Exciting Keynotes at World Learning Summit
Final Call: Submit your papers and register now!

This is your last chance to submit your scientific paper to LINQ and WLS: The call is still open until 15th of April 2017. “Don’t miss the opportunity to benefit from the extended deadline: Submit your paper and save your participation today!”, says Christian M. Stracke from the Open University of the Netherlands, LINQ chair and co-organizers of the summit. “We also emphasize the opportunity for PhD students to meet and engage with world thought leaders at the main summit and the PhD paper workshops”, says Oddgeir Tveiten from the University of Agder and WLS chair.
The Open Calls are available online at: www.worldlearningsummit.com/calls
Courtesy of the new relation between the World Learning Summit and the LINQ conference network, the June event in 2017 provides full scientific accreditation for scientific publications and extended abstracts in our Summit Proceedings recognized and approved by the Norwegian authorities as level 1 publication. The peer review board is a highly accomplished international network. Submitters will have their answer by May 1st. In the beginning of May the make-up of the sessions in the Academic track will be announced.
However, hotel space at our discounted rates will end in late April. It is strongly recommended to those who plan to attend to book their hotel rooms soon, as the hotel space cannot be guaranteed beyond April 30th 2017. At this point, the conference organizers are still holding about 200 hotel rooms.
Please review the registration page with all details here: www.worldlearningsummit.com
New names on WLS keynote and speaker list
As the keynote and speaker list now expands, WLS 2017 offers an event of the highest order to meet and discuss latest learning innovations. The World Learning Summit will highlight the challenge of Open Educational Resources in an age of accelerated development of new learning technologies. WLS 2017 is organized in collaboration between the University of Agder (Norway), the Norwegian Business School, the Open University of the Netherlands and the Stanford University HStar Institute. Speakers will address the future of Higher Education in a digital age, challenges in North-South cooperation, media-rich pedagogy as well as organizational and societal transformations as schools and higher education poise themselves to meet the digital future.
WLS 2017 is excited to announce top-ranking keynote speakers: Our opening keynote speaker is Cathy Casserly, a pioneer in this area and formerly the CEO of Creative Commons.
And the afternoon keynote on the first conference day will be given by Sir John Daniel and Stamenka Uvalic-Trumbic, both of whom have a long-standing role in UNESCO´s work with global education. Sir Daniel has for a long time now been a MOOC pioneer. As world-known innovators, Sir Daniel and Ms. Stamenka Uvalic-Trumbic influenced the development of high quality and equity Open Education for all worldwide.
The latest speaker to be confirmed for our plenary program is Joseph Press, the CEO of Center for Creative Leadership in Switzerland. Mr. Press is also adviser to the President of Switzerland. His keynote will address the future challenges of learning in a digitalized work life. That event will take place on June 8th, the second conference day, followed by a high-level roundtable panel to discuss educational aspects relating to it. Professor Donna Kidwell from the University of Texas will curate the session. Professor Kidwell is one of our returning participants. She is also heavily involved in the education sessions at the annual South by South-west festival, in Austin, Texas.
In addition, WLS 2017 is pleased to announce Brian Magerko as speaker on several events during the summit. Professor Magerko will demonstrate a number of learning innovations being explored in his research lab at Georgia Tech, the leading Institute of Technology in Atlanta, USA.
Among the companies to host workshops WLS now announces WeVideo, a company headquartered in Silicon Valley but with a start-up history from Oslo, Norway. Currently, their collaborative video tools engage about 14 million users worldwide.
And as usual, the event will be co-hosted by the Hstar Institute at Stanford University, courtesy of Executive Director Keith Devlin. Mr. Devlin has been a returning host to these conferences since 2013. He was also the Stanford host at our 2015 event, on the beautiful Stanford campus, drawing 200 participants from across the world. Mr. Devlin will host several events during the summit.
Global and Nordic perspectives at World Learning Summit
WLS 2017 is happy to announce the presence and plenary presentation of the emergent Nordic EdTech Alliance, by CEO of EdTech Sweden Jannie Jeppeson. Stakeholders in the Nordic region have since 2013 presented updates in the Nordic EdTech industry, shaping software and services for education at all levels.
Several of these stakeholder groups are now moving towards the establishment of a Nordic EdTech alliance, to be presented at the World Learning Summit in June. Blair Stephenson from the University of Oulu (Finland) will participate in this segment together with Eilif Trondsen who has been one of the principal architects behind the Nordic EdTech Alliance.
A feature during our WLS 2017 program will be the highlight of Future Learning Technologies emerging in the Nordic Region. In 2016, WLS staged about 40 EdTech companies, as part of an ongoing project. This year, WLS 2017 is inviting established EdTech companies and start-ups to set up stands and posters, as well. The World Learning Summit website will feature virtual stands for those interested. This will be curated by Professor Derek Woodgate – a well-known futurist, artist and curator.
A conversation with keynote speaker Cathy Casserly

“I was part of this summit in 2016 and look forward to coming back”, says Cathy Casserly, associate researcher at the Institute for the Future in California. Ms. Casserly is slated to give the opening keynote on June 7th, where she will address the past and present of Open Education Resources. Her keynote will be commented by Professor Ola Erstad from the University of Oslo.
“The organizers have succeeded in shaping a community of returning scholars from a range of countries. The event was great in 2016, and it looks even better this year”, Cathy Casserly underlines.
Ms. Casserly was one of the principal organizers of our 2015 event, labeled Future Learning 2020 and co-hosted by the online education provider EdCast, home in Silicon Valley. “I think the Nordic region has a lot to offer in terms of developments and insights into future learning technology”, Ms. Casserly ADDS
Join the World Learning Summit and submit your contributions: The Call for Scientific Papers is open now, see all details here: www.worldlearningsummit.com/calls
All details about the World Learning Summit 2017 here: www.worldlearningsummit.com