Description

Talking Circles offer an opportunity to meet other delegates with similar interests and concerns. Delegates self-select into groups based on broad thematic areas and then engage in extended discussion about the issues and concerns they feel are of utmost importance to that segment of the Research Network. Participation is open, encouraged, and supported.

How Do They Work?

The Talking Circles are grouped around each of the conference themes so discussions can focus on the specific areas of interest represented by each theme. 

How to Begin:

Allow members of the group to briefly introduce themselves. 

The facilitator should encourage open dialogue and ensure a collegial and respectful conversation. 

Starting Questions to Assist Discussion

Talking Circle: Who are we?

What is the territory, or scope, or landscape of this thematic area?

What are the burning issues, the key questions for this theme?

What are the forces or drivers that will affect us as professionals, thinkers, citizens, and aware and concerned people whose focus is this particular theme?

What are the future directions (in research, in theory-building, in practice) for this thematic area?

Theme 3: Technologies of Mediation

On new learning devices and software tools.

Living Tensions

• Ubiquitous computing: devices, interfaces, and educational uses
• Social networking technologies in the service of learning
• Digital writing tools; wikis, blogs, slide presentations, websites, and writing assistants
• Supporting multimodality: designing meanings which cross written, oral, visual, audio, spatial, and tactile modes
• Designing meanings in the new media: podcasts; digital video, and digital imaging
• Learning management systems
• Learning content and metadata standards
• Designed for learning: new devices and new applications
• Usability and participatory design: beyond technocentrism
• Learning to use and adapt new technologies
• Learning through new technologies

Theme 4: Designing Social Transformations

On the social transformations of technologies, and their implications for learning.

Living Tensions

• Learning technologies for work, civics and personal life
• Ubiquitous learning in the service of the knowledge society and knowledge economy
• Ubiquitous learning for the society of constant change
• Ubiquitous diversity in the service of diversity and constructive globalism
• Inclusive education addressing social differences: material (class, locale), corporeal (age, race, sex and sexuality, and physical and mental characteristics) and symbolic (culture, language, gender, family, affinity and persona)
• Changing the balance of agency for a participatory culture and deeper democracy
• From one to many, to many to many: changing the direction of knowledge flows
• Beyond the traditional literacy basics: new media and synaesthetic meaning-making