Information Alliance event, “Shaping the Future of Learning” - Dec. 5-6

There are just two weeks left before our next two-day UMD Future of Information Alliance event, “Shaping the Future of Learning” (http://www.fia.umd.edu/futurelearn/).

We are being hosted this time by the Barrie School (13500 Layhill Road

Silver Spring) and our co-sponsors in this program include the Library of Congress, the National Geographic Society, the National Park Service, and the Newseum.  Among the attendees are educators, innovators, and learners of all ages – including UMD students and faculty as well as high school students who may be future UMD prospects.

The two-day program kicks off on the afternoon of Friday, Dec. 5, with a reception, food, demos by our FIA partners, and a terrific panel featuring Google’s “director of user happiness,” the former chief scientist at Twitter (who started a new school), a serial inventor, a UNICEF innovator, and a high school student who won a major international science competition for coming up with an inexpensive test to detect cancer.

The next day will see teams form up (they do not need to form in advance) and compete in a design challenge. There will be great prizes for the winners and a raffle of other prizes (donated by the likes of Google, Sesame Workshop, and a number of other sponsors). 

The program is open to anyone, but we ask that attendees register  at  http://www.fia.umd.edu/futurelearn/, where there is also more information about the program. 

This is a program for participants with all kinds of backgrounds – from both STEM and non-STEM fields, and a whole host of disciplines – sciences, humanities, arts, engineering and so forth.

The goals for this weekend:

·          Bring together and further develop a community of people who care about and want to have an impact on the future of learning

·          Be a catalyst for new ideas, prototypes, tools, guidelines to be highlighted and used in learning communities around Maryland even after the event occurs

·          Highlight how technology could be used in and outside of classrooms with all different ways people of all ages learn

We think this would be a great opportunity for Honors students, so please help us spread the word.

Friday December 5, 4-8pm

The event will kick off with a transdisciplinary dialogue led by Future-ists, followed by a poster and demo session where FIA partners showcase the work they are doing this area.

4:00pm	Registration
4:30pm	Panel Discussion led by Future-ists: Chris Fabian UNICEF Senior Advisor on Innovation to the Executive Director Idit Harel CEO Globaloria Abdur Chowdhury CEO Pushd and Founder of the Alta Vista School, former chief scientist at Twitter Dan Russell FIA Future-ist in Residence, and Google “director of user happiness” Jack Andraka National Geographic Emerging Explorer
6:00pm- 8:00pm	Poster and Demo Session (with reception food)

Saturday December 6, 9-5pm

Educators, technologists, and learners of all ages — adults and young people — are invited to compete in a Design Challenge to help shape the future of learning. Teams will be formed, designs will be created and by the end of the day winners will be selected and prized awarded.

9:00am	Registration + Breakfast
9:30am	Challenge Instructions Team Formation (if needed) Teams Start Working Lunch
2:00pm	Semi-Finalist Judging
3:00pm	Tim Schaffer Presentation (with snacks)
4:00pm- 5:00pm	Final Judging Raffle

We encourage individuals to team-up. If you do not have a team, we can help you find one at the event. Teams can have a maximum of 10 people. Education experts will be on-hand to help teams as they work on their ideas.

Teams can build low-tech prototypes, make a video, present a vision paper, develop software, create a website — anything that demonstrates their idea. The most important thing is to share your idea so that the judges understand how innovative your idea is, how much impact it might have on people, and how feasible it might be to implement.

Want to get started early?
Check out the challenges posted by our partners for inspiration and ideas to work on.