Just a quick note to respond to the idea that we have a responsibility to discuss the needs of the 21st centuru learner with the world at large. Iwas able to do so in my presentation to a group of elearning teachers, college faculty and ather educators I used the work of I an Jukes "Understanding Digital Kids" as the basis of the talk. The talk was well recieved in fact one of the individuals in the audience has asked me to give the same presentation to a different school board on April 18. I will take the opportunity as this can help to build the colaboartive network.
Jeff
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Presentation on Monday
Hi All
This post is a a bit of reflective planning for the presentation I am making to the consultants group at our school board on the 25 of February 2008. Wow 2008, one just has to consider some of the things that are going on and it is hard not to notice the efects of technolgy on every facet of our lives.
In my previous life as an oilfield completions specialist, technology provided the competitive edge that our company needed to gain a grasp on the market share that we were trying to carve out. In education the competitive drive does not exist as a revolutionary or disruptive force. In fact I find very little of the pressure and support we discuss to be driven by make meaningful change. In fact the giant and non-reactive nature of education provides very little impetus for change. The challenge around this is that the world is racing towards a collaborative, connected ecosystem that is reacting and reflecting the changes in our cultures on a global basis. The obvious fear then is that the diference in reactivity to change and between education with technologically deficient learning environmnet and the technologically rich living environment of the 21st century.hat mean to our students.
Stephen Heppel states that it causes our students to ramp down and lose in focus and interest in their education. I would argue that the survivors of this system are those who can operate with a system that can understand the benefits of just in case education.In fact the "successful" students are quite comfortable in an learning system that is reflective of a time prior to the rapid evolutionary changes brought about since the explosion of information and susequent evolution of the read/write web. The other students who, for better or for worse are a product of the disruptive forces they have been molded by to become just in time learners do not fit the mold of a time which no longer exists. The students are at risk of not succceeding in education...
What does this mean? Is education going to be the last bastion of a past which gave us cultural strife and hierarchical society to fulfill the needs of an industrial world or an organic flexible self regulating entity that has the ability to influence society by providing students to our communities that are aware of the challenges that are of their time....
I have to make this argument. Can you please comment on the strengths, and even more importantly weaknesses in my thinking so I can be prepared for the questions. The very fact that I recive responses will point out the value of the read write web.
This post is a a bit of reflective planning for the presentation I am making to the consultants group at our school board on the 25 of February 2008. Wow 2008, one just has to consider some of the things that are going on and it is hard not to notice the efects of technolgy on every facet of our lives.
In my previous life as an oilfield completions specialist, technology provided the competitive edge that our company needed to gain a grasp on the market share that we were trying to carve out. In education the competitive drive does not exist as a revolutionary or disruptive force. In fact I find very little of the pressure and support we discuss to be driven by make meaningful change. In fact the giant and non-reactive nature of education provides very little impetus for change. The challenge around this is that the world is racing towards a collaborative, connected ecosystem that is reacting and reflecting the changes in our cultures on a global basis. The obvious fear then is that the diference in reactivity to change and between education with technologically deficient learning environmnet and the technologically rich living environment of the 21st century.hat mean to our students.
Stephen Heppel states that it causes our students to ramp down and lose in focus and interest in their education. I would argue that the survivors of this system are those who can operate with a system that can understand the benefits of just in case education.In fact the "successful" students are quite comfortable in an learning system that is reflective of a time prior to the rapid evolutionary changes brought about since the explosion of information and susequent evolution of the read/write web. The other students who, for better or for worse are a product of the disruptive forces they have been molded by to become just in time learners do not fit the mold of a time which no longer exists. The students are at risk of not succceeding in education...
What does this mean? Is education going to be the last bastion of a past which gave us cultural strife and hierarchical society to fulfill the needs of an industrial world or an organic flexible self regulating entity that has the ability to influence society by providing students to our communities that are aware of the challenges that are of their time....
I have to make this argument. Can you please comment on the strengths, and even more importantly weaknesses in my thinking so I can be prepared for the questions. The very fact that I recive responses will point out the value of the read write web.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Musing from the Afternoon with Will Richardson
Will signed my copy of his book and I had a chance to hear what he had to say for the afternoon at the Making Gains symposium. Some of the points he made which resonated with me were very philosphical n nature.
He noted that L;eadership does not use the technologies within school boards...at all levels. This is important to me because it became readily apparent that the plan needs to address this in order to have leadership be leading from the forefront.
You must own it before you can give it away
How does this idea enter into the development of the plan...It helps focus on the target must be sighted to make a difference.
I would like to open this blog up to various outsiders to comment on to get help from others thinking about the evolution of education in the time of the read write web. The world is changing in that members of our society no longer have to look for information... is everywhere and and in every possible format. It is imperative that we become involved in leveraging the 21st century tools to provide our students with 21st century skills to be abole to thrive within the emerging paridgm which we see as the future but in reality is just an evolutionary stage of societal change that is in reality the present.
How do the emergence of this technically enabled world with its increasingly wired inhabitants alter the needs of education. The fact is that what we percieve to be literacy is shifting, at lightening speed. The writing is on the wall collaborative, democratic interrelations between individuals and members of communities on a global scale is altering our reality. We must understand this and articulate it to our students. Because the youth are so much more comfortable within this social context we must empower them to codesign the way we come to interface with the changes all around us. The way in which we interface and make sense of the world may well be 21st century literacy. It can be much more multimedia than what has come before.
He noted that L;eadership does not use the technologies within school boards...at all levels. This is important to me because it became readily apparent that the plan needs to address this in order to have leadership be leading from the forefront.
You must own it before you can give it away
How does this idea enter into the development of the plan...It helps focus on the target must be sighted to make a difference.
I would like to open this blog up to various outsiders to comment on to get help from others thinking about the evolution of education in the time of the read write web. The world is changing in that members of our society no longer have to look for information... is everywhere and and in every possible format. It is imperative that we become involved in leveraging the 21st century tools to provide our students with 21st century skills to be abole to thrive within the emerging paridgm which we see as the future but in reality is just an evolutionary stage of societal change that is in reality the present.
How do the emergence of this technically enabled world with its increasingly wired inhabitants alter the needs of education. The fact is that what we percieve to be literacy is shifting, at lightening speed. The writing is on the wall collaborative, democratic interrelations between individuals and members of communities on a global scale is altering our reality. We must understand this and articulate it to our students. Because the youth are so much more comfortable within this social context we must empower them to codesign the way we come to interface with the changes all around us. The way in which we interface and make sense of the world may well be 21st century literacy. It can be much more multimedia than what has come before.
Copyright and intellectual property rights are shifting as well in this disruptive time. One man he noted in the regard was Lawrence Lessig who writes in the blogosphere in a place called Free Culture which is an entire book which can be downloaded from the web. This ebook brings to light the concepts which need to be considered
He pointed that you can go to the Creativecommons.org and place your own copyright on your own stuff and in this way share or reserve the rights of the work you have done. http://creativecommons.org/ browse around this interesting site. This discussion alone could be a very strong 21st century literacy discussion for students and a teachable moment in regards to what consitutes ethical and moral when it comes to our evloving forms of expression.
Teachers are having students create their own textbooks. RSS feeds are the way of the future and we do not even have students use them....remember what we said in the preamble to this ramble...the leaders do not use the tools. This is a real chance to captilize on the learner voice in a real and meaningful way as we feel our way along together. We saw it coming, the whole guide on the side discussion we have been having as the very hierachical Industrial Age gives way to a colloborative age. As educators we need to get our heads around the basic and powerful influences that are surging around us.Our job requires that leverage the tools like Web 2.0 but more importantly that we alter our ways of facilitating with students that empowers all of us to learn.
The idea
I am at the Making Gains Conference andam sitting in the Wikis and Blogs sesson by the author and blogger Will Richardson. I have decided that I will create a blog og my considerations around the development of an integrative approach to how the evolving world effects us and leaves us looking at a meaningful way to flatten the curricular, social and collaborative environment with the characteristics of wired kids. I am planning to spew my thoughts on this blog that stem from these 2 days and all of the information and professional reading and conference going I have done over the last several years.
The disruptive effects of technology need to be recognized. If we do not understand and develop systems that reflect these changes we will be teaching students and making them capable of working and prospering in a world which no longer exists.
Change happens, that is for sure, and not just in our modern, 21st century era. It seems that the stress of the new affects most people in every age. So the trick is not to resist it, but to go with it. The real problem for the creative person is getting over the resistance of those who don’t want to change.
" In a time of change, it is learners who inherit the future, the learned find themselves equipped to live only in a world that no longer exists."
Eric Hofer
The disruptive effects of technology need to be recognized. If we do not understand and develop systems that reflect these changes we will be teaching students and making them capable of working and prospering in a world which no longer exists.
Change happens, that is for sure, and not just in our modern, 21st century era. It seems that the stress of the new affects most people in every age. So the trick is not to resist it, but to go with it. The real problem for the creative person is getting over the resistance of those who don’t want to change.
" In a time of change, it is learners who inherit the future, the learned find themselves equipped to live only in a world that no longer exists."
Eric Hofer
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