The third open-class of Tavistock Chair in Social Science for Education and Change at UNIR University will take place on November 30th.

This is one of the joint activities between the Tavistock Institute of Human Relations (TIHR) and UNIR Research as part of the Tavistock Chair. As in previous open-classes, we will introduce an additional layer to the dialogues about dynamics of evaluation that were previously held as part of the Food for Thought lunchtime talk series at our office in London.

In our commitment to broaden the reflexion on the dynamics of evaluation, we are directly exploring the opportunities and challenges of the digital society. Eliat Aram, Dione Hills and Kerstin Junge will present the open-class on ‘Handling complexity‘. By adding digital tools to the reflection about complexity and evaluation, we include new possibilities of emergence, enabling new and complex interactions, ideas, reflection and learning.

If you want to join this dialogue, we will be delighted to explore reflections and experiences with you. You can register here.

Digital society: emergence, innovation and learning

We are sharing other aspects of the digital society and how learning may happen. We have been involved in a digital and face-to-face event in Madrid to analyse current opportunities and challenges of the digital society. 2015 Event on Digital Society and Education (in Spanish) led by the Telefónica-UNIR Chair (in Spanish) has presented a series of interesting and complementary presentations ranging from the digital anthropology to the role of neuroscience in the learning experiences.

Digital society is a relevant aspect to consider within the Tavistock tradition on socio-technical systems. Digital tools, frameworks and dynamics have significance for learning and innovation. Cristina Castellanos (TIHR Senior Researcher / Consultant) has presented an example on how citizenship is sometimes the driving force for change and how relevant digital society and education is for social innovation (in Spanish). The interaction across society, evaluators, researchers, organisations and policy-makers through physical and digital tools and frameworks has also been exposed through the example of the parental leave system. Bidirectional communication and reflection effect how learning, education and social innovation happen and will also be focused on in future presentations.

What do digital tools and frameworks mean for evaluation, learning and training? How does a digital society impact on education and change? How does the digital world impact on individual, group and organisations’ interactions? The Tavistock Institute and UNIR collaboration through the Tavistock Chair continues to explore and reflect on these and other aspects, as both institutions share the awareness on the increasing importance of digital tools, spaces and frameworks in organisational life and, thus, in the evaluation, research, professional development and education fields.

For further information on the Tavistock Chair in Social Science for Education and Change, please contact: Cristina Castellanos, Senior Researcher/ Consultant.