Good afternoon everybody.
I was actually invited to give a speech about my PhD.
I asked those who invited me,
"Are you really sure you want me to talk about my PhD?"
They said, "Yes."
I was like, "Do you want it to be interesting?"
They said, "Yes, yes we do."
I was like, "Let me think again."
I can tell you though that working on a PhD is not so exciting.
It's a lot of studying, it's a lot of reading,
it's a lot of writing,
and lately, it's a lot of time spent with my laptop.
So today, I'm going to talk about some issues behind my PhD,
and how to use online learning tools for higher education in fragile areas.
I'm going to talk about current learning technologies
- especially if we have good Internet access -
those smart, good tools that we are using on a daily basis,
and about how they could be used more effectively
in fragile areas for conflict prevention.
Let's start with a couple of stories and pictures.
What do you see in this picture here?
Do you see a kid? A child?
You surely see somebody swimming.
Do you see this as a learning experience
for somebody who's for the first time under water in the swimming pool?
Maybe.
At the same time, I see a little kid who's scared
because that's something new for him.
The kid is keeping his eyes open all the time,
because he doesn't know what is going to happen next.
No one really told him
that he should use swimming goggles
when he's swimming.
Let's go to the next one; what about this picture?
We see children again, happy ones.
They're maybe enjoying their school day as being part of their education.
Do you see leaders? Future leaders maybe?
Because those are going to be the kids who are going to be educated.
These are kids that are smart.
They maybe make some new innovations for the Cleantech.
Those might be the kids
who will actually find out answers for Europe's migration challenges.
Maybe, we'll see migration from Europe to these countries as well, in the future.
If you didn't see it like this, why is that?
Is it because they come from poorer backgrounds,
or maybe because they don't have access to electricity and education?
Think about that. Maybe that's why,
The truth of the matter is that we're surrounded
by conflict and violence in these affected areas
and more and more people, especially children and kids,
are affected by this.
The political situation is a little bit uncertain,
and the future doesn't seem so bright.
I know that people are working hard to help,
they're really trying to support these countries and their people,
find out a way to educate them.
find out a way to bring them clean water or food, in the future.
But the facts I've been commenting on are not so bright,
so I've been thinking that we should fill in these gaps somehow,
we should figure out smarter solutions to tackle these future challenges.
A smart man, Nelson Mandela, said that education is the most powerful weapon
we can actually use to change the world in the future.
Why is it so?
People in our society, on a daily basis,
go to school, enjoy education, get educated,
We have our goals,
and orientation to the world of work,
but we can also empower societies through education.
And this could also be in the future a solution
to conflicts and crises in fragile areas,
and one of the weapons or ways out of extreme poverty.
Like I said, I'm going to talk about online learning tools,
and then we jump into your experiences.
I am sure that all of us have our experiences
with learning management systems
as part of our school days, as part of our university days,
maybe as part of our work days.
Everyone has experienced them in one way or another,
and I've heard about a lot of challenges, as well.
There are always some log-in challenges - you cannot get access -
but at the same time, these systems are a very good tool for sharing documents
storing them, collecting data, or having a discussion.
They also bring communities around a certain system at the same time.
The challenge seem to be that those are complex systems.
People need access to education, like we do have, which is a good thing.
Meanwhile, those learning systems also need
somebody who is facilitating them on a regular basis.
But when you have this feeling
- when you need to hand in your essay, or return your working hours
no matter if it is a school or work day -
that you have a problem logging in,
you need to call somebody, you need to email somebody.
and it can take hours, maybe days, to get the right information back.
Hopefully, it is faster than that.
So there's a complexity issue
at the core of the learning management systems that we are currently using.
Despite that, we seem to be motivated to use our mobile devices.
I see here some people I can recognize.
We use to scroll on Twitter,
we like to check our Facebook status and talk with our friends on Facebook.
It's very easy to do so and a fast way to get access to videos.
You want to spend time with [inaudible];
you maybe use Dropbox or whatever.
You are motivated to use these online learning tools.
Actually, I call them online learning tools
because you're learning from them all the time.
At the same time,
I think that motivation is key in the learning process itself.
It's much better to be motivated to use technology,
it's much better to use the technology that you already know.
And at the same time,
these are the tools we currently use on a daily basis, globally.
So this is the question I introduced in the beginning,
"Are we maybe looking for something else
to tackle challenges that are globally present in fragile and conflict areas?
Should we maybe be matching these two things, ICT and good education.
to open up these opportunities for kids and children,
and higher education?
Especially now, when mobile devices are used more than ever before?
Maybe these could also be the answers
on how to tackle these challenges in the future.
Because in the end, I still think that despite complexity
- we've lots of complex issues in the world -
it seems that the right answers might be simpler:
somebody should talk to this kid
and tell him it's much more comfortable to wear swimming goggles
to avoid his eyes getting so red.
Thank you.
(Applause)