Technology is a 'phenomenal asset' to education, says Lord Puttnam
Keynote speaker looks forward to the Jisc annual conference at the Birmingham ICC
Technology is a vital part of the educational experience, says Lord Puttnam of Queensgate in an exclusive interview for Jisc released today in podcast format.
Speaking ahead of the Jisc annual conference at which he will be one of the keynote speakers, Lord Puttnam recollects his time as Chancellor of the University of Sunderland between 1998 and 2007 where, he says, ‘I was lucky… to find myself at a university which was actively embracing technology, which saw the opportunities, which saw that technology was a bridge with a constituency which needed all the help it could get.’
Now Chancellor of the Open University, Lord Puttnam also said that he was looking forward to the Jisc conference, suggesting that after his keynote speech he wanted to ‘drift around and discover that there are amazing people doing amazing things… The important thing,’ he continues, ‘is to keep an open mind – prepare to be amazed!’
Founder of the National Teaching Awards – now in their 10th year - Lord Puttnam goes on to emphasise the importance of teaching - ‘the future of our society over the next 10 or 20 years is entirely dependent on the quality of teaching’ – suggesting that the teaching awards are, like the Oscars, he says, necessary as a ‘qualitative judgment’, a celebration of ‘the best that there is’. One of the most important developments of the last decade is, he suggests, the recognition of the importance of excellence in all areas of national life.
Listen to the podcast (Duration: 25.04)
Going on to explore the importance of creativity to national economic success, he talks of the flowering of talent in the US film industry in the 1970s, suggesting that the UK too has always been a highly innovative and creative nation, but that ‘we are not very good at exploiting our innovative capacity…We haven’t really understood the conditions under which innovation flourishes; nothing like enough work has been done on this extremely vexed question.’
The Jisc conference is being held at the ICC in Birmingham on April 15th and with places quickly running out, conference organisers are encouraging potential delegates to register as quickly as possible. Among the topics to be covered at the conference are: the Google Generation report, identity management, virtual research environments, an evaluation of the e-Lib programme, the changing learner experience and Web 2.0.
An exhibition area, a range of demonstrations and a programme full of debates and workshops, as well as presentations, are among the other features which promise to make the Jisc annual conference 2008 one of the highlights of the academic year.
Find out about the Jisc conference 2008 and register as a delegate.
Jisc Conference tag: jiscconference08
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