This document discusses how technological abundance is changing education. It argues that traditional schools focus on assessing basic skills and content knowledge, which are now widely available, rather than more important skills like problem solving, critical thinking, collaboration and creativity. It presents nine qualities of "bold schools" that are centered around learning, use inquiry-driven approaches, support authentic work, integrate technology, foster connections, teach 21st century literacies, share best practices, encourage innovation and provoke discussion about educational change. The document advocates understanding contexts, having an emotional response, reflecting on one's practice, taking action to innovate and connect, and engaging others in order to effectively manage educational change in a world of abundance.

1. Bold Learning for Bold Schools
Making the Jump from Traditional to Modern Learning
Will Richardson
will@willrichardson.com
willrichardson.com
@willrich45

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. “It was the best of times,
it was the age of wisdom,
Charles Dickens

8. Jacob Arnott
14-year old Editor in Chief

9. it was the worst of times,
it was the age of foolishness...”
Charles Dickens

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

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

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

13. 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

15. CHANGE

16. Scarcity

17. Scarcity
ABUNDANCE

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

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

20. ABUNDANCE
600,000 Apps
2.5 Billion People
2 Trillion Webpages
4.5 Years of YouTube video per minute
Etc...

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

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

27. ...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

28. ABUNDANCE
What changes?

29. ABUNDANCE
Abundance is redefining “an education.”

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40. carcity
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Information ≠ Education
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43. 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.

44. 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

49. 2024?

50. ABUNDANCE
Not college ready...
Not career ready...

51. ABUNDANCE
Not college ready...
Not career ready...
Learning Ready

52. ABUNDANCE
Abundance is redefining “employment.”

54. “Median wages for those with bachelor’s degrees are
down from 2000, hit by technological changes that
are eliminating midlevel jobs...”

59. bit.ly/STggB7

60. ABUNDANCE
Abundance is redefining “literacy.”

61. 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

62. ABUNDANCE
Abundance redefines “teacher.”

64. 194,508,576 Lessons Delivered

73. ABUNDANCE
Abundance changes the way we think
about “school.”

78. “We don’t know one-millionth of
one percent about anything.”
Thomas Edison

79. ABUNDANCE
Not content mastery...

80. ABUNDANCE
Not content mastery...
Learning mastery.

81. LEARNING IS
creativity
passion to know
application of knowledge
inquiry
seeing patterns
posing and answering questions
understanding the world
acquiring knowledge
curiosity
finding and solving problems
making something
understanding something you previously didn’t understand
making connections
changing your perspective on something
synthesizing ideas
adding new knowledge

82. LEARNING IS
creativity
passion to know
application of knowledge
inquiry
seeing patterns
posing and answering questions
Which of These do we Assess?
understanding the world
acquiring knowledge
curiosity
finding and solving problems
making something
understanding something you previously didn’t understand
making connections
changing your perspective on something
synthesizing ideas
adding new knowledge

83. LEARNING IS
creativity
passion to know
application of knowledge
inquiry
seeing patterns
posing and answering questions
understanding the world
acquiring knowledge
curiosity
finding and solving problems
making something
understanding something you previously didn’t understand
making connections
changing your perspective on something
synthesizing ideas
adding new knowledge

84. REMEMBER:
And, if we don’t assess what we value,
we will value what we assess.

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

87. 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

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

89. change

91. CHANGE

92. “Technological change is not additive;
it’s ecological, which means,
it changes everything.”
Neil Postman

93. BE BOLD

94. NINE QUALITIES
1. Learning Centered
2. Inquiry Driven
3. Authentic Work
4. Digital
5. Connected
6. Literate
7. Transparent
8. Innovative
9. Provocative

95. NINE QUALITIES
1. Bold Schools are Learning
and Learner Centered
Students and teachers direct their own learning
and connect to their passions.

96. NINE QUALITIES
2. Bold Schools are Inquiry Driven
Since answers are now everywhere, learning is focused around
developing and exploring “big questions”

97. NINE QUALITIES
3. Bold Schools Support Authentic Work
Students and teachers create real work for
real audiences and real purposes.

98. NINE QUALITIES
4. Bold Schools are Digital
Students and teachers have access to
and fluency with technology.

99. NINE QUALITIES
5. Bold Schools are Connected
Students and teachers regularly learn
from and with people online.

100. NINE QUALITIES
6. Bold Schools are Literate
(by 21st Century Standards)
Students and teachers meet NCTE guidelines
for modern readers and writers.

101. NINE QUALITIES
7. Bold Schools are Transparent
Students and teachers widely share best practices
and reflections on their learning.

102. NINE QUALITIES
8. Bold Schools are Innovative
All learners are encouraged to “poke the box”
and experiment with practice.

103. NINE QUALITIES
9. Bold Schools are Provocative
Conversations around change extend to parents, communities, and
local, state and national governments.

104. NINE QUALITIES
1. Learning Centered
2. Inquiry Driven
3. Authentic Work
4. Digital
5. Connected
6. Literate
7. Transparent
8. Innovative
9. Provocative

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

106. CHANGE
Five Part Process

107. CHANGE
1. Understand: The contexts for change

110. CHANGE
1. Understand: The contexts for change
2. Feel: Anger, grief, excitement

113. “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.”

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

115. 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

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

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

122. BE BOLD

124. “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

125. THANKS!
will@willrichardson.com
@willrich45
willrichardson.com
Slides at: slideshare.net/willrich45