DAY 1 - Audi 1 | 02nd June 2021
DAY 1 - Audi 2 | 02nd June 2021

09:00 - 09:30 - Richard Gerver - KEYNOTE SPEAKER
Tomorrow Belongs to those who Prepare for it.
As we reflect on the events of the last year, Richard will explore how we can revision the future of education to meet the challenges that will face us all, especially our children.
He will cover concepts including;
• How we can better cope with change & uncertainty.
• What the future may hold & what we can do to educate our children for it.
• The importance of resilience.
• How technology can support the new vision.
• Why we must focus on the development of the whole child.

09:30 - 10:00 - Dr. Ahmed Al-Saai
Together IT & IT in the Face of Corona Pandemic
• Introducing the both Its in terms of what each stands for
• Identifying the Technology in general in defining the concept
• Based on the definition & the nature of technology, Instructional Technology will be identified as an Instructional Design
• The nature of Instructional Design in a diagram
• How IT & IT work together in facing Covid-19 Pandemic
• The Qatar University (QU) Experience in facing the Pandemic


10:00 - 10:30 - Dr. Steffen Sommer & Samuel Spencer
Digital Strategy for 3rd Decade of 21st Century
• Expansion of Digital wellbeing.
• Opportunities in Digital Leadership.
• Rethinking learning- Learning as iterative process.
• Embracing change and promoting development.
• The evolution of a new curriculum, challenging our comfort zones and creating a “Smart” society.
10:30 - 10:45 - Coffee Break

10:45 - 11:15 - Alan S. Weber
Online Student Engagement in the Middle East Strategies and Barriers
The rapid switch to 'emergency remote learning' during the COVID-19 pandemic found many instructors and educational institutions unprepared for a fully digital learning experience. Some of the well-known barriers that were encountered included lack of teacher preparation and training, digital divide (lack of broadband and adequate devices in the less wealthy Middle East countries) and the lack of customized learning objects. Another serious issue that arose was online student engagement - how could educators and school systems insure that students were attending classes, completing tasks, were motivated to engage with the course content, and were able to communicate effectively with classmates and the instructor? Based on research carried out by VCUQ and WCMCQ including nation-wide focus groups in Qatar, this talk explains the key dimensions of online student engagement in the region. It also presents best practices for encouraging student engagement in online learning environments within the Gulf cultural context.

11:15 - 11:45 - Steve Beswick
‘Digital Transformation in Education with Surface, why the Device is important’
• Introduction to Microsoft in Education
• Digital transformation framework for education
• Context on the skills required to get a job in the world today
• 7 reasons why Surface should be considered in education
• The Surface Portfolio
12:15 - 13:00 - Lunch Break

13:00 - 13:30 - Dr. Mike Keppell
Challenges and Opportunities of Moving to Online Teaching, Learning and Assessment as the New Norm
• The Complexity of the Educational Ecosystem
• Future proofing Curriculum Design, Assessment and Teaching
• Exposure of staff and students to Blended Learning and Teaching
• The Disrupted Ecosystem and the need to adapt
• Moving to Online Teaching, Learning and Assessment in a hurry

13:30 - 14:00 - Dymphe Laan
Struggling with Writing + Reading:
Tools for the University SEN Student
14:30 - 14:45 - Coffee Break

14:45 - 15:15 - Dr. Ismail Fayed
"The Future of Higher Ed in the Post-COVID-19 World"
• How COVID-19 is changing the historical dynamics of higher education.
• How the always resisted technologies in education acted as the only solution for most universities during COVID-19
• How higher education educational standards are changing overnight to something unprecedented
• What exactly is changing in teaching and assessment in higher education today?

15:15 - 15:45 - John Schwartz
A New Normal for Corporate and Campus Learning
• The power and efficacy of online learning
• The right for all learners to have access to the top content available

15:45 - 16:15 - Dr. Mary Ellen Wiltrout
Evidence-Based Design in Online and Blended Courses
• What features of video lead to learner engagement?
• What design in online assessments minimize dishonest behavior without proctoring?
• How does learner engagement differ between MOOCs run as self-paced or instructor-paced?
• How has the COVID-19 pandemic influenced learner engagement in MOOCs?

16:15 - 16:45 - Dr. Alison Carr-Chellman
Gaming can renew learning!
• Gaming offers an enormously motivating learning tool for all settings
• The culture of gaming should be respected and will bring you into alignment with many disenfranchised learners
• Gender intersects with the culture of gaming and can regenerate lost learners particularly among young boys
• How can you integrate gaming into traditional learning settings?
• What do gamers learn?

09:30 - 10:00 - Kantis Simmons
"STEM IS EVERYWHERE"
This non-traditional STEM Education talk goes into details on how to help students in your program learn, live and love Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math subjects and careers. With a STEM is everywhere framework
• How to prepare your students to study STEM subjects in a fun way
• 7.25 ways to help students learn it, live it, and love STEM subjects
• How to help your students approach a future career in STEM
• Creative ways to jump-start your school's STEM program, especially if it’s lacking

10:00 - 10:30 - Dr. Fatma Al-Maadheed
How technology is transforming the culture of learning: school systems in the race between technological advances and educational innovation
10:30 - 10:45 - Coffee Break

10:45 - 11:15 - Dr. Mark Newmark
Engaging Students with Technology

11:45 - 12:15 - Zakhar Symchych
Distance learning in post-Covid period: Practical Transformation
• Post-Pandemic challenges in education
• Learning science in Junior school
• Distance Learning platforms: choosing the right one for students, teachers and parents
• Support of Children with Special Education Needs during pandemic.
• Transforming crisis into opportunities to increase quality of educational process
12:15 - 13:00 - Lunch Break

13:00 - 13:30 - Carla Aerts
Learning: an act of co-creation
• The need for new teaching and learning modes and models: towards a teacher earners
• Moving to learner-centred design only may not be enough
• Creating new teacher-learner relationships
• Constructing learning into an act of co-creation

14:00 - 14:30 - Joonhee Won
The future of education:
How AI will reshape the way we teach and learn
• Why current education system is flawed
• Human brain is not designed to learn
• How can we individualize education
14:30 - 14:45 - Coffee Break

14:45 - 15:15 - Dan Pardy M.S.
Digital Transformation During the Pandemic:
• Developments in technology
• Developments in mindsets
• Challenges faced during the pandemic
• Opportunities that have presented themselves
• What does the future hold?

15:15 - 15:45 - Vineeta Garg
Bringing lesson to life with music
• Importance of music in life and in teaching learning
• How I integrate music in my coding classes
• How we can integrate music in other subjects
• I will play two of my songs

15:45 - 16:15 - Pirjo Suhonen
Finnish Double Flip – Coding and competences
• Finnish Double Flip is a playful term for a pedagogy used to enhance the development of 21st century competences.
• Primary school pupils taught coding for hundreds of children, teachers, local entrepreneurs, the Mayor and even pupils and teachers in India via video.
• The young coding ambassadors succeeded well in the national robotics competitions too.
• If primary school pupils can make learning global, could educators learn more from each other too?
• Could the next innovation in education be more global collaboration and human connections to cultivate 21st century learning?

16:15 - 16:45 - Lisa Schwartz
Digital Citizenship Strategies and Resources
• What is Digital Citizenship?
• Discuss strategies to embed Digital Citizenship across the curriculum
• Explore resources that are available for teachers to use for free
End of Day 1
DAY 2 - Audi 1 | 03rd June 2021
DAY 2 - Audi 2 | 03rd June 2021

09:00 - 09:30 - Steve Wheeler - KEYNOTE SPEAKER
Digital Literacies for Lifelong Learning
• Explore learning theories and their relation to digital literacies
• Determine the differences of digital literacies, competencies and readiness
• Understand the concept of digital literacies and their importance
• Identify areas where you can develop new personal competencies
• Explore some practical examples of digital literacies in action

09:30 - 10:00 - Balaji Venkataraman
Supercharging Experiential Learning with State-of-the-art Virtual Lab
• 25+ Years in corporate IT + entrepreneurship.
• Extensively travelled (USA, ME Asia, SE Asia and India)
• Held Director level positions in MNCs such as Oracle, Amdocs
• Business and Technology consulting are his forte; and bringing about a digital transformation in Education is his passion
• Vast experience in bringing innovative technology solutions to market

10:00 - 10:30 - Divya Lal
Following her Passion to bridge the digital divide
• Masters in Psychology from University of Delhi 2002
• More than 20 years experience in Education and Technology
• Currently Founder & CEO Fliplearn Education

10:30 - 11:00 - Dr. Shakir S. Hussain
Indie Online Education: Pushing the Higher Education Envelope
Higher Education is among the many domains COVID-19 has seriously impacted. An ecosystem of expert practitioners has been gaining momentum over the last few years which challenges the core tenets of formal traditional higher education. These expert practitioner-educators do not promise degrees, diplomas, or credentials, but skills that are immediately applicable to the workplace. In this session, we will explore the world of Indie Online Education, consisting of boot-camps, self-paced courses, and alternatives to degree programs. These radical, experimental educational experiences command significant fees and challenge the assumptions that make up higher education as we know it.
11:00 - 11:15 - Coffee Break

11:15 - 11:45 - Rihards Lakstigals
"What Gets Measured Gets Done: Putting Your Data to Work with IntelliBoar"

11:45 - 12:15 - Dr. Schahram Dustdar
University Disruption - The next level
• EdTech is disrupting the university landscape
• Taking teaching to the next level
• Proctoring of university teaching in an online world
• Taking cross-disciplinary collaboration to the next level
12:45 - 13:30 - Lunch Break

13:30 - 14:00 - Mona Kassem
Immersive Learning: 3D Learning Environments
Instructional Design, Spatial Design, Gamification
and more

14:00 - 14:30 - Dr. William Cope
The Future of Digital Learning
• How digital learning tools will be essential to all teaching and learning in the future, both in-person and remote.
• How e-learning ecologies can be more social and collaborative than the traditional classroom ever was.
• Looking towards the next generation assessments: embedded formative assessment, learning analytics, progress visualizations.
• The emerging roles of big data and artificial intelligence in e-learning.
• Presentation will have practical examples, as well as e-learning theory.

14:30 - 15:00 - John Traxler
Reaching the Hard-to-Reach
• Education systems, ministries, officials, practitioners and institutions have responded to pandemic with a massive ‘pivot’ to online distance learning. This ‘pivot’ has been motivated by the need for speed, scale and success
• Many people, cultures and communities are disadvantaged, outside, overlooked, oppressed or underserved by these systems and institutions
• So, the ‘pivot’ opts for conservative approaches and increases the disadvantages of the disadvantaged
• But most peoples, cultures and communities have experience, agency, familiarity and access with mobile technologies and social media applications
• Various innovative digital pedagogies can be adapted to social media applications and to the local values, languages, traditions, needs and infrastructure of disadvantaged people, cultures and communities.
15:00 - 15:15 - Coffee Break

15:15 - 15:45 - Rose Luckin
Transforming Education through Artificial Intelligence (AI)
• What is AI and how does it impact on education?
• How can educators in all sectors leverage AI to address the educational challenges they face?
• Who needs to get involved to develop and apply AI for educational benefit?
• How does education need to change, because we now have intelligent machines?
• How can educators and educational institutions become AI-Ready?

15:45 - 16:15 - Lori Niles-Hofmann
How to Right-skill our workforces using technology
It’s all too easy to reach for change when we are dissatisfied with the status quo. But to truly transform, we need to be deliberate with our decisions, goals, and direction. It is less about choosing a new technology or process and ore about what we intend to achieve with it. Join us for an important keynote session revolving around intentional transformation, a deliberate act of change meant to achieve specific goals. In this session we will:
• Reimagine the future skills management experience
• Examine what the Internet of Things can teach us regarding workforce technology strategy
• Discuss what new technologies are out there, what is coming, and what it all means for workforce upskilling
• Rethink how we use data and analytics, now and for tomorrow

16:15 - 16:45 - Dr. Gregory Guthrie
The Evolution of Education – Fulfilling our mission and goals in a changing environment
• Education has a long history of high aspirations and success, and forms the basis of a coherent, prosperous, stable society.
• We are now at a disruptive combination of factors which challenge these previous models; Societal, pandemic, technology, educational, economic, political.
• These present unique and significant challenges to the current and traditional forms of education; we much convert these challenges into insights and forward-looking strategies.
• What are the ways that higher education is evolving to benefit from these factors and fulfill its mission; combining campus and online, professional and personal, and growing towards more holistic models and futures.
One important aspect is to broaden the definitions and methods of Universities, and several new directions and results will be presented as examples

09:30 - 10:00 - Dr. Sergio Powel
Enduring transformation in education - what will be the residual gain?
What is the pandemic’s residual gain in education?
• fashions and trends in education
• Three historical attempts to embed technology into the curriculum
• programming
• robotics
• coding
• The top down vs bottom up evolution of a curricula
• Gaming as the new intergenerational language of communication
• Gaming as a new narrative for professional development (speculation)

10:30 - 11:00 - Kevin Fullbrook
Building Anti-fragile Schools Using Design Thinking.
• The Design Thinking process, and why most of us do it wrong.
• How school teams can use this process to build more resilient and antifragile systems and processes.
• Why empathy and compassion are essential parts of the process.
• How to become comfortable with being uncomfortable.
11:00 - 11:15 - Coffee Break

11:45 - 12:15 - Brett Salakas
Digital Escape Room
• In this session, attendees with learn how to harness the pedagogical power of a digital escape room.
• Digital escape rooms are a technique that uses passwords to boost student agency while allowing teachers to ensure high expectations and work standards are being met when delivering a digital or virtual lesson.
• Digital escape rooms can be run in the classroom or when learning at home due to school lockdowns.
• They are a simple yet powerful technique.

12:15 - 12:45 - Can Mindek
Creating Your Own Unlimited Learning Ecosystem with ODILO
• Schools, universities, libraries, governments and corporations seek the best learning and development solutions to support increasing learning habits,
engagement and innovation, and creating Unlimited Learning Ecosystems is the key to this.
• Digital transformation has accelerated shift to distance learning and digital assessment.
• Career-focused learning and stronger links with employment, upskilling and re-skilling have become more important than ever.
• Employees, learners and students are losing more than half of their optimum work time each week to interruptions, inefficiencies and distractions in their jobs.
• ODILO allows the institutions to build their own Unlimited Learning Ecosystems, bringing together AI-based cutting edge technology, high quality content and excellent learning services.
12:45 - 13:30 - Lunch Break

13:30 - 14:00 - Jenielyn Padernal
eLearning: A key to building a disaster-proof education
• The session introduces the participants to the idea of a disaster-proof education and how to implement a disaster-proof education in their school through eLearning.
• The attendees will be provided with information on how they can get started in building a disaster-proof education.
• Different digital tools that can support their disaster proof-education initiative will be showcased in this session.
• Share experiences/examples from schools that have embraced eLearning and how it helped them thrive during the pandemic.
• How an LMS can support eLearning and disaster-proof education.

14:00 - 14:30 - Chinua Mosley
Increasing classroom engagement through interactivity
• This topic covers classroom lecture.
• We know that classroom lectures are boring for students because they have to sit passively and listen for long periods of time.
• Sometimes one student is called to the board to watch.
• Given current technology, we have platforms where all students can participate simultaneously.
• I’d mostly cover the Nearpod platform.

14:30 - 15:00 - Ahmad Okbelbab
Semiotics and Visual Storytelling of Online Digital Learning
• Education on Screen
• Conceptual Thinking
• Rhetoric of the image
• Enhancing visualized instructions
• Accessibility in E-learning
15:00 - 15:15 - Coffee Break

15:15 - 15:45 - Sana Alavi
Connecting Imagination to Solutions: The Evolution of Education with Digital
Technology
• Is technology making us more connected or disconnected?
• Will learning partnerships and collaboration augment our capabilities and redefine success?
• What is the role of personalized education in helping students achieve?
• What is the role of the modern teacher in this changing landscape?

15:45 - 16:45 - Students Panel
E-Learning, the past, the present, the future.
Moderator - Andres Montejo
Panel Member - Menatalla Metwally Said
Panel Member - Yousef Al-Najjar
Panel Member - Becky Keith
End of Day 2