Keynoters

Play behavior for adults is generally considered elective, trivial or what one does after all responsibilities have been discharged. A close look at the millions of years of trial and error that have instilled play into our survival mechanisms, as well as a review of its necessity for overall human well being, innovation and adaptation will be presented. Illustrations of the many forms that constitute animal and human play throughout our lifetimes will be explored. The consequences of its deprivation and ways to recapture its benefits will also be discussed.

New technology allows us to think afresh, differently. When we put the first clunky old computers into schools the question was very much whether we could do anything properly useful with them, with their punch cards and monochrome displays. Now however, that technology has moved on to the point where technology offers us the ability to do almost anything we want, the big question that education faces worldwide is "well, just what exactly DO we want?", which is a better, but tougher, question to be facing." This closing keynote presentation explores that big question.