This was the year BVA went global. In partnership with Professor Stephen Heppell, Australia was proud to stage the first BVA held outside of the UK with Victoria’s Department of Education and Early Childhood Development hosting the event which featured 13 teams from around the country. Tagged Listen2Learners, BVA7 sent a strong message that students are authorities on their learning and adults need to listen.

Ingenious students once again raised the bar in terms of showing just how ambitious they are when learning with technology. Invited guests from the public, private and social sectors were in awe of the depth of inquiry being displayed, the extent of the traditional boundaries being crossed and the enormity of the challenges being overcome by ordinary students doing extraordinary things. Demonstrating a panorama of learning from the construction of virtual worlds to effortless international collaboration, these are students whose skills have developed in a learning environment that bears little resemblance to what we knew even five years ago.

There are big questions for those who want to be part of education and for those who might be employing today’s students tomorrow. With rich information, borderless collaboration and autonomous learning available whenever and wherever an internet connection exists, and with students given the keys to unlock it, we have a seismic shift occurring in education that will reverberate in all corners of society. Listen to learners or be very afraid.