1.
Learning to Learn All Over Again
Chris Fitzgerald Walsh
Education Jedi

2.
contact…
fitzwalsh [at] gmail.com
follow…
@fitzwalsh
links…
delicious.com/fitzwalsh/l2l

3.
an epic battle has
begun …

4.
Turmoil has once again engulfed
the world of education.
Led by Jedi Mindwalker, the Rebels
continue to win isolated victories to
help students thrive in the post-
Internet age, but the National K-12
Empire refuses to give up without a
fight.

5.
Now Rebel spies have learned that
the Empire’s most sinister agent,
Darth Code, has formed a massive
army of test drones to dismantle
the rebellion once and for all.
The fate of our very nation is at
stake…

6.
Darth Code
Jedi Mindwalker

7.
THE PHANTOM THINKERS
Episode I

8.
The Socratic Method is a form of
inquiry and debate between
individuals with opposing viewpoints
based on asking and answering
questions to stimulate rational
thinking and to illuminate ideas.
Socrates

9.
Plato’s Academy had no clear
distinction between teachers
and students, or even a formal
curriculum. The school did not
have any particular doctrine to
teach; rather, Plato posed
problems to be studied and
solved by the others.
Plato

10.
Aristotle’s Lyceum focused on
cooperative research. His
students were assigned historical
or scientific research projects as
part of their studies. The school
was also student run, where the
students elected a new student
administrator to work with the
school leadership every ten days.
Aristotle

11.
Does learning require a curriculum?
What drives my “Need to Know”?
How does a teacher illuminate ideas?

12.
A BRICK IN THE WALL
Episode II

13.
We don't need no education
We don’t need no thought control
No dark sarcasm in the classroom
Teachers leave them kids alone
Hey! Teachers! Leave them kids alone!
All in all it's just another brick in the wall.
All in all you're just another brick in the wall.
Thought Control

14.
• K-12 Education is defined by institutions (govt, districts,
schools) rather than the learners.
• School structures are designed for management of large
groups of “students”, not individual learners.
• Schools are organized for adults, not kids.
Education ≠ Learning

15.
The "education" experience defined by school
Our 3 Educations
1
2
3 Our own personal “education”
• formal - out of school activities
• informal - hobbies and personal passions
The "education" we get on how to succeed and
survive in school

16.
Many of history’s great minds made #3 their focus.
They were fueled by a “need to know”.
Albert Einstein Bill Gates
Thomas Edison
Ansel Adams
Louis Armstrong Benjamin Franklin
Great minds need to know
Ada Lovelace
Jane Goodall
Maya Angelou
Jane Austen
James Baldwin
Ray Bradbury
Abraham Lincoln
Walt Disney
Frederick Douglass
Agatha Christie

17.
Gather
Filter
Investigate
Create5%
15%
20%
60%
How do I learn new things?
metacognition

18.
Gather
Filter
Investigate
Create
How do YOU learn new things?

19.
Is real learning happening in our schools?
How has my learning changed?
How did we all survive school?

20.
THE RISE OF BOTS AND BRAINS
Episode III

21.
What is your learning style?
Learning Styles Questionnaire
NC State

22.
ACTIVE
SENSING
VISUAL
SEQUENTIAL
REFLECTIVE
INTUITIVE
VERBAL
GLOBAL
What is your learning style?

23.
ACTIVE REFLECTIVE
SENSING INTUITIVE
VISUAL VERBAL
SEQUENTIAL GLOBAL
My learning style?

24.
Learning styles don’t exist
Prof. Dan Willingham, Cognitive Psychologist

25.
Online learning… expands school learning time that allows for
more flexible and individualized learning through the
application of new technologies.
Distance education… is an efficient learning environment that
focuses the teacher’s attention on the specific performance
of individual students, guiding them as needed to achieve
success.
The student teacher relationship is immediate and personal.
“Getting Students More Learning Time Online”
Center for American Progress, 2009
eLearning = personalization

26.
But eLearning is just learning
The thing our grand-children will “find
quaintest and most old-timey about us is
the distinction we insisted on making
between the so-called real and the
virtual… between the there and the
not-there."
William Gibson
visionary writer
IT Conversations
7/15/2008

27.
Learning Management Systems reflect 20th
century paradigms
LMS’s don’t change learning… it still requires a great teacher!
eLearning will not change everything

28.
Our brains are not wired for any particular subject-area.
Our abilities are expandable.
Can “brain science” help?

29.
Brain science: fad or breakthrough?
Prof. Dan Willingham, Cognitive Psychologist

30.
Why does learning need to be managed?
Do I need to know how my mind
really works?
Does my learning style matter?

31.
A NEW HOPE
Episode IV

32.
Darth Code
Jedi Mindwalker

33.
What does learning really
look like in the
post-Internet age?

34.
learning = the demonstrated difference between
what I now know and what I didn’t know before
SIMPLE

35.
learning in the real world

36.
learning = satisfying a personal “need to know”
ENGAGING

37.
1990
NEED TO KNOW:
How does a 17 year-old learn to build her own car?
2000
2010
Read books in
the library
Take an auto
shop class
Take apart a car
& reverse engineer it
Watch a Quicktime
VR movie on the
Web
Play a “car
design” game
Download open
source designs to
iPad
Do a hands-on
“simulation”
INFORMATION BASIC KNOWLEDGE APPLIED KNOWLEDGE
Take apart a car
& reverse engineer it
Take apart a car
& reverse engineer it

38.
learning = solving problems at the right level
CHALLENGING

39.
Game mechanics are the elements of a game that enable the
players to have a fun and engaging experience. The pleasure
is in the struggle AND the eventual solving of the problem,
not in getting the answer right or in continuous failure.
Teachers need to understand game mechanics!
Why are video games
so popular?
They are always at the
Zone of Proximal Development!

40.
Player 2 = Sudoku Master
Player 1 = Sudoku Noob
CHALLENGE:
How to be satisfied by Sudoku?
1
7
5

41.
learning = students determine their own learning paths
SELF-DIRECTED

42.
Edutopia’s Digital Generation Project

43.
learning = collaboration across time and space
DISTRIBUTED

44.
the epic battle continues …
Darth CodeJedi Mindwalker

45.
contact…
fitzwalsh [at] gmail.com
follow…
@fitzwalsh
links…
delicious.com/fitzwalsh/l2l

46.
Learning to Learn All Over Again
Chris Fitzgerald Walsh
Education Jedi