Agile in Education USA hosts the 2nd Agile in Education Global Virtual Conference: Transforming Education through Innovative Solutions
The 2nd Agile in Education Global Virtual Conference: Transforming Education through Innovative Solutions organized and hosted by Agile in Education USA (AiEUSA) was held on March 18 – 20, 2021 at 7 – 11 PM Bangladesh time. The conference was well attended with more than 800 registrants from more than 50 countries, including USA, Canada, UK, Germany, Australia, Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, Singapore, Nigeria, Ireland, India, Bangladesh, South Africa, Turkey, Belgium, Brazil, Argentina, Russia and Peru etc.
Noble Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus was present as the chief honorary guest speaker on the third day of the conference. Professor Yunus, in his speech, stated that our traditional education system lacks field-based training requiring our perspective to shift from a bird's eye view towards a worm's eye view. The Noble Laureate also stressed the importance of transformation in that the traditional system produces job seeking graduates while we require nurturing of independent thinkers or entrepreneurs. Other distinguished speakers were Jorge Luis Castro Toribio, Board Member of HBR Advisory Councils, and an Agile Coach and Kirsten Franklin, author, international transformation coach, and a global speaker.
Professor Hana Siddiquee, the founder of AiEUSA and the Conference Chair, mentioned in her opening speech that this conference was the result of the true passion and efforts of individuals who eagerly came on-board to launch this novel concept in Bangladesh for the first time. These pioneers and the pillars of AiE in Bangladesh are the Grand Sponsor United International University (UIU) and co-Sponsors North South University (NSU) and Independent University Bangladesh (IUB). Facilitations from Professor Dr. Khawza Iftekhar Uddin Ahmed from UIU, Professor Dr. Nazmun Nahar from NSU and Mr. Obydullah Al Marjuk from IUB were acknowledged. The partner at AiEUSA and the conference Co-Chair, Dr. Nehreen Majed, Associate Professor at University of Asia Pacific, Bangladesh iterated the importance of shifting to Agile mindset in the classroom environment. She is currently applying the Agile concept in Engineering courses in Bangladesh.
The 2nd Agile in Education Global Virtual conference ignited the necessity of adapting the Agility in Education while demonstrating the successful application of Agile teaching and learning towards transforming education across the globe; and the importance of embracing the novel teaching and learning method, the Agile mindset. The conference brought distinguished innovators, pioneers, change makers and global speakers under the umbrella and explored innovative solutions to the struggles in traditional teaching learning approaches.
Throughout a span of 3 days of the conference, keynote speeches were presented by the guest speakers Mr. Jef Staes, Innovation Expert, Global Speaker, Founder of Red Monkey Company; Dr. Vijay Kanabar, Professor and Program Director of Project Management, Boston University and Dr. Terri E. Givens, Founder, Brighter Higher Ed. In addition, speakers from all across the globe presented basic and applied concepts of Agile and the need for transformation in different levels of education.
A large number of participation from the sponsoring universities of Bangladesh in the conference is a positive indication that the conference will pave the way towards bringing the Agile Teaching and Learning Concepts in Bangladesh in the coming days.