Audience at the Dare to Learn event. Photo: Petri Anttila / Dare to Learn

Learning is the new black

– the new intrepid Dare to Learn event attracted learning enthusiasts in Helsinki

On September 5–6, 2017, the sold-out learning event Dare to Learn gathered together the learning professionals from research, teaching and business worlds as well as a huge amount of learning enthusiasts at the Cable Factory in Helsinki. The Finnish Union of University Professors was one of the event partners.

The two-day event provided an excellent serving of vision work, hard facts, and workshops related to learning. In the event, we were told success stories and we saw a pitching competition for younger talents. In the workshops organized by the partners, one could, for example, encode music, think about the impact of digitalisation on higher education, and explore virtual reality. The international and domestic top-level speakers both praised the fresh and energetic atmosphere of the student-driven event.

The keynote speakers of the event included, among others, Director of the Executive Office of the Education Sector at UNESCO Headquarters, Svein Østveitt, CEO of Sanoma Learning, John Martin, Minister of Education of Finland, Sanni Grahn-Laasonen, Director General of the Finnish National Agency for Education, Olli-Pekka Heinonen, the CEO of Paths to Math Ltd, Maarit Rossi, and professor of educational psychology from the University of Helsinki, Kirsi Lonka.

Dare to Learn Workshop. Photo: Oona Pohjolainen / Dare to Learn

An equal opportunity for everybody to learn is the trump card of the superpower of learning

Professor Kirsti Lonka stressed that the challenges regarding education and the changing work life are the same all over the world, in Finland as in China.

Lonka stressed also that Finland holds several success factors. In addition to the free education, we have a long tradition of educating bilingual children. The importance of multilingualism increases due to globalization.

• The education level of teachers in Finland is the highest in the world. Even today, I have young international students, who want to receive a Finnish teacher training.
• Our study curriculum includes music, arts, crafts, exercise. Modern brain studies indicate that movement and creativity in particular activate the brain and assist in learning.

Maarit Rossi, the CEO of Paths to Math Ltd. Picture: Elissa Jokela

Dare to Learn Kirsi Lonka, professor of educational psychology/University of Helsinki. Photo: Elissa Jokela/ Dare to Learn

---