This was posted by a pal on YouTube (thanks Tania!) We always need useful things to support dialogue with parents about the wonderful new models of learning that are transforming their children's lives.

As I say in the video, I never met a parent who wanted their dentist to be dentists they were in the 70's - so I think their is every hope that they would want schools to be like the 70s either!

This little video, talking about what we say to parents, is (I hope) an attempt to be useful...!

Invitation to ICT providers to tender bravely!

The wonderful IPACA (Isle of Portland Aldridge Community Academy) opened in September 2012 and I have been part of its long journey through the seas of form filling and paperwork. But I also get to see how our children on Portland are already responding to this unique opportinty to see just how good their learning might be, given the best of opportunities.

Too often, when I look at the potentially the best schools emerging in the world, what I see is that they are held back, sadly, by their ICT provision. Of course others have achieved outstanding excellence through the ICT.

When looking for providers for out technology services then, what on earth do you say to help find the right team? This little video was my contribution to our open day for potential bidders. 

Lecture at the State Library of Victoria 10/11/08

A really enjoyable evening to a packed state library in 2008. The flyer said:

"Learning is in a state of transformation this century. Schools, businesses, community and cultural centres, universities and libraries worldwide are addressing online and onsite strategies for learning. Virtual and physical spaces are now equally important for meaningful learning. Educators, researchers, parents and young people share the power to make it happen."

And my goodness, that was right wasn't it!

Here is the talk

Social Media in learning.... and more

I really enjoy visiting South Australia - lots happening, some remarkable schools - I'm thinker in residence at the wonderful Mark Oliphant College (which is birth-to-Year 12) for example and love what they are doing across the board.

Last time there I was interviewed by some of the great folk in the South Australia Education team:  good questions, very professional production values and the results are here in two YouTube sized sections. I am really pleased with what they did. 

Part One is here

and 

Part Two is here

If you are tight for time, start with just Part Two!

in it for the outcome, not the income...

This video was recorded at the British Educational Research Association conference after my keynote presentation at the 2012 conference. Produced by Mike O'Donoghue, School of Education, University of Manchester. September 2012.

In the keynote I tried hard to make the case that a body representing educational research should be much more active in opeing free schools, sponsoring academies, and indeed simply showing how effective current educational research insights can be in building better learning.

It's not enough any more to write the papers and books, now what is needed is to walk the talk as well as talk the talk. This short interviews ends with more of the same.
To be candid, i don't think any university should be allowed anywhere near teacher education if it doesn't itself run an astonishingly effective school... do you?

Third millennium learning – dealing with the certainty of uncertainty

Donald Clarke hosts an excellent Learning Technologies event annually in Olympia. For over a decade, Learning Technologies has been "Europe’s leading conference for organsational learning and the technology used to support learning at work". It had a huge line up of very good contributors this year (2012), as ever.

It provides a good opportunity to focus on a sector that used to help schools with their entrepreneurial spirit, but now has much to learn in return about Learning, from schools and from children.

Anyway, here was my contribution

New Worlds of Learning

I'll simply quote from the BETT website here - pausing only to say that BETT is the most wonderful forum for updating and exchanging practice and ideas. If you are not a regular - or live too far away to be one - the backchannel and associated materials - like this video - are ever-so-useful:

---

For the past few years, the eminent Professor Stephen Heppell of Heppell.net has brought many new learning concepts into the Central Feature at BETT. This year's dynamic and energetic New Worlds of Learning feature, inspired by Stephen's work with schools across the world, gave a fresh view of what is possible in education globally. 'New Worlds of Learning' was centred on the wise and wired students of the Lampton School, Hounslow, Greater London. Visitors could experience a central hub designed for them to discover how to take advantage of best practice from a diversity of international learning environments whilst highlighting the many approaches to learning that have been enabled by ICT around the world.

---

Anyway, never mind the hyperbole, here is the video

Child Led Learning

The annual Learning Without Frontiers event in London - run by the indefatigable Graham Brown-Martin, sees a string of great inputs (this year including Resnick, Wolfram, Chomsky...even the wonderful Ellen MacAurthur!) in short usually 20 minute inputs that give it a very pact feel, with a gallery of more conversational bits - this year hosted in inflatable igloos.

This was my 20 minute's worth of input and I'm quite pleased with the pace and content.

This is it on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/lwf#p/u/1/_hrvli_wCT0
But it is also available direct from the LWF site:
http://www.learningwithoutfrontiers.com/

learning in the future, with clarity

Lovely video - thanks in huge part to the high production values of the CORE team in New Zealand - they parked me on a stool, let the cameras role... and this video has whizzed around Twitter and the social networks like nobody's business.

Astonish kids and they will astonish us right back...

http://edtalks.org/video/stephen-heppell

Intervju med Stephen Heppell @ BETT 2011

A lovely chat interview by KTHLearningLab.
Intervju med Stephen Heppell från BETT 2011. KTH IKT Producent: Jonas Thorén

All took place on my Visual learning stand at BETT 2011 - i really like the view of the stand's students just getting on with their work quietly in the background. Some nice questions and early enough in the show that i had not lost my voice!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2n2ielMYqU

Sorry - "his video has been removed by the user" - I'll try to track it down

keynote presentation at the 2010 Museums Australia Conference 2010

I really enjoyed making this presentation - the opening keynote - to the keynote presentation at the 2010 Museums Australia Conference on 30th September, 2010.

This is a link to an audio recording of the talk and i think it works very well. It is only 25 mins and gave me a chance to be quite reflective about past and futures. I really do care about museums and galleries and their futures - they function matters.

Good friend Andrew Hiskens recorded and posted this - it is his voice you hear chuckling from time to time!

It posted under a creative commons licence too btw, so feel free to cut and paste bits for your own use too...

Anyway, here is the audio of the keynote:
http://soundcloud.com/ahiskens/stephen_heppell-ma2010conf

ULearn10 keynote

Unusually for the heppell.tv site, this link is pointing to a whole keynote talk at the wonderful uLearn10 conference, just post-earthquake, in NZ's Christchurch - run by CORE and I suppose looking back I had a hand in setting up both CORE and ULearn a decade ago.

Anyway, here's the link

For once, I have listened to this right through (it's a bit odd listening to yourself) because the feedback on Twitter etc during the keynote and after had been rather good, and watching it I'm quite pleased with how it came out - you never really know at the start because the audiences reaction tends to steer and shape to route the talk takes. It's what happens when you don't use slides.

Anyway, if you have an hour to spend (!) - have a listen.

Public lecture: State Library of Victoria

My favourite institution in what is rapidly becoming my favourite city... I simply adore libraries, as many of you know - some of the introduction to this lecture tells you why.

Anyway, a public lecture to a packed room was a joy and an honour, Tbis is the audio feed from that lovely evening back in 2008

http://www.slv.vic.gov.au/node/1091

if you like small schools, you'll love this...

...made for Channel 4, with Illumina, back in 2000. Ch4 ran a series of short "The future of..." programmes before the 10.00pm news each night - the future of sport (stop regulating drug taking!) and so on.

My one was the "school of the future". Looking back a decade later, it was pretty much on the money actually. I think I stand by every word!

Here it is in lush QuickTime - It's on YouTube too.

I don't like technology (I LOVE it!)

Lovely conversation / interview with the students of the exceptional Robin Hood School - we were all together in Birmingham for the annual (and vast) Education Show.

Covers everything from Naughty Learning to teachers dropping litter!
Thanks for the great questions Robin Hood Radio!

Here is the interview on Robin Hood Radio's site

You can even subscribe to them in iTunes. Great school, smart students.

the one thing I'll take away is...

After a hugely enjoyable conference together in Hobart, Tasmania I asked the teachers policy makers and architects present to stand in a tight line in front of a camera and say the one thing they would take away from our two days together. I'd tried this once before, in melbourne, to great effect, but this was a much larger group and their comments just get better and better:
"I wish I was 60 years younger", "I was going to retire but I'm not now", "I leaned and we learned..."

https://youtu.be/k_FiKPziRvo

Fab - let it run - safe in their hands? I think so - no, I know so.

Teachers ask how?

Another video contributed by Australia's Greg Whitby, after my recent visit there, as part of a series. Greg writes about these in his BluYonder blog here too. This time Greg notes that: The key message here is to be inquisitive, innovative, and collaborative – there is no roadmap. And that’s part of the professional journey and the reward that comes with teachers taking great control of the learning environment

Anyway, here is the YouTube source:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjENQYBv7sg

Learning spaces - why change?

I really enjoy my time in Australia - you can feel the progress and the commitment.
This is a  video contributed by the wonderful Greg Whitby as part of a series and he writes about them in his BluYonder blog here - and there are on YouTube of course, as well. Greg writes that: In his response to parents, Stephen addresses why we need to move on from traditional ‘cells and bells’ learning spaces.

Anyway, here is the YouTube source:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxhTqDHbf9o&feature=player_embedded

A conversation in Adelaide

This is an audio link. I had a really enjoyable conversation with a local and remote audience the Adelaide offices of "Education Services Australia" - the whole thing was livestreamed as audio via Ustream. It was a good chat with lots of questions about change process, ICT in learning and more. I started it off with a bit of a ramble, then folk chipped in with their questions. In the studio i had some pictures on my screen, but the audio seems fine without needing them.

However, I have pointed this blog entry to Kerry J's blog. Kerry was great fun to work with (and you will have to scroll past some kind words she has about me) but she has given a really useful and detailed breakdown of just how she managed the whole livestreaming process - I found it really informative and I'm sure you will too.

The audio stream is linked from her blog entry which is here.

libraries and learning

This helpful little DVD was made a while back, looking at the role of libraries in the new learning spaces of this 3rd millennium. I pop up in places on it with a few (hopefully helpful and now oft repeated) sound bites but there are some really helpful images of library spaces like Les Watson's wonderful Saltire Centre in Glasgow Caledonian University.

It is a direct copy of the DVD, so in a few places it helps to know that.

Anyway, here it is:
http://a17.video2.blip.tv/3710000336339/Cilip-DesignedForLearningSchoolLibraries842.wmv?brs=1393&bri=30.2

a place for dreams

The remarkable Glasgow Caledonian University's new Saltire Centre was completed at the end of 2005 - after some heroic efforts by then Pro Vice Chancellor Les Watson. I was asked to comment on video for a broadcast at the time it was officially opened - and so was Gordon Brown, then the UK's Chancellor of the Exchequer.

I won't comment on the contrast between why I thought the new building mattered and why Gordon did - I just enjoy the contrast between our comments - hope you do too.

http://rubble.heppell.net/media_forum/saltire_movie.mov

Playful Learning

The BETT Show is the biggest ed tech show in the world - officially!

And each year I'm lucky enough to have a feature stand at the heart of the show emphasising the coming trends in ICT and Learning. In the past we've covered Mobile learning, learning Elsewhere and so on. this year - 2010 - we focussed on Playful Learning.

During the show I was interviewed by two articulate and thoughtful students from the Leigh Academy in Kent about the whole stand and the importance of Playfulness...

... here is their interview - it's on YouTube too of course

21st century learning - at EnhanceLearning

This was a very enjoyable event, and the video has lots of little edits that catch the flavour of the discussion and workshops. I'm rambling on about 21st century learning - I seem to remember I'd only just arrived back in the UK.

Anyway, a well edited reminder of an enjoyable event - it's on YouTube and elsewhere no doubt.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YQ45v_hceE

Island Sound radio interview

Back in 1992 (yes, 92!) I was interviewed on 'Island Sound' radio by the wonderful Phil Miles.  He asked good questions about old people and tech, about computers enhancing learning, about computer evolution and about much more besides.

That interview became a resource on a pioneering CD-ROM we produced in 1991/2 at Ultralab: "Insights for Teachers and Parents" with a mass of cutting edge multimedia applications that we'd developed,  with a host of help for teachers and parents ("how do you mark multimedia?"...)

Insights was a very special CD-ROM, but here at least is the interview: Stephen Heppell and Phil Miles.
http://rubble.heppell.net/media_forum/moovs/island_sound.mov

I'm not sure I'd change a single word if he asked me the same things today...

Death of TV

This was part of an interesting BBC Horizon programme in the last century - somewhere around early 1996, but based on work I did at Ultralab in 1994 - other Ultranauts involved too of course - what a team that was! At that time children were being demonised for watching too much TV, having no concentration, etc. The usual stuff. My work simply started with the hypothesis that children might have become quite good at watching TV, were literate enough with broadcast media to be able to watch multiple channels and may even have been bored by the "I'm only asking you to do one thing, surely you can manage that" kind of rant heard in a few classrooms.

We got groups of four, mixed age, from a mix of schools, and showed them four programmes. They could arrange the screens (small VHS/TVs) any way they liked. Short version was that they could manage 4 programmes, with great con concentration evidenced. They answered tough detail questions (no conferring!) and even meta level reflections about character and plot. Groups on average took 20 minutes to set the volume levels right so that, as one reflected "I can focus my ears on the one I'm not watching"...

Anyway, here is the core of the show - the bit I was involved with. It's a QuickTime .mov file and a bit raw - compression codecs not to be trusted in those days, I'll try to post a Flash version too, eventually! The research was recreated a bit over a year later for this show but was pretty faithful to it, apart from the programmes we showed them varied a little for © reasons.

http://rubble.heppell.net/media_forum/moovs/end_of_tv.mov

I can't believe how young I looked. Sigh.

Finally, it's clear to everyone

Liverpool to Queensland live

This is an interesting little stream of thoughts. I was in Liverpool, at the Media Education Summit, speaking to folk in Queensland Australia. I hope Ii make some interesting points - but the conversation across the world is relaxed and mails afterwards suggest it worked pretty well.

Anyway, you judge - here's the video

Making notes...

Oh this is really interesting: a group of young children in Drummore Primary School, at Scotland's most south westerly point are learning brass instruments from a video-linked teacher. Now as a former chairman of the European Teleconferencing Federation, I'm used to video-linking, but in this instance the link wasn't just a "nearly" version of face to face, it was actually substantially better: the distance from the tutor meant that the children needed to support each other and the headteacher was confident that this resultant mutuality runs into the classroom when the children are away from the link. Watching, I could see that she was quite right about that. All sorts of little practical details about how to do it effectively emerged too - invaluable.

I could write tons about this, but Alan Cameron - who has made all this extraordinary work happen - recorded a conversation we had together, reflecting on the whole experience a litle later that same day. It covers a lot more detail...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sf2DhHhMOE0

everything has escaped from its boxes...

A lovely gentle conversation on top of a staircase, during breakfast, in an event in Sweden. The interview was by a group of "young business creatives" in May 2009. Click on the image to start the video...

"everything has escaped from its boxes, and it's the most delightful time..."

http://sites.google.com/a/ybc-nacka.se/intranet/podcast

The Future of Learning

For a while in the UK the government education department DfES, (which then became DCSF), articulated some extraordinary moments of clarity - and often Eileen Devonshire was at the heart of this work to open the key debates needed if government policy was to keep up with the pace of innovation in schools and industry.

One such contribution was to commission (from the talented folk at Magic Lantern) this short video about the future of learning: students, NQTs, wise old owls, Anthony Minghella (sadly missed), Prof Sir Magdi Yacoub, Sir Paul Smith, Sir Trevor McDonald, old archive footage, and all sorts. I got to narrate it - fab little buzz of video for professional development etc.

two versions here: sumptuous QuickTime or (almost as good) fast streaming compressed Flash version

Now we are talking...

Now We Are Talking is a Testra site, full of useful little provocations and conversations. On a recent trip to Australia they were kind enough to interview me on Internet Safety and a lot more besides.

Here is that interview. (scroll down the page a bit for the video - or just read the summary txt)

"nowwearetalking is about telecommunications and you. It's where you can become involved, have your say, and Telstra listens - on issues affecting all Australians and the telecommunications industry. nowwearetalking is managed by Telstra. Find out more about this site."

Space, the final frontier

As a launch of the SPACE: ADM-HEA Annual Forum 2009 CEMP was asked to assemble this short provocation about learning spaces in Higher Education. Basically it is me chatting about the issue against a green-screened backdrop of relevant images.

It's on YouTube, and is referenced in a number of places, like David Hopkins excellent blog

Anyway, here is the YouTube version 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kemWMuaHjBs&feature=player_embedded

Empowering Young Learners

I'm really please with this short video. if you watch only one thing on heppell.tv, watch this...

"The Mobile Learning Institute's Film Series “A 21st Century Education” profiles individuals who embrace and defend fresh approaches to learning and who confront the urgent social challenges that are part of a 21st century experience. “A 21st Century Education” compiles in short film format, the best ideas around school reform. The series is meant to start, extend, or nudge the conversation about how to make change in education happen."

Stephen Heppell: Empowering Young Learners
In this film, Heppell makes his way through London, describing his vision for schools, meeting with kids at the Be Very Afraid conference, and exploring ideas for classroom design in a technology pilot school in Teddington

http://newlearninginstitute.org/film-series/a-21st-century-education/technology-and-21st-century-learning

BBC Today, Radio 4

To quote from the programme synopsis:

A review on education has advocated replacing a curriculum of traditional subjects with six broad areas of understanding. And putting IT at the heart of teaching. Stephen Heppell, a consultant in the education field, says "the world has gone learning mad" in preparing legislation within the education sector.

Here is the brief radio interview - I had a lot of very supportive mail after this by the way...

I hope this link works for overseas friends, the BBC site is a bit odd about who can or can't see / hear its stuff

Kent TV interview - headteachers conference 08

I rushed in from the airport to address Kent's annual Headteachers' Conference 08. Kent TV intervieed me afterwards about what I'd said, and why I was there.

This is the interview.

Learners' voice, global education, policy, etc

Be Very Afraid

Each year a selection of ingenious students - from primary to university age - are invited along to BAFTA in London's Piccadilly to show and talk about the extraordinary things they are doing with new technologies in their learning. These conversations are captured as video - with great production values - and can all be found from the event website HERE

Each year I get to do a reflective summary at the end - these are on the website, but also on YouTube. Here is the one from 2008

And here is a BBC Radio 4 Learning Curve programme, made after one such BVA event,

Learning to Change/Changing to Learn

the Learning to Change/Changing to Learn video was made by the talented folk (Stephen Brown et al). With a host of sensible folk intervied this was a provocation for the excellent Consortium for School Networking conference in 2008. It is used by a LOT of schools as a stimulus for CPD, discussion etc. Lots of useful little sound bites, great production values.

"every turned off device is potentially a turned off child"
"nearly now"

Here is the link to the video on the Pearson Foundation website, and also on YouTube

Handheld Learning 08 intro

I chaired an afternoon session. This was my intro - covers things like the parallels between finance industry collapse and education. "there is no THEY, there is only US" etc

video of my introduction

K12 Online Conference 2008

I delivered the pre-conference keynote to this event. My title was:
“It Simply Isn’t the 20th Century Any More Is It?: So Why Would We Teach as Though It Was?”

and i was able to record this in a rather chatty, quite intimate style, sitting at a table at my East Coast home. Not sure whether it was the quiet conversational style or the wide range of subject matter covered, but this one has been all round the blogosphere for months and I get a lot of feedback about it (so far all encouraging!)

here's the link to the details and a video of the whole chat

Do schoolchildren and students know how to research?

Professor Guy Claxton, me, Kathryn Pollard, Prof Patrick Ainley - all chaired by BBC Education correspondent James Westhead at the RSA in London for a debate about whether choolchildren and students know how to research?

Light, jolly, here's the link to vodcasts and podcasts

The Journey to Excellence - LTS

I'm a fan of Learning and Teaching Scotland. As part of Scottish education's journey to excellence they collected a host of interesting interviews with a range of folk, "leading thinkers", and that apparently included me.

Here's the whole set of videos on the HMIe website in Scotland

I think these are all up on YouTube too

Media Snackers interview

The 86th MediaSnackers podcast featured me and DK asked some cool questions "what has changed?" to get the chat humming along.

"1950 to 2000 will be seen as the moment of aberration"
"What possible use could there be for uniform children in the 21st century"
"the internet is built upside down"
etc

It's an audio interview - here it is on Media Snacker's website

ALT-C 2006

I did the keynote for ALT-C 2006, the 13th International Conference of the Association for Learning Technology, which was held at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, Scotland, between 5 and 7 September 2006.

Terry Mayes gave an amusing (and flattering) - this audio stream captures that, AND MY TALK.

I rather like this talk by the way - not just because of Terry's generous introduction... ALT-C is such a good community.

Edward Boyle Memorial Lecture

Synopsis

In this programme Professor Stephen Heppell discusses what he thinks learning might look like in the year 2016.

Stephen takes the prestigious stage at the Edward Boyle Memorial Lecture in the Royal Society of Arts, to offer his views on future learning and the important role we play in its fruition.

Following Stephen's lecture there is an insightful discussion held between teachers and headteachers.

Here's the whole event from Teachers TV

Inaugural Lab Group event

The Lab group brought together all the UK's leading ICT and learning research groups, back in 2003 (i think?) and the presenters all said a few words to camera. These have found their way to YouTube.

Here are my comments (I was still running Ultralab back then - in fact I stepped down from that in January 2004, when this event happened)

Not quite sure what happened to the lip synch!