The Learning Ideas Conference 2021 was delighted to feature five keynote speakers: world-renowned researcher Prof. Dr. Ilona Buchem of Beuth University of Applied Sciences Berlin; award-winning professor, museum leader, art historian, and media producer Deborah Howes; former chairperson of artificial intelligence for the U.S. Air Force Michael Kanaan; Senior Vice President and Executive Director of The Learning Guild David Kelly and the Director of Innovation for the Department of Defense’s Defense Acquisition University Dr. Alicia Sanchez. Further information about our keynote speakers is below.

Prof. Dr. Ilona Buchem

Professor of Media and Communication
Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences
Beuth University of Applied Sciences Berlin
Berlin, Germany

Talk: Wearable Enhanced Learning (WELL): Trends, Opportunities, and Challenges.

In the last decades, the power of data mining and analytics has transformed practice in field after field. In this talk, I will discuss how this trend is playing out in education. Increasingly, large-scale data is available on students, whether from school information systems, large-scale field observational methods, or the logs of online learning systems. Much of this data represents student behavior in a fashion that is both longitudinal and fine-grained. This has allowed researchers to model and track many elements of student learning that were not previously feasible at scale: engagement, affect, meta-cognition, complex skill, and robust learning. In turn, these models can be used in prediction of long-term student outcomes, and in interventions that promote student success.

These technologies, developed first in K-12 and undergraduate contexts, are beginning to play an important role in e-learning in the workplace as well. In this talk, I will illustrate this potential with examples from both e-learning and more traditional educational settings, discussing how new advances in this type of technology can be applied to benefit e-learning in the workplace.

Throughout the talk, I will both discuss the current state of the art in learning analytics, and some of the key challenges and opportunities for applying these methods at scale in practice.

About Dr. Buchem
Prof. Dr. Ilona Buchem is a world-renowned researcher whose work includes fostering diversity, participation and inclusion through digital media; open virtual mobility; the design and evaluation of technology-enhanced learning solutions; and uses of wearable technology for learning. Dr. Buchem is a Professor of Media and Communication at Beuth University of Applied Sciences Berlin, Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences.

Deborah Howes

Professor, Museum Studies Program, Johns Hopkins University
President of Howes Studio Inc
New York, NY, USA

Talk: Museums as Catalysts for Digital Learning

The urgency for change at all levels of education has never been greater. Formal opportunities must be more connected to learner needs, more varied in methods, more inclusive in topics and voices, more accessible in practice, more affordable, and more successful in producing well-rounded citizens and caretakers of this world. Just to name a few goals.

Museums are transforming too. They are currently redefining the societal value of their collections in a post-colonial world, as well as their presence in the digital universe. Museums are repositioning their public educational worth to include non-physical attributes such as their extraordinary expertise in immersive storytelling, presenting authentic and authoritative points of view, modeling processes of inquiry and critical thinking, and designing learner-centric explorations. And, of course, museums regularly produce awesome images, sounds, and stories, and share these freely along with plenty of metadata.

Deborah Howes, a longtime museum educator and technology innovator, envisions a world in which education systems and museums advance symbiotically for both immediate and long term mutual benefit. Schools teaching in close collaboration with museums, and museums listening deeply to what schools require would synergize the catalytic energy needed to power the current educational reform movement. Her argument will transform your loving museums for their collections of physical objects and impressive buildings, to understanding them as powerful storehouses of ideas, mediated experiences, and extensible learning models that thrive in digital platforms.

About Deborah Howes:
Deborah Howes is an award-winning professor, museum leader, art historian, and media producer. Deborah is an expert in digital learning and has directed ground-breaking educational experiences, online exhibitions and resources, print and electronic publications, websites, and study centers for world-class art and educational institutions. Deborah is President of Howes Studio Inc and a Professor in the Museum Studies Program at Johns Hopkins University.

Michael Kanaan

Director of Operations
Department of the Air Force / MIT Artificial Intelligence
Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

Talk: Artificial Intelligence: Reaching the End of the Rainbow

Artificial intelligence (AI) is the greatest, newly developing technology capable of profoundly enhancing human opportunity and experience. Although now it's commonly employed as the foundational software in applications, products, and services throughout everyday life to the most sophisticated of business and geopolitical pursuits, it is often misunderstood and misused by citizens the world over, and is frequently ignored by educational systems. Fortunately, we can all be a part of changing that.

In this session, we'll examine AI from a new perspective, discover the realities at hand, and inspire a common message of its place in our personal lives and professional pursuits. We'll use this new framing of the technology in order to advance understanding in familiar and engaging ways outside of traditional visions of STEM education so this next generation can ensure AI be implemented only in ways consistent with fundamental human dignities…and only for purposes consistent with democratic ideals, liberties, and laws.

About Michael Kanaan:

Michael Kanaan is the author of the book T-Minus AI and is a former chairperson of artificial intelligence for the U.S. Air Force, Headquarters Pentagon. In that role, he authored and guided the research, development, and implementation strategies for AI across its global operations. He was named to the 2019 Forbes "30 Under 30" list and the Fast Company Impact Council, and received the U.S. Government's Arthur S. Flemming Award (an honor shared by past recipients Neil Armstrong, Robert Gates, and Elizabeth Dole). He currently lives in Cambridge, MA.

David Kelly

EVP & Executive Director
The Learning Guild
New York, NY, USA

Talk: A Look Ahead: The Now and the Next of Learning and Technology within Organizations.

Technology continues to advance rapidly, changing how we live and interact with the world around us. Today’s learning professionals face the challenge of staying ahead of this curve and tracking the technologies that are shaping the future of organizational learning, while at the same time recognizing technologies that may be only a passing fad.

In this keynote session, we will explore the changing face of the learning technology landscape and discuss the ways that various technologies have shifted the landscape of organizational learning. We’ll explore sample applications of new technologies within workplace settings to see how new technologies such as virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and artificial intelligence (AI) can best be employed to improve learning and performance. We will also examine the common characteristics of these shifts and review how to best identify which technologies have the potential to disrupt organizational learning, as opposed to those that are just hype.

About David Kelly:

David Kelly is Senior Vice President and Executive Director of The Learning Guild, a highly-regarded community of practice for those supporting the design, development, strategy, and management of organizational learning. David has been a learning and performance consultant and training director for more than 15 years. He is a leading voice exploring how technology can be used to enhance training, education, learning, and organizational performance.

Dr. Alicia Sanchez

Director of Innovation
Defense Acquisition University
Department of Defense
Fort Belvoir, Virginia, USA

Talk: Learning on the Seam: The Intersection between Learning Science and User-Centered Design.

Voluminous tidbits focused on how we improve learning can leave us wondering which methods or practices might be the right ones to pursue.  Determining what to implement how and when is traditionally left to each of us based on our assumptions about our learners and our own ability to curate, assimilate and apply the information we receive. 

From long-established practices to responding to our learners’ evolving needs, there is no unifying discipline that guides our decision-making strategies.  Traditional and emerging constructs from the science of learning often show promise, but in our consumer-driven world, focusing on our users has never been more imperative.

In this keynote session, an intersection between Learning Sciences and User-Centered Design will be examined from the perspective of “what our learners need now” in order to create relevant and outcome-oriented learning assets.  By combining two frequently separated methodologies, this session seeks to pull the thread on new perspective on how to create or realign meaningful programs of learning by eliminating gaps and overlaps in competing theories. 

Dr. Alicia Sanchez is the Director of Innovation for the Department of Defense’s Defense Acquisition University, which serves over 180,000 enlisted and civilian personnel. Previously DAU’s Games Czar, Alicia deployed over 80 games and simulations into DAU’s curriculum while focusing on how people learn and how to position learning opportunities to yield learning results. Alicia is dedicated to the modernization of learning through the application of learning science, user-centered design and her pet studies in cognitive biases and memory.