No such thing as bad weather

The Norwegians have a saying: 'There is no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing'. Well, I must have bad clothing then, because I arrived rather damp and bedraggled this morning after a trek across Oslo to reach the EDEN Conference which started today. Even with my umbrella (the obligatory item all Brits carry with them at all times) it was hard to fend of the precipitation. We are on the University of Oslo main campus which is situated in a lovely wooded area to the west of the city. It would of course be most wonderful if the weather had behaved itself, but no, at the moment, it is decidedly moist, to put it mildly. Not to worry, there are many great people here at the conference. Just about every second person is a familiar face in the world of e-learning and distance education.

They say Norway is one of the richest countries in Europe, and I don't doubt it. The taxi drivers must be some of the richest in the country. I got stung £120 for my taxi fare from the airport to my hotel last night. Perhaps it was silly season. It's a good job I'm fabulously rich and only have a wife, two kids and Manchester United to support, otherwise I'd be staying out on the streets.

I'm looking forward to the conference here in Oslo. There are keynotes from amongst others, Sugata Mitra and Sir Ken Robinson, and the theme of the event, 'The Joy of Learning' seems apposite especially as everyone here is looking a little weathered and rain soaked at the moment. Things can only improve, and I am sure they will. More blog posts from the conference later today and tomorrow. The official hashtag to follow is #edenoslo.

Photos by Steve Wheeler

Land of the midnight sun

I'm very much looking forward to taking part in the EDEN Conference in Oslo between June 12-15 this year. Last year I was unable to attend EDEN, due to pressure of work. This time I made sure I would have the time, by blocking out my diary for the conference week. I'm glad I did. I have been given the honour of being invited to chair the keynote sessions of Sugata Mitra and Sir Ken Robinson, and to moderate a debate between them both on the future of education. Sir Ken will be speaking live via satellite from the USA and Sugata will be present at the conference in Norway.

Alongside a great team of people, I will also be live blogging and tweeting throughout the event, and may even get some time to interview some of the delegates, speakers and organisers. Watch this space to read my own blog posts, as well as those of the rest of the EDEN blogging team over the next few weeks in the lead up to the conference, and then during the event itself.

I'm looking forward to seeing Norway again, and my first visit to Oslo, especially during the time when the nights are at their lightest. It's always difficult to sleep in the land of the midnight sun, where in mid summer the night skies are so bright and the sun never seems to fully set. But I intend to spend as much time as possible awake anyway, so I can enjoy the conference and spend as much time learning as much as I can. If you are going to EDEN this year, I hope we bump into each other. If not, stay in touch through the EDEN conference website, to watch the live streaming, and watch this space for news, views and reports.

Photo by Marcus Ramberg on Fotopedia
This post is mirrored on Learning with 'e's


Land of the midnight sun by Steve Wheeler is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.