Laureate Professor – School of Botany, University of Melbourne

Deep Conversation:
‘Is this the death of education and the dawn of learning?’ (November 16, 10.00am – 12.30pm)

Professor Clarke is Laureate Professor in the School of Botany at The University of Melbourne. She is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science, Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering, Foreign Associate of the National Academy of Sciences (USA) and Foreign Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a Fellow of Janet Clarke Hall in Melbourne. Professor Clarke was appointed as an inaugural Fellow (2007) of the American Society of Plant Biologists in 2007. She has also served as President of the International Society for Plant Molecular Biology (1997-1998).

She was appointed Officer in The Order of Australia in 1991 and Companion of the Order in 2004. She has served as Chairman of the CSIRO Board (1991-1996), Lieutenant Governor of Victoria (1997-2000), Ambassador for Biotechnology for Victoria (2001-2004) and on many State and Commonwealth Government committees.

Professor Clarke served as a Director on a number of public companies including Alcoa of Australia Limited (1993-96), Woolworths Limited (1994-2007), WMC Limited (1996-2005) and Fisher & Paykel Healthcare Limited (2002-2008). She recently retired as a Director of Hexima Limited, an Australian company that focuses on agricultural biotechnology.  She also serves on various advisory boards including the Australian Research Centre for Urban Ecology (ARCUE) (2004- ) and The Australian Advisory Board of The Nature Conservancy (2009- ).

USA, Partner IDEO, Professor Design Thinking at the d. School at Stanford University

Deep Conversation:
‘Is this the death of education and the dawn of learning?’ (Nov. 16, 10.00am – 12.30pm)
Afternoon Master Class:
‘Principles of Design Thinking’ (Nov. 16, 2.00 – 5.00pm)
Presentation:
‘The principles of design thinking and the power of play’ (Nov. 18, 3.40pm)

Brendan Boyle, a Partner at IDEO, is passionate about promoting entrepreneurial thinking. Throughout his career, Brendan has invented and licensed more than 150 consumer products, specializing in the design of kid-centric goods, services, and experiences. His background and interests led him to start Skyline, a toy development company that was acquired by IDEO and ultimately became IDEO’s Toy Lab. He also co-authored The Klutz Book of Inventions.

Beyond IDEO, Brendan works as a consulting Associate Professor at Stanford University’s Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford (a.k.a. the d.school), where he teaches “From Play to Innovation,” a course he created, and was named the Knight Favorite Professor. He serves on the Board of the National Institute for Play, a non-profit committed to bringing the knowledge, practices, and benefits of play into public life. Brendan holds a Master’s Degree from the Joint Program for Design at Stanford University and a Bachelor in Mechanical Engineering from Michigan State University.

ABOUT THE MASTERCLASS:

Principles of Design Thinking
This class will give attendees exposure to the principles of design
thinking. The core of IDEO’s methodology and it’s success has been through
IDEO’s continued focus and development of design thinking. Brendan will
conduct an interactive hands-on session illustrating these principles of
innovation.  The practice of design thinking employs a combination of needs,
problems, insights, opportunities, and rapid prototyping in order to
routinely innovate.

UK, One of the most influential academics in the field of technology and education globally

Deep Conversation:
‘Is this the death of education and the dawn of learning?’ (November 16, 10.00am – 12.30pm)
Presentation:
Making learning surprising (November 17, 11.30pm)

Stephen Heppell is an English educator who specialises in the use of ICT in education. He is a Professor at Bournemouth University, Chair in New Media Environments, Emeritus Professor Anglia Ruskin University, Visiting Professor University of Wales, Newport. Heppell is best known for his work at Ultralab, part of Anglia Polytechnic University. There, he worked on education projects such as “Learning in the New Millennium”, “Schools OnLine”, development of “Think.com” and “Talking Heads”.

In 2003, Heppell left UltraLab and is now CEO of the education consultancy firm, Heppell.net, a global and flourishing policy and learning consultancy which now has an enviable portfolio of international projects all round the world. Stephen is retained by a number of organisations to help with future policy and direction, including the BBC, as an Associate of KPMG, and is retained by the UK government in Horizon Scanning work to advise of future directions for educational policy.  Stephen is executive chairman of LP+ who are currently developing a Chinese language learning community for 20 million Chinese school students, in partnership with China’s Sun New Media corporation.

Stephen chairs the charity Inclusion Trust http://www.inclusiontrust.org/ with its flagship project for children excluded from school by behaviour or circumstances Notschool.net. Stephen was a founder board member for Teachers.TV – a UK public service TV and broadband channel for professional development of teachers.

“Europe’s leading online education expert” Microsoft 2006
“the most influential academic of recent years in the field of technology and education” (Department for Education and Skills – UK)
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