Our last presention came to us from Anika Small, the CEO of Futurelab UK.

In a previous post I said

The paper from FutureLab looks at Social Software and Learning and the ‘shape’ of learning as a result of the transformation in the new technology environment of our students.

You might like to check out (another) FutureLab’s blog here. [OK, for those who read this earlier, I grabbed another group – thanks to Stefan for pointing this out –  but will leave the link here anyway]

Annika’s presentation is so packed with ideas and information that I can’t even begin to summarize it. For anyone wanting some clear ideas, gathered in one spot, you are not going to be able to past the podcast of this session. For schools it represents a thoughtprovoking listen.

A question from James Farmer about the sustainibility of the technology-intensive approach that Futurelab is able to undertake raises some important points. Annika’s response is that sustainability is actually underway as students find social software to engage in their social networking. They are already incorporating this into their lives.

A good point – yes the social software is there, but the reality in schools is that not all students have the same level of engagement with social software. Schools also have very different levels of technology available. However, I believe the future is staring us in the face, and that teachers DO need to understand the learning needs of students. Certainly the work coming out of Futurelab is providing a really good idea of what we need to do.

Bottom line is that we teachers have got to commit – NOW!

Annika encourages Australian educators to subscribe to their newsletter and communicate with her at Futurelab.