World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE) 2017, Doha
Report by +SocialGood Connector Lovisa Fhager Havdelin
“Co-exist, Co-create: Learning to live and work together” is the theme of this year’s WISE Summit, one of the world’s leading education conferences.
At WISE, teachers, decision makers, and experts from all areas of the public and private sector meet to exchange experiences and ideas with each other. I had the honor to be invited to the conference this year, which has given me a lot of new ideas and perspectives to take home with me. The conference began ceremoniously with a royal presence. Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser encouraged all participants to make this year’s theme co-existence (a word I really like!) a central part of the discussion and to be inspired by it, while also emphasizing that education is the key to enhancing co-existence.
Under the heading ‘Education in a Post-Truth World’ (post-truth became Oxford Dictionary’s Word of the Year in 2016) the event discussed today’s post-truth and fake news, as well as the struggle between ideology, objectivity and emotion. Educational staff all over the world is facing the challenge of handling information flows in the classroom at the same time as strengthening human rights and acts of solidarity.
CNN journalist and author Fareed Zakaria argued that Donald Trump likes to portray himself as a unique leader but that this is a trend, which can be seen in other countries too: for example in Germany and Sweden. Political leaders are representing divided societies rather than united ones, and we are undergoing a phase of redefining how we see ourselves politically. A dangerous and worrying development, of course!
The term “Fake news” was discussed in many of the seminars. WISE presented a survey of how often Internet users critically engage with the information they find on social media and found that a quarter of the respondents rarely or never do. Information will always be biased and it is of great importance that we as readers/listeners apply a critical understanding to the information we engage with. This is especially important when someone offers a simple solution to a complex problem. Thus, it is crucial to remember is that difficult and complex problems are rarely easily solved.
People love confirmation bias, and as Fareed Zakaria declared on stage, education must challenge this and represent critical thinking. Within education we must, however challenging it might be, get used to questioning our own presumptions and beliefs. I agree and hope that through my work as a +SocialGood Connector and the Secretary General at the Order of the Teaspoon can inspire students and teachers to raise questions and create dialogue on complex topics.
