Presentation at annual European Association for Distance Teaching Universities (EADTU), The Online, Open and Flexible Higher Education Conference, Milton Keynes, UK, 26th October, 2017.

1. Walking the Talk of Innovation:
Re-envisioning the Future - Online
Professor Mark Brown
Director, National Institute for Digital Learning
Milton Keynes, UK
26th October 2017

3. 1. Education in change
2. Education for change
3. Education for better futures
Outline….

5. 1. Education in change

7. In 1976…
89% market share

9. The Language
of Disruptive
Innovation

11. “Digital
transformation
should be in
the service of
big ideas,
not as a big idea
in itself”
(adapted from Barnett, 2011)

12. 2. Education for change

14. http://dcufuse.ie

18. www.discourse.org

22. Academic
Staff
22%
Alumni
8%
External
Guests
10%
Postgrad
Student
5%
Undergrad
Student
24%
Professional
Staff
31%
Who took part…
21 Countries
Average Time
on Platform:
74 minutes

23. 56%
67%
70%
72%
78%
78%
84%
I felt comfortable expressing my opinion and
providing input to an online discussion forum
Participating in DCU Fuse was a good use of my
time
I understood how the conversations related to
aspects of the strategic planning process at DCU
The platform is a good way to solicit views and allow
large groups of people to contribute to debates
The topics covered a wide range of areas within the
university in a transparent manner
I found using DCU Fuse to be an interesting
experience
The conversation topics were relevant to my work/
study/ activity at DCU

28. 3. Education for better futures

29. “All education springs from images of the future and all
education creates images of the future. Thus all
education, whether so intended or not, is a preparation
for the future. Unless we understand the future for
which we are preparing we may do tragic damage to
those we teach.”
(Toffler, 1974).

33. Conclusion…
What are the
big ideas that
new models of higher
education should serve?

34. “A prudent question is one-half of wisdom”
Francis Bacon