If David Cameron’s Big Society is about citizens of Great Britain getting more involved in their community, then he’d be delighted to hear about the buzz travelling around London’s Olympia this week!
The Life Learning Cloud was unveiled at the biggest international exhibition for educational technology; (www.bettshow.com), Challenging us all to ‘join in’ and contribute to the education of the next-generation, and empowering children to take greater responsibility for their own learning, The Life Learning Cloud has caused great excitement across the education sector.
In a pre-launch briefing Fiona Aubrey-Smith outlined to Ministers why the philosophy behind Life is so important in The Big Society;
“Why should… where I live, which school I attend, where I work, who I know, where I am, or what I can afford, define the boundaries of my learning, and therefore my chances in life? Education is about Learning; it’s not just about Schooling. So we need to be empowering children to make Choices about when, where, and with whom they learn. We need to break down the boundaries that locations and buildings put in place, and engender a more Responsibility-Led Learning”.
This new focus where Responsibility-Led Learning takes Education beyond ‘School’, gives us all food for thought. What exactly is our role in the ‘Big Society’ approach to Education?
From Westminster, Adam Afriyie MP (Innovation & Skills) commented, “I welcome Fiona’s work on this important issue. Encouraging young people to take responsibility for their lives is at the heart of liberal conservative thought. If we take on responsibility for our own learning at a younger age we will, not only, be better-informed, we are also likely to live happier lives and contribute to a more productive, fulfilled and prosperous society.”
Matt Clarke, CEO for UniServity sums it up “Mobile phones, internet-tvs and gaming consoles mean that personal devices are now common for the majority of students. The infrastructure is ready to support a new kind of education, led by an ethos of Responsibility. Life, by UniServity, is at the heart of making that vision a reality for every learner”.
