Your invitation: ULearn Permission to Play

CORE Education's popular ULearn educators' conference is back for 2015, pushing the boundaries of educational possibility, and showcasing new technologies and innovative practice to improve teaching and learning.

The ULearn pre-conference this year, ULearn Permission to Play, focuses on the Maker culture. It's a great chance for those who want to learn new skills and explore what the Maker Movement is all about, but may have limited time or budget.

The best way to activate learning in the classroom is to have learners make something. That's why ULearn Permission to Play is providing the opportunity for beginners and maker enthusiasts to extend their maker knowledge and know-how.

The shift to 'making' in education represents the perfect storm of new technological materials, expanded opportunities, learning through first-hand experience, and the basic human impulse to create. It offers the potential to make classrooms more active, child-centered, relevant, and sensitive to each child's remarkable capacity for creativity and self-reliance.

"Even without access to expensive hardware, every classroom can become a makerspace where students and teachers learn together through direct experience with an assortment of high and low tech materials," says Derek Wenmoth, director of eLearning at CORE Education. "Whether the skills gained are for hobbies, or if they enable a career, both students and teachers will be better prepared for a future that values creativity and innovation.

ULearn Permission to Play is a chance for educators to immerse themselves in the makerspace world; creating games, coding websites, building 3D-printed robots, and exploring Minecraft and virtual reality, while developing the tools to take a maker mindset back to the classroom.

With multiple half-day and full-day workshop options, there is something to suit everyone's interests in this hands-on learning experience.

The opening plenary is facilitated by Mark Osborne from CORE Education, with Professor Jane Gilbert (AUT University) and Tim Carr (Mindkits) discussing makerspace drivers, the research, and what's to be gained for learners.

ULearn Permission to Play is on 6 October 2015 at Auckland's Crowne Plaza Hotel. Visit www.core-ed.org/permissiontoplay for more information and to register. The cost of ULearn Permission to Play is $250 (incl GST). There are discounts available for groups of 5+ and 10+ who register from the same school.