Sharjah, UAE.

I enjoyed my time in Sharjah, UAE speaking at a major conference, and then delivering a ‘taster’ workshop. The campus here is fantastic; full of higher education instututions, an oasis of space, greenery and learning. It is really great to meet people who are passionate about education, and busy designing new types of learning experiences for their students. It is also such a pleasure for me to sit and listen to presentations of other lecturers: the variety of topics was amazing.

The last time I was here was probably 13 years ago when I was asked to train the staff at the Coral Beach Resort here by Martin Kolb the Manager at that time. I met him when I was delivering an Executive Management programme at the Intercontinental Hotel in Nairobi! Sharjah has changed a great deal since then. The hotel I am in sadly doesn’t have a swimming pool, but in the spirit of reframing I managed to get a lot of work done! This is especially so as I received an e-mail whilst out here from Wiley Publishing, US, asking me to write a chapter on the current influences of Dewey on experiential education and experiential learning. So yes I have been the only one here reading at breakfast, sitting outside at the roadside tables with a coffee doing more reading and making a lot of notes, and then doing the same on the plane whilst everyone watches films! It is rewarding to get so much pleasure from learning. Charles Handy said that ‘those who are in love with learning are in love with life’. Hmmmmm.