Big Ideas Fest 2013 Focuses on Future of Education

HALF MOON BAY, Calif. - Nov. 19, 2013 - PRLog -- Students, teachers, administrators, faculty, researchers, edupreneurs, and policymakers, will converge at the Big Ideas Fest (http://bigideasfest.org) in Half Moon Bay, December 4-7, hosted by ISKME (http://iskme.org), a non-profit education institute that pioneers open access learning technologies. During the event, these education mavericks – including this year, a delegation from Qatar – will work together in “Action Collabs” to design and prototype solutions to challenges in education, addressing one of this year’s topics: Learning Is Everywhere, Common Core, and Big Data.

Keynote speakers will feature Nolan Bushnell, founder of Atari and most recently education startup BrainRush, and Shiza Shahid, founder and director of the Malala Fund, which invests in communities that support the rights of girls to education.

The final day of the conference, on Saturday, Dec. 7, will showcase participant solutions and include an announcement about a new “Learning Challenge” partnership with GoPro, a leading maker of wearable video cameras to highlight education in action.

During the event, the “Big Ideas Fest Innovation in Action Award” will be given to an individual or organization whose project best embodies the ability to transform education through inspired and innovative action. This award – like ISKME, the host of Big Ideas Fest – emphasizes innovations in education, such as last year’s recipient, Nirvan Mullick who made a film called Caine’s Arcade, about a 9-year-old child who created an arcade from cardboard boxes, that went viral in ways that enabled others to create learning tools and resources on a global scale. Judges will also consider the potential global impact of the program as well as its accessibility to populations that are underserved.

Short talks by education innovators called “Rapid Fires” will take place Dec. 5 and 6 and feature diabetes-control toymaker Hannah Chung, founder of Sproutel; Mo Qayoumi, president of San Jose State University; Ali Partovi, cofounder of Code.org; and Gabrielle Lyon, cofounder of Project Exploration.

A Thursday evening Tweet-Up will feature an exchange on the future of education between Fest participants and Robert Scoble, well-known blogger and technology maven.

Financial sponsors and contributors to Big Ideas Fest 2013 include Qatar Foundation International, Adobe Youth Voices, Elkes Family Foundation, Next Generation Learning Challenges (NGLC), GoPro, KQED, and Roadtrip Nation. For more information and to register for the event, go to http://bigideasfest.org (http://www.bigideasfest.org).