Conferences – Page 18 – Digital Learning Dispatches

In early May 2017, Professor Mark Brown was the keynote speaker at a conference in Amman, Jordan as part of a European funded Tempus project on enhancing the quality of technology-enhanced learning. Jordan2 The event also served to mark the launch of a new National e-Learning Centre at Princess Sumaya University for Technology (PSUT). Deputising for HRH Princess Samaya, the PSUT’s President, Mashhoor Al Refai, is reported in a brief story in the Jordan Times as commending the university’s efforts in building the Kingdom’s academic community’s e-learning capacity and the role of new digital technology in raising the quality level of education in Jordan.

Jorden1 In his opening keynote address, Mark explores different quality models using an interesting ice-cream metaphor, which happens to be a Syrian delicacy that is popular and widely available in Jordan. Professor Brown will be a member of the International Advisory Board established to support the work of the new National e-Learning Centre.

A copy of Mark’s keynote slide-deck is available below.

Quality in Technology-enhanced Learning: Old Traditions, New Delights from Mark Brown

In March 2017, Professor Mark Brown gave a brief keynote presentation at the OLC Innovate conference in New Orleans. This is one of the largest conferences of its type in the United States organised by the Online Learning Consortium.

His presentation explored the 7 deadly sins of online learning and was metaphorically anchored in the storyline and lessons from the 1927 film Metropolis. This is a silent German epic directed by Fritz Lang, which is a pioneering work of the Science-fiction genre influencing generations of filmmakers through iconic images of oppression and liberation.

New Orleans1

metropolismovie After describing each sin, Mark argues that when it comes to structural innovation we need to break free from the institutional shackles that limit our imagination.
The key point is that online learning should be in the service of big ideas, not as a big idea in itself. He told conference delegates that in many respects we are all sinners as new models of online and blended learning have yet to significantly contribute to the big idea of a safer, more equitable and socially just future for all.