Roel Simons
The Netherlands

Film Maker, Serious Videos

Roel Simons is a filmmaker and a change agent in education, urban planning and other fields. Combining his prior education as a youth worker and his degree from the Amsterdam Film Academy, he has developed unique skills to create real live learning situations, involving film and storytelling as a tool. Roel works with institutions, governments and companies to design simple, bottom-up, creative interventions within organizations and social communities, with the aim to help them unlock, enhance and/or accelerate the potential of participatory processes and collaborative learning. In the field of education, his company ‘Serious Video’ helps school directors and managers in education who struggle with the implementation of digital technologies and didactic innovation, by creating exciting visual methods and new learning concepts. ‘Journal of the Future’ is a strategic visual tool Roel Simons developed based on the principles of backcasting, systemic constellations and theory U. Participants envision a desired future and visualize the outcome of their strategy or business plan in a news item. Journal of the Future is a powerful way to come to grips with the possible future and the often surprising ways to get there. All his projects promote self-organization within the group of participants/students. Roel Simons is an active inspirator and motivator, and his methods are designed to support participant’s responsible action in real situations. His work with schools, companies and organizations has given shape to many co-creative projects that are a proof of the future of learning and social involvement. http://vimeo.com/5442916