Transforming
education in an
era of accelerating
change
NETHERLANDS
NOVEMBER 2, 2009
CREATIVE LEARNING LAB
John Moravec, PhD
Education Futures LLC
www.educationfutures.com

A shift in paradigm

Society 1.0

The 1.0 Paradigm
• Interpreted data
• Hierarchical
• Siloed jobs and roles
• Chaos and ambiguity avoided at all costs

Society 2.0

Knowledge Age
• Interpreted information
• Personally-constructed meanings
• Socially-constructed meanings
• Chaos and ambiguity are managed

Ci#zen
Scien#sts

140

How does education make the most
from a cut-and-paste society?

Society 3.0

The future is already here –
it is just unevenly
distributed.
%
of
popula#on
with
access
–
William
Gibson
Past
Future

Innovation and Design Age
• Contextually applied knowledge
• Horizontalized diffusion of knowledge
• Heterarchical relationships
• Chaos and ambiguity are embraced
and attended to

Three drivers of Society 3.0
1. Accelerating change
2. Continuing globalization
3. Innovation society fueled by
knowmads

Accelerating
Accelerating
Change
change

The future is becoming
impossible to predict
J
Level of Advancement
Technological Singularity
Time

Accelerating change impacts the
half-life of useful knowledge.
• The amount of information available is
doubling at an exponential rate
• The half-life of knowledge is
decreasing exponentially

Earth
Jupiter
Callisto
Europa
Ganymede

Sources of innovation in Society 3.0:

Everything is

Crowd
sourcing

Pre-1.0 Nomads

Workers 3.0
Knowmads

Knowmads

Paradigm
Domain 1.0 2.0 3.0
Fundamental
Complex
crea#ve
Simple Complex
rela;onships (teleological)
Conceptualiza;on
of
Inten#onal,
self-­‐
Hierarchic Heterarchic
order organizing
Rela;onships
of
parts Mechanical Holographic Synerge#c
Worldview Determinis#c Indeterminate Design
Causality Linear Mutual An#causal
Change
process Assembly Morphogenic Crea#ve
destruc#on
Reality Objec#ve Perspec#val Contextual
Place Local Globalizing Globalized

So?

Society 3.0 drives Education 3.0.

Educa;on
1.0
Educa;on
2.0
Educa;on
3.0
Socially
constructed
and
Meaning
is…
Dictated
Socially
constructed
contextually
reinvented
Confiscated
at
the
Cau#ously
adopted
Everywhere
(ambient,
Technology
is…
classroom
door
(digital
(digital
immigrants)
digital
universe)
refugees)
Teacher
to
student,
student
to
student,
Teacher
to
student
and
student
to
teacher,
Teaching
is
done
…
Teacher
to
student
student
to
student
people-­‐technology-­‐
(progressivism)
people
(co-­‐
construc#vism)
Everywhere
(thoroughly
In
a
building
or
online
infused
into
society:
Schools
are
located…
In
a
building
(brick)
(brick
and
click)
cafes,
bowling
alleys,
bars,
workplaces,
etc.)
Parents
view
schools
A
place
for
them
to
learn,
Daycare
Daycare
as…
too
Teachers
are…
Licensed
professionals
Licensed
professionals
Everybody,
everywhere
Hardware
and
Are
purchased
at
great
Are
open
source
and
Are
available
at
low
cost
soLware
in
schools…
cost
and
ignored
available
at
lower
cost
and
are
used
purposively
As
ill-­‐prepared
assembly
Industry
views
As
co-­‐workers
or
Assembly
line
workers
line
workers
in
a
graduates
as…
entrepreneurs
knowledge
economy

3.0 schools
• Produce knowledge-producing kids,
not automatons.
• Share, remix and capitalize on new
ideas.
• Embrace accelerating change rather
than fighting it.

3.0 schools are not…
…based on hardware
…based on software

3.0 schools are built on mindware.

Ambient computing
O’Reilly: We really are moving beyond the era
of the PC into the era of ambient computing,
where we’re interacting with the global
network through devices that are sprinkled
throughout the world, smart objects, and I
think the next big thing is really not to do
with the Web at all. I think the next big thing
has not to do with the Web at all. I think it's
beyond the Web.

Ambient awareness is socially-distributed thinking.

Ambient education means 3.0
schools are located in:
• Bricks • Taquerías
• Clicks • Universities
• Bowling alleys • On our phones
• Coffee shops • On television
• In our
• Parks
imaginations
• Subway stations
…everywhere!

So what?

Key point
1.0 schools cannot teach 3.0 kids.

Have schools reached their singularity?

No matter how
hard we try to
cover up
19th century
institutions,
they will still be
19th century
institutions.

We all co-invent the future.

We’re all
white belts.

We can design the future.

To move from legacy millstones:

Leapfrogging just ahead of change
J’ J
Level of Advancement
Time

Are we thinking about the future?

Examples of leapfrogging with
technologies
• The use of mobile learning devices by
Chinese students to learn, have fun, and pass
exams
• Build-out of mobile infrastructure in Sub-
Saharan Africa
• Classrooms with 1:1 computing that
reconfigure their physical and social
environments to enable innovative
interactions and learning

Beware, in 3.0 schools:
Technology is key, but…
1. “Technology” is not the answer.
2. Technology must be purposive.

“Technology is a word that describes
something that doesn’t work yet... We notice
things that don’t work. We don’t notice things
that do. We notice computers, we don’t
notice pennies. We notice e-book readers, we
don’t notice books.”
– Douglas Adams
JavaOne Keynote, 1999

Key point
Schools should not use
new technologies to
teach the same old crap.

How can the cloud help?

Leapfrog learning outcomes:
The New, New Basics for the 21st century

Think systematically
1

Think simulationally
2

Thrive in the midst of changes,
challenges and unknowns
3

Create and manipulate alternative
pasts, presents, and futures
4

Develop and respond to
goals and challenges
5

Understand and effectively
utilize existing information
6

Construct and utilize personal knowledge
7

Construct and apply new
knowledge related to contexts,
processes, and cultures
8

Effectively utilize current and
emerging ICTs
9

Acquire and assess knowledge and
understandings of global trends
10

Write and speak in a unique voice
11

Take personal responsibility for
actions and performance quality
12

Let’s get started!

The future we design can…
• Help change schools to create the future
• Help lead the world in educational change
• Help bring people of all ages into the
knowledge workforce
• Help kids and adults work together
creatively

“Innovate, baby, innovate!”