Ewan is a forward-thinking technology advisor in the UK. He started having his students interact using blogs and wikis back in 2003 and has been encouraging the rest of the UK to do so ever since. His blog is worth a perusal. I have it as an RSS feed on my igoogle page and visit it frequently.
Below are my notes from his talk. My reflections on his ideas are in italics.How ineffective is technology use? Technology is not trans-formative - it is the school pedagogy that is trans-formative.
Everyone should be in the business of researching and developing of better teaching practices - all teachers, all administration.
Ask a teacher – what have you done lately in the effort to research and develop better teaching practice? Technology tools (like blogs or podcasts) don’t become socially interesting unit they get technologically boring.
Technology tools must be intuitive and familiar. Social networks are what’s familiar. 90% of kids have visited their social network in past month (
not sure which group he referenced UK or USA?)
Kids are in social communities and can use such communities for action –
Reminded me of the notion that today’s kids are in the “we” generation (due to their new modes of digital socializing) as compared to the “me” generation of the 80s.Forms for the creative cycle:
1.
Saturation- immerse yourself in the material (with complete and divergent thinking.
Newton in his workshop )
2.
Incubation – (with no deadlines no stress - let it settle -
Newton sits under the apple tree)
3.
Illumination -(share to a big crowd, a crowd that’s important to you
apple falls on his head )
Ewan had a great side note on divergent/convergent thinking. Too
many schools are about convergence, not divergence. Kids quelled to be
convergent, to fit in the correct mold. Is ADHD really endemic in the US? Consider this
map of ADHD diagnoses in the US. )
Demand the question -what is a quality teacher?
The quality of education can never go past the quality of the teachers. Fantastic point!Spoke about how we can lose site of important factors if we are focused on the wrong ones.
watch this card trick? Did you miss the colors changes?
I found one. Consider this
map of media coverage.
Are we missing a few other places? We must read beyond the media that is presented to us.
Do we get so used to a system that we don’t question it? Such an important question!Shared awareness – what are our learning perspectives?
I consider curriculum mapping a method of sharing awareness.We are now in a participation culture. We’ve got to understand this notion - not just the tools that enable us (
and our kids) to participate.
What new tools can your students use to participate?
What shared spaces can you create in which your students can participate?
What would you do to get small groups going?
Ended with a Ben Franklin (?) quote. Not sure if this is really from Franklin (couldn’t find any reference on the web) Anyway, I like it: “People are either immobile, mobile, or moving.” I know which one I strive to be.....
