I love returning from a professional development of any stripe with new inspiration. That said, in a publish-or-perish environment I have been known to return from conferences in the throes of an existential crisis: the pressure to produce does not always result in the most meaningful product, and as manufacturers like to say, "results may vary". The International Conference on Active Learning (ICAL), hosted in tandem with the International Conference on Mobile Learning (Mobilearn) at Universiti Teknikal Malaysia the past few days was a pleasant surprise.
Although the event was a first for the organizers, it stood out for its remarkably friendly atmosphere and kind, helpful organizing staff. The few teething problems that are not at all unusual for a first event of this magnitude were swiftly and efficiently addressed. More importantly though, I heard repeatedly that participants and presenters alike felt they were learning. Speaking for myself, I was quite pleased to make a few new discoveries and, I must admit, get my groove back after being in a bit of a rut for a while - an occupational hazard of working on a very focused, demanding project.
Scheduling made it possible to attend all the keynote presentations, while there were parallel sessions for the other presentations and workshops. As luck would have it, the parallel sessions I attended were enriching and uplifting. My rather rough notes are available here, but in this post I will just include a very brief summary and links to keynote presenters' work where relevant. (These people all have a batallion of titles, which accounts for the length of this post: for once I am not solely to blame ;) ).
The first keynote speaker rather blew me away. Associate Professor Dr. Khairiya Mohd Yusof of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia tears down a multitude of preconceptions, not only with her prolific work that speaks of true dedication and razor-sharp intelligence, but also by being living proof of what Malaysian women can accomplish in science. In an unassuming but accomplished presentation she shared a promising model for active learning in engineering courses, as well as a wealth of further insights.
Next, Prof. Dr. Mohamed Amin Embi introduced online and mobile tools for encouraging active learning. The use of these tools was interwoven into the presentation, giving it a hands-on feel and letting everyone walk the talk. He also elaborated further on Web 2.0 tools (defined here in my own earlier work) hosted on his internationally popular website, jitzu.ukm.my/web20/, which gives a brief introduction to an array of tools. Although this is a field where much of my own early research was focused, I was pleased to find how much the field has been moving forward, and discovered a few new gems.
Prof. Wong Lung Hsiang of Nanyang Technological University, Singapore and Learning Sciences Lab had some fascinating developments to report on in what he terms Seamless Learning, where learning is interwoven into different aspects of life, including but not limited to mobile devices. In fact, his research has specifically focused on engaging learners through physical and outdoor activity, and also involving entire families in the learning process. This really struck me as significant as the mobile learning juggernaut gains speed, and is one of the concepts that made a particular impact on me. I also agreed with Prof. Wong that a process of enculturation is required as learners become more autonomous, but also increase their interaction with others, while fully exploiting the learning experience independently as well as with guidance.
A final treat was Prof. Dame Dr. Wendy Hall, of Southampton University, UK and the Web Science Trust. Another advocate and shining example of women in science, her work on hypertext has its origins even prior to the World Wide Web as we know it. Her presentation gave a concise overview of the history of hypertext, the philosophies underlying "the social machine", as conceived by Sir Tim Berners-Lee, "father" of the Web (and yet another holder of a title) in his seminal work Weaving the Web, and the way forward. This was an absolute geek banquet and I positively savored every morsel.
I officially declare ICAL/Mobilcase 2012 a success. Results of this conference were the following:
1. The structure and scheduling made for a relaxed event, and our own presentation benefited from a kind and committed audience.
2. I think I just might have got my groove back. Which cannot possibly be a bad thing.
3. I am now off to Google what titles might be worth having.
Marie-Therese Claudine Le Roux (HRH?)
