Duke University will host the Future of Learning Conference, an event that seeks to close the gap between the digital world and the traditional classroom setting. The April 19-21 conference, which hopes to spark dialogue by bringing together educators, public officials, and intellectuals, will address the fact that while technology has impacted nearly every aspect of our lives, the classroom remains unchanged. "There's an incredibly energetic, rich way of learning at home, and then kids go to school and it's standardized," says event coordinator Cathy Davidson. "But the education in formal learning environments can be as exciting as what they're learning at home." The conference's keynote address will be given by former Xerox chief scientist John Seely Brown, a supporter of collaborative education and learning tools that engage students rather than treating them as a passive observer. "With every new piece of technology, to make this technology work, you have to change your teaching practices," says Seely Brown. "Part of it is (thinking about) how to go from sage on the stage to being a real mentor." On the conference's final day, several "digital visionaries" will convene to discuss topics including universal access and intellectual property. "People who are learning in an Internet age are leaning in different ways," says Davidson. "If you were born after 1991, you don't know there was another way of doing things." The event is part of an international conference on the humanistic aspects of technology put together by Duke's Humanities, Arts, Science Technology Advanced Collaboratory (HASTAC).
