The kickoff to the uLead 2015 conference was spectacular: over 800 educators at a great venue with Simon Breakspear and Abdul Chohan keynoting.

Simon focused on 3 keys for critical change:

Design Learning Futures
Embrace Radical Collaboration and
NEVER stop learning.

I am keen to reflect on this framework and see what else I can learn about the approach.

Now, how many times have we heard the “never stop learning” or “life long learners” messaging. The giant BUT is you HAVE to LIVE it – lip service doesn’t make the grade. Not only can we never stop learning, but we have to take things to the next level: connected learning, a commitment to sharing and making your thinking visible.

Are you up for the challenge?

I really enjoyed hearing Abdul’s story and appreciated the learnings he shared. Some personal highlights include:

theories of action do not equal a well understood vision
technology allows us to do things we just could not do before – in all walks of life. Why resist this in education?
go beyond substitution to redefine (#SAMR thinking)
leading change: build community, secure accountability, manage process, develop the people and secure with vision
Simple, reliable and equitable technology is ESSENTIAL
increasing planned coincidences
take it global
the challenge of taking the complex and making it simple

The highlighting of the easy button approach to technology really resonates with me. Complexity drives people away which means the flow between F2F, online, and digital resources is broken … the chance to do something that was not previously possible (#SAMR) is gone or at least unlikely. Simplicity, reliability, equitable access and sufficient bandwidth are requirements. I think this aligns with the ideas of Digital Inclusion.

Finally, a few tweets to give you a flavour of the learning and sharing. Check out the full stream at #ulead15.