Contents & Context of Deep Learning

At Microsoft’s Global Forum in Dubai (22nd Feb’15 – 23rd Feb’15), I was honoured to be a speaker in 3 sessions. The 2-day event was abuzz with insightful discussions, new pedagogies to adapt and availability of impactful resources for thoughtful integration of technology to enhance student learning experiences. The open-minded attitude of both the presenters and participants made the plenary sessions fruitful and meaningful.

Sharing you my experience, insights and key points from the session on Concepts & Contexts of Deep Learning :

The speakers, myself, Mamta Narula, Lyneth Crighton & Megan Rademeyer shared examples from their own classroom to demonstrate how personalized, blended and Project-Based Learning have been key strategies for promoting Deeper Learning in their classrooms.

I deliberately designed my session to be an interactive session as the participants had already attended 3 sessions since morning. Sensing the information overload, I knew  did an impromptu twist to my presentation. I set the stage by defining Deep learning and then began interacting with the audience. I began the session with a quote, ‘deep learning involves a critical analysis of ideas, linking them to already known concepts, principles and experiences which leads to personal understanding and long-term retention’. Then I picked up a pen and began questioning them on the basis of the pre-decided guidelines for preparing the learners for deep learning-deep thinking. If you are wondering what that looked like, here is a look at the guiding questions…

The participants slowly began to get involved from one table and then others picked up too. I had a very successful session where the participants were co-constructing understanding rather than just listening to information and then arriving at an understanding. I thoroughly enjoyed the session and was only happy to answer a plethora of questions at the end of the session.

Thank you Microsoft for such a wonderful opportunity.