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1. Learning in a Networked World
Schooling in an Era of Abundance
Will Richardson
will@willrichardson.com
willrichardson.com
@willrich45
bit.ly/KyQb6E

3. “It was the best of times, it was
the worst of times, it was the age
of wisdom, it was the
age of foolishness...”
Charles Dickens

4. Which geographic factor affected the development of
the Gupta Empire?

5. Which geographic factor affected the development of
the Gupta Empire?
a) island location
b) volcanoes
c) monsoons
d) permafrost

6. Which geographic factor affected the development of
the Gupta Empire?
a) island location
b) volcanoes
c) monsoons
d) permafrost

7. 2011 NY State Regents Exam for World Geography:
Which geographic factor affected the development of
the Gupta Empire?
a) island location
b) volcanoes
c) monsoons
d) permafrost

9. CHANGE

10. “The change we are in
the middle of isn’t minor
and it isn’t optional.”
Clay Shirky

11. Scarcity

12. Scarcity
ABUNDANCE

13. ABUNDANCE OF...
Information
Tools
Opinions
People
Data
Resources
Media
More...

14. ABUNDANCE OF...
(Kids’ Version)
Games
Videos
Networks
Texts
Hangouts
(...and all sorts of other interesting stuff
they don’t have access to at school.)

15. ...WHICH IS CHANGING
Media
Politics
Journalism
Medicine
Books
Business
Music...

16. ...WHICH IS CHANGING
...Education

17. ...A world marked by “ubiquitous computing,
ubiquitous information, ubiquitous networks, at
unlimited speed, about everything, everywhere,
from anywhere, on all kinds of devices that make
it ridiculously easy to connect, organize, share,
collect, collaborate and publish.”
Michael Wesch

18. ...WHICH IS CHANGING
Examples

22. ABUNDANCE
Will Change Us.

23. ABUNDANCE
Will Change Us.
Is Changing Us.

24. bit.ly/MZmNDy

27. carcity
S
bit.ly/MZmNDy

28. carcity
S
bit.ly/MZmNDy

29. carcity
S
Abu
ndan
ce
bit.ly/MZmNDy

30. carcity
S
Information ≠ Education
Abu
ndan
ce
bit.ly/MZmNDy

31. carcity
S
Abu
ndan
ce
bit.ly/MZmNDy

33. Cal Tech, Georgia Tech, U. of Va, Duke, Rice, Johns Hopkins,
Stamford, U. of Washington, U. of Illinois, U. of Edinburgh, U.
of Toronto, Princeton, U. of Penn.

34. Cal Tech, Georgia Tech, U. of Va, Duke, Rice, Johns Hopkins,
Stamford, U. of Washington, U. of Illinois, U. of Edinburgh, U.
of Toronto, Princeton, U. of Penn.
“This is the tsunami.”
--Richard DeMillo, Ga. Tech

36. ABUNDANCE
Is changing:

37. ABUNDANCE
Is changing:
How we define an education.

38. ABUNDANCE
Is changing:
How we define an education.
How we get an education.

39. ABUNDANCE
Is changing:
How we define an education.
How we get an education.
Where we get an education.

40. ABUNDANCE
Is changing:
How we define an education.
How we get an education.
Where we get an education.
When we get an education.

41. ABUNDANCE
Is changing:
How we define an education.
How we get an education.
Where we get an education.
When we get an education.
From whom we get an education.

43. 2020?

47. ABUNDANCE
Changes the rules.

48. “There’s no competitive advantage today
in knowing more than the person next to
you. The world doesn’t care what you
know. What the world cares about is
what you can do with what you know.”
Tony Wagner

49. change

50. CHANGE

51. NEW REALITIES
1. Content and Knowledge are Everywhere

53. NEW REALITIES
1. Content and Knowledge are Everywhere
2. Teachers are Everywhere

55. NEW REALITIES
1. Content and Knowledge are Everywhere
2. Teachers are Everywhere
3. Data is Everywhere

57. NEW REALITIES
1. Content and Knowledge are Everywhere
2. Teachers are Everywhere
3. Data is Everywhere
4. Networks are the New Classrooms

60. NEW REALITIES
1. Content and Knowledge are Everywhere
2. Teachers are Everywhere
3. Data is Everywhere
4. Networks are the New Classrooms
5. Learning is On Demand

61. bit.ly/LQ85go

62. “The illiterate of the
21st Century will not be those
who cannot read and write,
but those who cannot
learn, unlearn, and relearn.”
Alvin Toffler

63. ABUNDANCE MEANS
We’re going to have to unlearn school.

64. UNLEARNING
Three Things to Unlearn:

65. UNLEARNING
Three Things to Unlearn:
1. Delivery

66. “We need to move beyond the idea
that an education is something that
is provided for us, and toward the
idea that an education is something
that we create for ourselves.”
Stephen Downes

67. UNLEARNING
UnDelivery Idea:
Let students create their own
paths to the standards.

68. UNLEARNING
Three Things to Unlearn:
1. Delivery
2. Competition

69. UNLEARNING
Competition aaaaaaaa Co-operation

70. UNLEARNING
UnCompetition Idea:
Share everything

71. UNLEARNING
Three Things to Unlearn:
1. Delivery
2. Competition
3. Assessment

72. UNLEARNING
If we don’t assess what we value,
we will value what we assess.

73. Harder
Difficulty Problem
to Solving
Assess Critical
Thinking
Basic Skills
Content
Knowledge
Easier
Less Important More Important
Learning in a
Time of Abundance

74. Curiosity
Resilience
Courage
Passion
Harder Initiative to Learn
Entrepreneurial
Thinking Empathy
Inquiry Synthesis
Networking Creativity
Difficulty Problem
Collaboration
Problem
Connecting Finding
to Solving
Creating
Assess Critical
Thinking Participation
Solutions
Basic Skills
Sharing
Content
Knowledge
Easier
Less Important More Important
Learning in a
Time of Abundance

75. “We are ‘optimizing the
measurable at the risk of
neglecting the immeasurable.’”
Justin Reich

76. The “Immeasurable” Curiosity
Resilience
Courage
Passion
Harder Initiative to Learn
Entrepreneurial
Thinking Empathy
Inquiry Synthesis
Networking Creativity
Difficulty Problem
Collaboration
Problem
Connecting Finding
to Solving
Creating
Assess Critical
Thinking Participation
Solutions
Basic Skills
Sharing
Content
Knowledge
Easier
Less Important More Important
Learning in a
Time of Abundance

77. UNLEARNING
UnAssessment Idea:
Open Network Test

78. UNLEARNING
1. Understand: The contexts for change

80. UNLEARNING
1. Understand: The contexts for change
2. Feel: Anger, grief, fear, excitement

81. CHANGE
The case
for change
x
The vision The sense
V
for the future of loss
x
The roadmap
to get there

84. “Today, instead of teaching them information, I was
teaching them how to learn. And yet, I’m not sure
what my new role in this is. I’m not sure how to
connect to my students and their learning process
while doing this. I’m not sure how to laugh and
enjoy them. And I was not expecting the profound
sense of loss and the pain accompanying it.”

85. UNLEARNING
1. Understand: The contexts for change
2. Feel: Anger, grief, fear, excitement
3. Reflect: Examine your own learning practice

86. ARE YOU LITERATE?
• Develop proficiency with the tools of technology
• Build relationships with others to pose and solve
problems collaboratively and cross-culturally
• Design and share information for global communities
to meet a variety of purposes
• Manage, analyze and synthesize multiple streams of
simultaneous information
• Create, critique, analyze, and evaluate multi-media texts
• Attend to the ethical responsibilities required by these
complex environments
bit.ly/nctelit

87. UNLEARNING
1. Understand: The contexts for change
2. Feel: Anger, grief, fear, excitement
3. Reflect: Examine your own learning practice
4. Act: Innovate, Plan, Change, Connect, ReLearn

90. UNLEARNING
1. Understand: The contexts for change
2. Feel: Anger, grief, fear, excitement
3. Reflect: Examine your own learning practice
4. Act: Innovate, Plan, Change, Connect, ReLearn
5. Provoke: Engage others, Advocate

93. BE BOLD

95. “In times of change, learners
inherit the Earth, while the learned
find themselves beautifully
equipped to deal with a world that
no longer exists.”
Eric Hoffer

96. THANKS!
will@willrichardson.com
@willrich45
willrichardson.com