This year the Islands of Innovation was a day of discovery in innovation, learning and global collaboration through the ethos of playful learning. Plunging into interactive sessions, connecting across cultures, and co-creating the future of education. 2025’s Islands of Innovation event, themed Theme Park of Innovation, aimed to connect educators, educational developers, and learning technologists worldwide. Sessions featured varying levels of interaction, networking opportunities, and relaxed downtime.
Hosted once again by the University of Liverpool’s Centre for Innovation in Education (CIE) and Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University’s Educational Development Unit (EDU), alongside other institutions, the event builds on the success of previous conferences: Intergalactic islands of Innovation (2023) and Deep Sea Islands of Innovation (2024). It featured a day-long series of events within the online SpatialChat platform to ensure global inclusivity, accommodating different time zones in a collaborative festival of higher education learning and teaching.
Keynote
The Playful University by Professor Rikke Toft Nørgård and Professor Nicola Whitton.
The Playful University brings together philosophy and play theory to explore menaces to modern universities and how we might rethink and reconfigure higher education using play and playfulness to create better institutions and environments for staff and students.
For more information, please see the Keynote page.
Sessions and Activities
This year’s Theme Park featured synchronous, live sessions (15/30 minutes), as well as asynchronous activities to be explored at your own pace.
Synchronous
- Rollercoaster and rides - This is your chance to offer a ride to your participants in any of your educational adventures. Will this be an exhilarating, adrenalin-boosting rollercoaster ride or a gentle one? Completely up to you.
- Storybook village - Involve others in your story of innovation in higher education. You can choose to present live or present a poster or digital story in the storybook village Padlet, but make sure you include active, playful learning for participants.
- Futurisma - Can you engage participants in the future of higher education? Topics could include GenAI, immersive technologies, assessment design, and more.
- Monkey mischief - Be disruptive and playful; what big changes would you like to make to higher education without boundaries?
Asynchronous
- Enchanted forest - Help participants find some alone time to stop and wonder at the stars. Invite them on a meditative journey to escape from the hustle and bustle of the theme park and reclaim your work/life balance!
- Hall of mirrors - Help participants to find their way as they reflect on their professional role in higher education. Can you help them escape the maze?
- Food court - Add to our networking space promoting fusion, reinvention, nostalgia, togetherness and innovation in education.
- Gift shop - what ‘gift’ will participants take away from today? Add a postcard idea that they can use for reflection and help us evaluate the event.
Resources
Below is a collection of resources on Padlet from Theme Park of Innovation 2025:
Accessible version: Theme Park of Innovation 2025 Padlet.
For more information on taking part in future similar events, contact cie@liverpool.ac.uk.
Back to: Centre for Innovation in Education