Children and Young People Festival of Research

The Children and Young People Network at Oxford Brookes University is hosting a Festival of Research for Year 9 students and their teachers. The purpose of the event is to increase young people’s understanding of research and its relevance to their lives now and in the future. We also want to hear what students think should be the key priorities for research that can help to shape a better future for children and young people.

• A keynote lecture will inspire radical and exciting thinking about how technology will shape what it means to go to school in the future.
• Exhibitions and interactive activities will allow students to meet researchers and find out about some of the cutting edge research going on across the University.
• Discussion groups will provide an opportunity to discuss key issues locally, nationally and internationally for young people in 2023.

Virtual Learning, or Virtually Learning: How will technology shape what it means to go to school in the future?
In the festival lecture, Dr Patrick Alexander will explore what the future of education might look like, with a particular focus on technology. Technology has always had a role in changing what education looks like, from early humans learning to make stone axes, through to writing tools, the printing press, books, and more recently, computer technology. During the pandemic we have learned to adapt to new technologies as virtual learning became a normal part of people’s everyday lives at school. But what’s next? Will we soon start going to school in virtual reality, or augmented reality, in the metaverse? Will AI bots help us to do our homework? Will you be able to build your own school in online settings like Roblox or Minecraft? After posing these questions and getting you thinking, Patrick will lead an interactive workshop where you can share your most creative and exciting ideas about what the future of education might look like.