Rome 2017 - Overview
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Individual conference papers | List of speakers | Conference agenda
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2nd Intl. Conference on Future EducationEffective Learning in an Age of Increasing Speed, Complexity and UncertaintyRome, Italy | November 16-18, 2017 |
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Building on a break-through conference at University of the California at Berkeley in 2013, the World University Consortium, the World Academy of Art & Science and Roma Tre University collaborated to conduct an international conference on Future Education to identify practical measures to meet the needs and aspirations of major stakeholders — youth, students, teachers, employers, workers, research institutions, governments and civil society.
The Challenge
Society is changing more rapidly than ever before, generating unprecedented opportunities and challenges in its wake. Anticipating and addressing the consequences of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, environmental pressures, rising levels of youth unemployment and inequality, globalization and virtualization of business models, the explosive growth of online communications and education, the globalization of education, increasing intercultural contacts and migration will place enormous pressure on educational institutions, students, teachers and researchers.
The Solution
Education is humanity’s most effective instrument for consciously steering social evolution to maximize the benefits and minimize the disruption and trauma associated with it. There is an urgent need for expanding the reach, accessibility, affordability and quality of education at all levels. But multiplying the existing model is not sufficient. Indeed it is likely to aggravate rather than alleviate many problems due to the time warp and gap between the education offered today and that which is so urgently needed. We need not only much more education but education that is qualitatively different — a new paradigm. Updating course content is not enough. We need an education that equips youth to adapt to future innovations and challenges that cannot be anticipated now.
THE OBJECTIVES:
- Implement student-centered, person-centered, active, participative learning pedagogies;
- Harness the potential of emerging learning technologies and delivery systems;
- Foster synthetic, integrated modes of thinking;
- Make conscious and explicit the central role of values in human development;
- Shift toward multi- and trans-disciplinary approaches to knowledge;
- Develop mental capacities for independent thinking, creativity, entrepreneurship & leadership;
- Extend the scope of learning outcomes from information and mental skills to encompass development of social capabilities, personality, values and individuality.
The Format
This conference was designed to serve as an open, active platform for participants to share, collaborate and co-create new ideas, approaches, methodologies and best practices. The multi-stakeholder approach and structure of the conference made it possible for participants to organize or participate in special sessions dedicated to in-depth exploration of specific topics ranging from subject content, pedagogy and learning technologies to social and economic impact on issues such as employment, skills development, business development, innovation, social power, citizenship, cultural diversity, personal development and individuality.