Digital Schools Educational Demands of the New Economy Dr. Scott McLeod December 5, 2006 www.schoolandsociety.org

If… If you could tell one of your college professors one thing with complete impunity, who would you tell and what would you say?

If you could tell one of your college professors one thing with complete impunity, who would you tell and what would you say?

Housekeeping Electronic assignments American Indian project Technology projects being graded tonight after class Reflection #3 due next week School law class next week Including the T-Shirt Game! Tonight’s schedule

Electronic assignments

American Indian project

Technology projects being graded tonight after class

Reflection #3 due next week

School law class next week

Including the T-Shirt Game!

Tonight’s schedule

The Times They Are A-Changin’

Societal trends Increased diversity Increased technology Aging population Globalization

Increased diversity

Increased technology

Aging population

Globalization

Increased diversity United States is changing demographically

United States is changing demographically

Increased diversity Racial / ethnic status typically has been associated with economic and linguistic disadvantage (as well as disability status)

Racial / ethnic status typically has been associated with economic and linguistic disadvantage (as well as disability status)

Increased technology Fax machines E-mail The Internet Videoconferencing These are just the basics!

Fax machines

E-mail

The Internet

Videoconferencing

These are just the basics!

Fax machines

E-mail

I have sent an e-mail to, or received an e-mail from, someone outside the U.S. Yes No

Yes

No

The Internet

The Internet is an important part of my life. Yes No

Yes

No

If the Internet disappeared tomorrow, I would be upset. Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree

Strongly Agree

Agree

Disagree

Strongly Disagree

Videoconferencing

I have done a video conference over the Internet. Yes No

Yes

No

Increased technology Technology has revolutionized scope and scale of productivity and reach Technology changes rapidly (too rapidly?)

Technology has revolutionized scope and scale of productivity and reach

Technology changes rapidly (too rapidly?)

Hang on! This is about our way of life. An historical analog would be the Industrial Revolution, but compressed into 15 years - not played out over a century. Hang on - this will be quite a ride. - Joseph S. Kraemer

This is about our way of life. An historical analog would be the Industrial Revolution, but compressed into 15 years - not played out over a century. Hang on - this will be quite a ride.

- Joseph S. Kraemer

Globalization Economic and cultural The World is Flat , Thomas Friedman The Flight of the Creative Class , Richard Florida

Economic and cultural

The World is Flat , Thomas Friedman

The Flight of the Creative Class , Richard Florida

I have read The World is Flat . Yes No

Yes

No

Aging population Most of the current folks in charge don’t really “get it” when it comes to technology By 2030, there will be twice as many retirees as now but only 18% more workers

Most of the current folks in charge don’t really “get it” when it comes to technology

By 2030, there will be twice as many retirees as now but only 18% more workers

Aging population Neither education nor technology is generally high on senior citizens’ list of interests Different views of work, education, and life

Neither education nor technology is generally high on senior citizens’ list of interests

Different views of work, education, and life

Discussion Did You Know? What are some of the demographic and other trends you’re seeing? Do these general trends hold true for your community?

Did You Know?

What are some of the demographic and other trends you’re seeing?

Do these general trends hold true for your community?

The Rise of the Creative Class

I have read The Rise of the Creative Class Yes No

Yes

No

The Rise of The Creative Class , Richard Florida The creative class People who are paid principally to do creative work for a living This group is growing fast! Service class Working class Agricultural class

The creative class

People who are paid principally to do creative work for a living

This group is growing fast!

Service class

Working class

Agricultural class

Creative workers Higher salaries Higher job satisfaction Different beliefs about work

Higher salaries

Higher job satisfaction

Different beliefs about work

Importance of creativity Daniel Pink, A Whole New Mind Can someone overseas do it cheaper? Can a computer do it faster? Is what I’m offering in demand in an age of abundance? Relationships, problem-solving, synthesizing

Daniel Pink, A Whole New Mind

Can someone overseas do it cheaper?

Can a computer do it faster?

Is what I’m offering in demand in an age of abundance?

Relationships, problem-solving, synthesizing

Nurturing creativity The great wonder of our times is not what technological artifacts can do or how quickly they have evolved and grown. The greater wonder is the tremendous outpouring of human creativity that has produced such things. The most fundamental changes are the social structures and mind-sets we are adopting, which feed and sustain this outpouring of creativity. - Richard Florida

The great wonder of our times is not what technological artifacts can do or how quickly they have evolved and grown. The greater wonder is the tremendous outpouring of human creativity that has produced such things. The most fundamental changes are the social structures and mind-sets we are adopting, which feed and sustain this outpouring of creativity.

- Richard Florida

Everyone can participate! Human creativity is a virtually limitless resource Creativity is the great leveler

Human creativity is a virtually limitless resource

Creativity is the great leveler

Are schools focusing on the right things? We desperately need . . . we may not survive without . . . a generation of young people who are imaginative, inventive, fearless learners, and compassionate leaders. Yet, what can we say, as educators, about the students we are producing? We can prove that they can read, do basic math on paper, and they are able to sit for hours filling in bubble sheets. No generation in history has ever been so thoroughly prepared for the industrial age. - David Warlick

We desperately need . . . we may not survive without . . . a generation of young people who are imaginative, inventive, fearless learners, and compassionate leaders. Yet, what can we say, as educators, about the students we are producing? We can prove that they can read, do basic math on paper, and they are able to sit for hours filling in bubble sheets.

No generation in history has ever been so thoroughly prepared for the industrial age.

- David Warlick

The Partnership for 21st Century Skills

What lies in the future? The future is unknown, but we can extrapolate from these trends We have a responsibility to our children, our grandchildren, our communities, and our nation to try and be proactive, not reactive, about this The purpose of schools is to prepare students for their futures (not the past)

The future is unknown, but we can extrapolate from these trends

We have a responsibility to our children, our grandchildren, our communities, and our nation to try and be proactive, not reactive, about this

The purpose of schools is to prepare students for their futures (not the past)

The work that our students do in our classrooms on a regular basis reflects this burgeoning movement toward autonomy and creativity Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree

Strongly Agree

Agree

Disagree

Strongly Disagree

The Not-So-Hidden Revolution

Revolution Web 1.0 v. Web 2.0 Putting the power in the hand of the users Collaboration Creativity Disintermediation Reach

Web 1.0 v. Web 2.0

Putting the power in the hand of the users

Collaboration

Creativity

Disintermediation

Reach

Web 2.0 A quick tour Wikis Blogs – me , the big guys Podcasts ( audio , video ) YouTube ( online video ) Flickr (online photo) Delicious (social bookmarking) Digg Google Maps mashups MySpace MMORPGs Video game mods

Wikis

Blogs – me , the big guys

Podcasts ( audio , video )

YouTube ( online video )

Flickr (online photo)

Delicious (social bookmarking)

Digg

Google Maps mashups

MySpace

MMORPGs

Video game mods

Web 2.0 Interconnected Collaborative Personalized Autonomous Freewheeling

Interconnected

Collaborative

Personalized

Autonomous

Freewheeling

Movie Digital kids, analog schools

Digital kids, analog schools

Quote While we teach whatever we teach at school, the kids go home and learn the skills they need to survive and prosper in an interconnected global economy. Incrementally changing our teaching methods, slowly bringing people up to speed . . . worked fine when ideas of literacy and education were not rapidly changing; but they are. We need to be able to leapfrog in our understandings, in our methods, and in our tools, allowing us to move to where the kids are. If we do not become leaders to our students, we will be followers, seen as irrelevant, and left to cry in our books. - Clarence Fisher

While we teach whatever we teach at school, the kids go home and learn the skills they need to survive and prosper in an interconnected global economy. Incrementally changing our teaching methods, slowly bringing people up to speed . . . worked fine when ideas of literacy and education were not rapidly changing; but they are. We need to be able to leapfrog in our understandings, in our methods, and in our tools, allowing us to move to where the kids are. If we do not become leaders to our students, we will be followers, seen as irrelevant, and left to cry in our books.

- Clarence Fisher

If you took away technology… Primary sector (raw goods) Secondary sector (finished goods) Tertiary sector (service industry) Quaternary sector (intellectual activities)

Primary sector (raw goods)

Secondary sector (finished goods)

Tertiary sector (service industry)

Quaternary sector (intellectual activities)

Breaking apart the center As educators, we are not grasping (or prepared for) the depth of the change that is occurring under our feet. If it's happened (breaking apart the center) in every other industry - movies, music, software, business - what makes us think that our educational structures are immune? And what does it mean to us? What should we be doing now to prepare our institutions? Ourselves? Our learners? – Will Richardson

As educators, we are not grasping (or prepared for) the depth of the change that is occurring under our feet. If it's happened (breaking apart the center) in every other industry - movies, music, software, business - what makes us think that our educational structures are immune? And what does it mean to us? What should we be doing now to prepare our institutions? Ourselves? Our learners? – Will Richardson

Digital natives, immigrants, & refugees http://www.speedofcreativity.org/2006/10/21/beyond-the-digital-native-immigrant-dichotomy/

http://www.speedofcreativity.org/2006/10/21/beyond-the-digital-native-immigrant-dichotomy/

How would you categorize yourself? Digital immigrant Digital native Digital refugee Bridge Undecided

Digital immigrant

Digital native

Digital refugee

Bridge

Undecided

Our teachers integrate Web 2.0 technologies into their instruction. Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree

Strongly Agree

Agree

Disagree

Strongly Disagree

Our teachers should be integrating Web 2.0 technologies into their instruction. Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree

Strongly Agree

Agree

Disagree

Strongly Disagree

Cutting off appendages Our kids are connected. Technology is part of their lives. But. . . . it’s not technology, it’s information. These gadgets are their links to information. These gadgets represent intellectual appendages to our children. They are the hands and feet that carry children to new experiences, and cutting these links is like cutting an appendage - and that makes no constructive sense to these children and their world view.Yet we try to cut it off. - David Warlick

Our kids are connected. Technology is part of their lives. But. . . . it’s not technology, it’s information. These gadgets are their links to information. These gadgets represent intellectual appendages to our children. They are the hands and feet that carry children to new experiences, and cutting these links is like cutting an appendage - and that makes no constructive sense to these children and their world view.Yet we try to cut it off.

- David Warlick

Lifelong learners One of our problems has been that we have tried to shape the technology around outdated notions of what schooling is about, rather than reshaping our notions to reflect new world conditions. . . . In a rapidly changing world, it becomes much less valuable to be able to memorize the answer, and much more valuable to be able to find and even invent the answers. . . . We can’t keep up with making the technology the curriculum. All we can do is prepare our students to teach themselves. It’s the only way to keep up. - David Warlick

One of our problems has been that we have tried to shape the technology around outdated notions of what schooling is about, rather than reshaping our notions to reflect new world conditions. . . . In a rapidly changing world, it becomes much less valuable to be able to memorize the answer, and much more valuable to be able to find and even invent the answers. . . . We can’t keep up with making the technology the curriculum. All we can do is prepare our students to teach themselves. It’s the only way to keep up. - David Warlick

Avoiding Irrelevance

Irrelevance, part 1 Our intelligence tends to produce technological and social change at a rate faster than our institutions and emotions can cope with. . . . Innovation is cumulative and the rate of change accelerates. We therefore find ourselves continually trying to accommodate new realities within inappropriate existing institutions, and trying to think about those new realities in traditional but sometimes dangerously irrelevant terms. - Gwynne Dyer

Our intelligence tends to produce technological and social change at a rate faster than our institutions and emotions can cope with. . . . Innovation is cumulative and the rate of change accelerates. We therefore find ourselves continually trying to accommodate new realities within inappropriate existing institutions, and trying to think about those new realities in traditional but sometimes dangerously irrelevant terms. - Gwynne Dyer

Irrelevance, part 2 The kids who start school today will be retiring in the year 2065, and yet we know as little about what the world will look like then as we do five years from now. We can give them all the content we want, but in this age, in won’t make much difference if we don’t teach them how to learn first. And they do that not by spitting back at us what they “know.” They do it by being creative, by trying and failing, by succeeding and reflecting. A couple of more notches in the school is irrelevant belt. – Will Richardson

The kids who start school today will be retiring in the year 2065, and yet we know as little about what the world will look like then as we do five years from now. We can give them all the content we want, but in this age, in won’t make much difference if we don’t teach them how to learn first. And they do that not by spitting back at us what they “know.” They do it by being creative, by trying and failing, by succeeding and reflecting. A couple of more notches in the school is irrelevant belt. – Will Richardson

14,383 school districts

14,383 school districts

95,726 public schools + 29,273 private schools = 125,000 schools

95,726 public schools

+ 29,273 private schools

=

125,000 schools

Irrelevance, part 3 When the rate of change outside exceeds the rate of change inside, the end is in sight. - Jack Welch

When the rate of change outside exceeds the rate of change inside, the end is in sight.

- Jack Welch

Irrelevance, part 4 They say, “We can’t handle this much change.” I say, “Your [relevance is] in jeopardy. What choice do you have?” They say I’m extreme. I say I’m a realist. - Seth Godin

They say, “We can’t handle this much change.” I say, “Your [relevance is] in jeopardy. What choice do you have?”

They say I’m extreme. I say I’m a realist.

- Seth Godin

We need to somehow change faster No one jumps a 20 foot chasm in two 10 foot jumps. – Miguel Guhlin

No one jumps a 20 foot chasm in two

10 foot jumps. – Miguel Guhlin

Irrelevance, part 5 There’s a very affluent school district here on Long Island (NY). It essentially has decided to make minimal investments in technology because it believes the wealthy families that it serves will just take care of that aspect. They basically have ceded ground on this issue to parents and students and have said there’s no place for us in this. – Jon Becker, Hofstra U.

There’s a very affluent school district here on Long Island (NY). It essentially has decided to make minimal investments in technology because it believes the wealthy families that it serves will just take care of that aspect. They basically have ceded ground on this issue to parents and students and have said there’s no place for us in this. – Jon Becker, Hofstra U.

What schools can’t do

Who’s important?

What we need leadership v. management

leadership

v.

management

What we need anticipatory v. reactionary

anticipatory

v.

reactionary

What we need future-oriented v. compliance-oriented

future-oriented

v.

compliance-oriented

Change What does it mean when something changes how it’s always been? - Liz Phair

What does it mean when something changes how it’s always been?

- Liz Phair

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