What if learning technologists ruled the world?

This was the question that Professor Gilly Salmon asked at her presentation at ALT-C in Leeds yesterday. Now I'm a bit of a fan of Gilly's work as a pioneer in the field of collaborative online distance learning. She stands out as an academic who's able to communicate in simple terms to a wide audience, with the pragmatism and common sense that can only be acquired through practice. And she has a new book coming out soon on podcasting, although now I'm beginning to sound like a chat show host.

In Gilly's current role, she's exploring learning futures, hence the question that she posed in her presentation. Well, here's some of the ideas that were fed back to her by the primarily academic audience:

What if ...

• there weren't any universities?
• teachers were required to be creative in the way they approached their students?
• excellence in teaching were rewarded?
• learners were allowed to play more?
• universities and schools were less independent and shared resources better?
• educational establishments had to innovate?
• teachers let go and allowed learners to direct the learning experience?
• universities realised that they didn't own their students?
• learning technologists actually helped each other?

Apologies that these suggestions are not credited and that I probably missed a few.

A recurring theme in this list and in my conversations at the conference in general was how decentralised and uncoordinated activity appeared to be for educational technologists working in the educational sector. I can see how decentralisation can be seen as a positive attribute when applied to teaching, which has of course been the principle activity of educational establishments, but less so when applied to design and development, especially of learning content. No one establishment seems to have the time, money or expertise to develop the world-class content that we need to solve the educational problems shared by millions. Surely there is a call here for the sort of money that only governments can call upon, to bring together the very best expertise available anywhere to take projects of this sort ahead with passion and without compromise. Great work can be achieved by cottage industries but not always on the scale needed to solve problems of global proportion.