Chris Kennedy - Keynote Presentation to the CUEBC Conference on October 23, 2020

1. Isn’t This Kind of
What We Wanted?
The Good, Not So Good and
Hopefully Super Awesome of
Technology in Schools in the Time of
COVID
Chris Kennedy, Superintendent of Schools
West Vancouver
October 23, 2020

3. Digital
connections

4. When I was last here 4
years ago . . .
I opened with this
slide

5. When I think about the
state of technology in
BC schools, I just keep
thinking of this photo.

6. What has changed?

7. RELIABLE INTERNET CONNECTIVITY

8. DEVICES FOR STAFF

9. DEVICE PLANS FOR STUDENTS

10. PHONES

11. SOCIAL MEDIA

12. Wi-Fi

13. FLEXIBILITY

14. ACCESS

15. Video

16. ACROSS MUCH
OF THE
PROVINCE

18. We have seen the best
and worst of technology
in the last 6 months

19. HARD TRUTH – we have
learned which schools and
districts were faking their
way in the new world, and
which ones were truly
invested. The fakers were
exposed.

21. What
could be

22. DO OLDTHINGS
BETTER

23. National Association
of Teachers, 1907
• “Students today depend
too much upon ink. They
don’t know how to use a
pen knife to sharpen a
pencil. Pen and ink will
never replace the pencil.”

25. DO NEWTHINGS
YOU COULDN’T
DO AT ALL

26. 5 obstacles
No need
No money
No hurry
No desire
No trust

27. People prefer things that are easy to think about

29. The
goal

30. It’s not technology

31. What many want for their children is the
benefits of digital learning
Relevant, connected,
unlimited

32. Create a new
norm for how
teachers and
students learn

33. Can’t scale and sustain
without technology

34. TOOLS matter, because tools impact the way you
interact.You don’t need to use every tool, but every tool
you use you must use well – Seth Godin

35. Access
Direction

36. Moving to one-to-one opportunities
What does
this mean?

39. What about
equity?

41. Technology can help overcome barriers of access and
geography

42. Twitter Break
Share something awesome
that has happened with
technology since March.
Post it toTwitter and tag it
#cuebc

43. Front line
workers
contribution

44. MOBILETECHNOLOGY CAN
CHANGE LEARNING
GOOD WRITING STILL MATTERS
USING SOCIAL MEDIA NEEDSTO
BETAUGHT
NETWORKS ARE ESSENTIAL
THE REALWORLD IS ADDICTIVE

45. The next 12 to 24 months - what is the
opportunity?
Harness Innovation
Reimagine accountability
Remembering the power of the physical world
Support the most vulnerable
Reinforcing capacity
Building system resilience
Preparing resources

46. So what are we doing now?

47. Google has become
our got-to place and
tool.

48. Coding, Robotics and App
Development have gone from
nowhere to everywhere

49. All of the digital shifts are
part of ONE story

53. Am I the only
one that got
fooled by
Spaghetti trees
growing up?

54. Now we
have this . . .
.

55. But We Know
It is Not that
Simplistic

56. Questions for us to
ponder...
As the place of technological development
accelerates, what kind of risks do you think
will become more present in the years to
come? Are we paying sufficient attention to
them now?

57. Or how about
. . . .

58. ALL ABOUT
CULTURE

59. “Culture Eats
Strategy
for Breakfast”

60. Focus on a Few
Things

61. CELEBRATE RISK TAKING

62. SHINE A LIGHT ON INNOVATION

63. Teachers
Schools
Districts
Governments
• Will make it easier
for students...
• Will make it easier
for teachers...
• Will make it easier
for schools...
• Will make it easier
for districts...
To be
FLEXIBLE

64. Yeah, but . . .
How do you scale the work?

65. YOU DON’T
YOU CONNECT AND
BUILD NETWORKS
Think diffusion not
replication

66. Learning, not technology, is the driver

69. Trends
• More adults and students will be bringing
their own devices to work
• Districts will own and store less
• Tension between formal and informal
learning will increase
• Informal learning will continue to create a
good tension as we try to recognize it
• Digital content will increase / devices will get
cheaper

70. Trends
• Online learning
• Virtual and augmented reality
• Gamification
• Artificial intelligence
• Smart schools
• Biometrics

72. Towards the Future
Improving teaching and learning
•Equipping teaches with sound pedagogical and technological knowledge
•Supporting more personalized and engaging learning
Teaching
and
learning
Building digital resilience
•Developing digital competence
•Using appropriate digital mediation strategies at home and school
Building
Providing skills for the future
•Developing the higher order thinking and social and emotional skills
that a digitized and automated world requires
(OECD 2020)
Providing

73. Real change, enduring
change, happens one
step at a time.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg

75. He says the problem with teachers is
What’s a kid going to learn
from someone who decided his best option in life
was to become a teacher?

76. He reminds the other dinner guests that it’s true
what they say about teachers:
Those who can, do; those who can’t, teach.

77. . . .
I mean, you’re a teacher, Taylor.
Be honest. What do you make?

78. This is . . .

79. OUR WORLD

80. OUR LIVES

81. OUR CHILDREN

82. OUR CURRICULUM

83. OUR CHALLENGE

84. OUR WORK

85. OUR ART

86. OUR JOY

140. You want to know what I make? I make kids
wonder,

141. I make them question.

142. I make them criticize.
I make them apologize and mean it.

143. I make them write.
I make them read, read, read.

144. I make them spell definitely beautiful,
definitely beautiful, definitely beautiful
over and over and over again until they will
never misspell
either one of those words again.

145. . . .
and if someone ever tries to judge you
by what you by what you make, you give them this.

250. . . .
Here, let me break it down for you, so you
know what I say is true:

251. Teachers make a goddamn difference! Now
what about you?

252. Excerpts from poem:
What Teachers Make
by Taylor Mali
Leading in Learning