Festival of Education 2020 | The future of education

In an age where technology is constantly shaping our environment, “How do we integrate new technologies into daily teaching?” becomes a pressing question for all educators. This year, Wellington College China will take on the theme ‘The future of education’ for our fifth annual Festival of Education, exploring how we can make the best educative use of technologies from the Artificial Intelligence (AI) era to help students learn and adapt to the future of society.

AI, big data, 5G technology – many would agree the 21st century has been marked by a mass panic that humans could be replaced by AI and other such technologies.

Educators are like gardeners, and in an age where technology is constantly shaping and transforming our environment, an educator’s role to nurture students with care and ensure they grow and flourish in the best environment is even more crucial.

Schools are often behind other industries in terms of adapting to technological trends. Subsequently, their practices and pedagogies can be out of date.

Recent research informs that incorporating technologies like smart campuses and online classes can have a huge impact on schools. As educators this has prompted us to reflect on whether our current facilities and mode of teaching best benefit students.

As our capability with personal technology develops, it follows that there is greater pressure on us and fellow educators to move with the times and rethink how they can integrate new technologies into daily teaching. In the Digital Age, technological integration is no longer limited to teaching facilities alone, but also infrastructure for new schools that have been designed from the ground up, so new campuses are compatible with the latest technologies. 

This, however, calls into another question – how do we integrate and strike a balance between human effort and technology without affecting the quality of our education?

Wellington College China

In light of this, Wellington College China has chosen to explore ‘The future of education’ as the theme for our fifth annual Festival of Education, to examine how we can integrate technologies from the AI era into our teaching to help students learn and adapt to the future of society.

From 11-18 April, leading experts from around the world will gather together at our Shanghai, Hangzhou, and Tianjin campuses. Rounds of meaningful discussions relating to ‘The future of education’ will surely inspire and facilitate the exchanging of ideas.

The Wellington College China Festival of Education encourages participants to speak freely and reflect proactively on educational topics. Instead of focusing on lecturing, throughout the festival we hope to provide a platform for participants to learn, share, explore, connect, and improve.

During last year’s festival, 40 expert speakers came to deliver 150+ presentations, talks, and workshops at our Shanghai, Hangzhou, and Tianjin campuses following five distinct themes: Early Years, Wellbeing, ‘A Developing Romance,’ Exploring Education, and Multilingualism. These themes allowed the most relevant questions and pressing challenges facing modern education to be explored. Attendees were encouraged to exchange ideas and appreciate the pace at which modern education is evolving.

The Wellington College China Festival of Education originates from the Festival of Education held by Wellington College in England. Since its inauguration in October 2015, the China Festival has enjoyed similar success. Large numbers of participants attend this annual event to take part in workshops and conversations that relate to the biggest and most important questions facing modern education.

The evolution of education is a process that is constantly being revised, reviewed, and renewed, and the festival of Education aims to remain a relevant and effective part of that process. We hope the Festival will show the same positive development every year, and experts from around the world can gain insights and observe trends in the industry together through this very special platform.

The fifth annual Wellington College China Festival of Education will take place at our Shanghai, Hangzhou, and Tianjin campuses on 11-12 April, 12-13 April, and 18 April 2020 respectively.

As a benchmark international education event the festival is open to the public and welcomes attendees from all walks of life who care about the education industry and identify with the Wellington values.

Pre-sale tickets are open until 31 December 2019 – book your tickets soon!

The Festival of Education offers exhibition opportunities to external social and educational organisations. Interested parties can choose from holding a showcase to partaking in various forms of commercial collaboration. Through this festival Wellington College China hopes to provide a platform for fellow educators and professionals in the community to connect, interact, and help shape the industry for the future.

For collaboration enquiries, please contact:

tianjin@festivalofeducation.cn

shanghai@festivalofeducation.cn

hangzhou@festivalofeducation.cn