"Learning from the Future" Symposium
This third symposium, conceived and organized by the Center for Support of Pedagogical Innovations (CSIP), was held on October 12 and 13 at the University of Montpellier. Here’s a look back at this must-attend event on educational transformation in higher education, which brought together more than a hundred national and international experts.
At this event, the CSIP brought together a group of key stakeholders from various backgrounds, continuing a collective discussion that began in 2018. Thisthird symposium was held on October 12 and 13 at the University of Montpellier. The program included plenary sessions, workshops, futuristic brainstorming sessions, and roundtable discussions led by more than 30 high-level speakers and experts. Over a hundred Professors, students, decision-makers, educational engineers, EdTech professionals, and others gathered to reflect on educational trends and envision future prospects following a crisis that has shaken up the entire higher education sector.
“This event provides an opportunity to reflect on 10 years of educational transformation and on a crisis that has revealed as many needs as it has creativity and opportunities. Over the course of these two days, we have been able to think and imagine together what the university of 2031 will look like,” emphasizes Mireille Brangé, Coordinator of the National Acceleration Strategy for Education and Digital Technology at the General Secretariat for Investment (SGPI), who opened the symposium alongside Philippe Augé, President of the University of Montpellier, and Anne-Sophie Barthez, Director General of Higher Education and Professional Integration at the Ministry of Higher Education and Research (MESRI).
Brand-new workshops
The team at the Center for Educational Innovation, in collaboration with the Louvain Learning Lab, the Catholic University of Lille, and the National Center for Arts and Crafts, has proposed several new workshop sessions focused on three main themes that outline the key stages of educational transformation from 2010 to 2031. “The goal is to learn from the past 10 years, examine teaching and student practices, and identify the various challenges in order to generate relevant questions for the next 10 years , ” explains Brigitte Lundin, Director of the CSIP at the University of Montpellier.
Better prepare for the future
Teachers and students from all over France shared their experiences in the classroom during the health crisis. “Beyond the initial shock and uncertainty, what we want is to work together to identify various educational initiatives so that we can learn all the lessons from the crisis we’ve just been through,” explains Jean-Patrick Respaut, Vice President for Academic Affairs at the University of Montpellier. “We want to be better prepared for the future and avoid finding ourselves in the same unprepared situation we all faced.”
Finally, graphic facilitators helped bring to life a massive summary of the futuristic brainstorming workshops. These creative sessions energized the group’s work and sparked innovative ideas about the future of higher education, with all its challenges and transformations. These two days of reflection and discussion concluded with a roundtable on international perspectives and future directions.“The future is here, and it starts now!” concluded Brigitte Lundin. See you next time in 2022.