The Learning International Networks Consortium (LINC) Conference at MIT, 23-25 May 2016
LINC 2016 held at MIT, Cambridge, MA, saw around 30 countries participating in discussions on digital innovations in education. This year’s theme was ‘Digital Inclusion: Transforming Education through Technology’. People spoke about their different initiatives: MIT underlined the importance of games in teaching and learning creatively, with examples of different games they have deveoped; Uruguay participants emphasised a blended learning approach, involving exploration and experiment. Varied findings around digital inclusion, apprenticeship, hands-on learning, project-based learning, video content, and so on, emerged from the shared experiences from across the world.
It was observed that many initiatives have begun offering MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses), especially at the higher education level. These are considered to be one of the most inexpensive means of achieving quality at scale. Dr Anant Agarwal traced the journey of MOOCs at MIT and of the different courses offered through MITx and Edx for special interest groups. A significant point was made about the need to integrate human interface or interaction effectively in MOOCs, for them to work well.
Besides panels on ‘Bridging the Education Divide’, ‘Technology-Enabled Education’, ‘The Future of Pedagogy’, and so on, there were parallel sessions on sub-themes like ‘Alternative Learning Methods’, ‘Content Modules / Continuing Education’, and ‘Learning Technologies’ under which Archana and Omkar from CLIx presented a paper titled ‘Digital Innovation, School Readiness, Intervention Approaches – a case of CLIx in Indian high schools’.
Students share their experiences of learning through technology
On the final day of the conference, MIT undergraduates shared their experiences of using technology, and 11th grade school students from Andover Public School demonstrated the digital sandbox indigenously developed at their school. Listening to these students’ experiences, the importance in education of hands-on learning, human interaction and technology were reinforced.
For more details on the LINC 2016 conference, please visit http://linc2016.mit.edu/
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