The Islands of Innovation is back. Join us for a day of discovery in innovation, learning and global collaboration through the ethos of playful learning. Plunge into interactive sessions, connect across cultures, and co-create the future of education. 2025’s Islands of Innovation event, themed Theme Park of Innovation, aims to connect educators, educational developers, and learning technologists worldwide. Sessions will feature varying levels of interaction, networking opportunities, and relaxed downtime.
Hosted once again by the University of Liverpool’s Centre for Innovation in Education (CIE) and Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University’s Educational Development Unit (EDU), alongside other institutions, the event builds on the success of previous conferences: Intergalactic islands of Innovation (2023) and Deep Sea Islands of Innovation (2024). It will feature a day-long series of events within the online SpatialChat platform to ensure global inclusivity, accommodating different time zones in a collaborative festival of higher education learning and teaching.
Keynote
The Playful University by Professor Rikke Toft Nørgård and Professor Nicola Whitton.
The Playful University brings together philosophy and play theory to explore menaces to modern universities and how we might rethink and reconfigure higher education using play and playfulness to create better institutions and environments for staff and students.
For more information, please see the Keynote page.
Sessions and Activities
This year’s Theme Park will feature synchronous, live sessions (15/30 minutes), as well as asynchronous activities to be explored at your own pace.
Synchronous
- Rollercoaster and rides - This is your chance to offer a ride to your participants in any of your educational adventures. Will this be an exhilarating, adrenalin-boosting rollercoaster ride or a gentle one? Completely up to you.
- Storybook village - Involve others in your story of innovation in higher education. You can choose to present live or present a poster or digital story in the storybook village Padlet, but make sure you include active, playful learning for participants.
- Futurisma - Can you engage participants in the future of higher education? Topics could include GenAI, immersive technologies, assessment design, and more.
- Monkey mischief - Be disruptive and playful; what big changes would you like to make to higher education without boundaries?
Asynchronous
- Enchanted forest - Help participants find some alone time to stop and wonder at the stars. Invite them on a meditative journey to escape from the hustle and bustle of the theme park and reclaim your work/life balance!
- Hall of mirrors - Help participants to find their way as they reflect on their professional role in higher education. Can you help them escape the maze?
- Food court - Add to our networking space promoting fusion, reinvention, nostalgia, togetherness and innovation in education.
- Gift shop - what ‘gift’ will participants take away from today? Add a postcard idea that they can use for reflection and help us evaluate the event.
Send us a proposal
- Please submit your proposal via the Call for Proposals Form.
- The deadline for submissions: Friday 21 February 2025.
- Notification of acceptance: Friday 14 March 2025.
- Activity (and/or resource depending on session type: asynchronous/synchronous) submission deadline by Tuesday 22 April 2025.
- Event: Friday 9 May 2025, timings to be confirmed & time zone dependent.
Play and playful learning are essential to your proposal as well as alignment to one of the themes above.
Pre-registration
To register for the event, please use the Pre-registration Form.
For more information, please contact cie@liverpool.ac.uk.
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