Keynote speakers for the EAIE Conference are revealed!
Polar explorer, Robert Swan; Nobel Peace laureate, Leymah Gbowee; innovative business entrepreneur, Christian Stadil: what do these high profile figures have in common? They’ve all given uplifting keynote speeches at recent EAIE Conferences, and this year’s speakers promise to be every bit as inspirational!
We are very excited to announce the keynote speakers who will be joining us in Dublin for the 2012 EAIE Conference: Sugata Mitra and Caroline Casey.
Sugata Mitra
The Opening Plenary, taking place on 12 September, serves as a kick-off to conversations about the conference theme: ‘Rethinking education, reshaping economies’ and we are honoured to have Sugata Mitra, an individual whose notable achievements in education embody this theme.
Well-known for his ‘Hole in the wall’ project, Sugata’s experiments take a new perspective on the relationship needed between the educator and the student. In 1999 he dug a hole in a wall bordering an urban slum in New Delhi, installed an internet-connected PC and left it there (with a hidden camera filming the area). He then observed kids from the slum playing around with the computer and in the process, learning how to use it and then teaching each other.
Replicated in other parts of India, both urban and rural, with similar results, this project demonstrated that even in the absence of direct input from a teacher, an environment that encourages inquisitiveness, self-instruction, and peer-knowledge can generate incredible learning.
Sugata is credited with a number of other inventions and first-time applications in the areas of Cognitive Science, Information Science and Education Technology. He is currently Professor of Educational Technology at Newcastle University and Visiting Professor at MIT in the United States.
Caroline Casey
Closing the conference on 14 September, the Closing Plenary keynote speaker, Caroline Casey, is sure to motivate you to look beyond limits. One of Ireland’s own, Caroline Casey is a social entrepreneur whose leadership and vision is changing the way people think about disability.
Since she set up Kanchi (formerly The Aisling Foundation) in 2000, Caroline continues to deliver a deeper level of engagement with society, business, media and politics to affect change through positive solution-based thinking.
In 2004, Caroline launched the O2 Ability Awards to establish best practice for the employment and inclusion of people with disabilities within business. The success of this initiative has spurred international interest and created the opportunity for a corresponding programme in Spain.
Caroline is also co-founder of the London based charity, Elephant Family, as well as a board member of Sightsavers International.
Check out the Dublin conference programme and view the details of over 200 other engaging activities available at the 2012 EAIE Conference. If you haven’t done so already, be sure to register for the conference by the 22 August deadline!