The Deep Learning Lab 2017

The Learner First team was in Toronto for the New Pedagogies for Deep Learning (NPDL) Global Deep Learning Lab, which brought NPDL participants and other education leaders from around the world together to push our thinking and deepen our collective learning. The event offered a chance for a range of education and thought leaders to learn from one another’s practice and ideas, and then take that learning home to further their work with deep learning in their own local contexts.

Highlights from the three-day Deep Learning Lab included presentations from NPDL’s Global Directors – Joanne McEachen, Michael Fullan and Joanne Quinn – as well as speakers such as Daan Roosegaarde, a Dutch artist, designer and innovator; Alan November, a teacher and leader with a passion for technology; Hannah Alper, a 13-year-old who is already changing the world, and Marc Chun, who brought insights into deeper learning from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.

Additional sessions were led by NPDL participants from each of its Clusters of schools (Australia, Canada, Finland, Netherlands, New Zealand, United States, Uruguay), who shed light on how deep learning is making a difference in the lives of students, teachers, school leaders, parents and community members on a global scale. Participants spoke in depth about NPDL as a journey, one which they are confident will make a difference in the lives of learners and in turn prepare them to make a difference in the world.

The Learner First’s commitment to this journey reflects our belief in the importance of identifying and measuring the outcomes that really matter for learners – those which support every learner to develop the hope, capacity, purpose and sense of place so necessary in understanding who they are and how their learning can help them, and those around them, grow.

Our thanks to the entire NPDL team for their continued work with deep learning, and their continued commitment to the learner.