Webucation

Many years ago now I was fortunate to visit the Alan November conference in Boston and enjoyed a few days with like minded people who thought there was something still not quite right about the education systems on most Western Countries. It may well be that this view is more widely spread but those at the conference were predominantly from the USA, Europe and other western democracies.

The world has changed a lot since that visit but many education systems, certainly in the UK, appear to have gone backwards. A few years ago the UK was regarded as one of the leading countries exploring the potential of technology to transform learning,  that is certainly not the view now. Other countries are pushing ahead, exploring new approaches and recognising that young people are in a very different world from the one that saw the introduction of mass education. 

In 2007 I spoke to two university professors attending an event in the locality and my first question was whether we were turning out the sort of students that their research programmes required - the immediate answer was 'no'.

In this insightful video Alan revisits his main argument, that we need to radically rethink our approach to education in a technological age. He rightly comments on the fact that training a teacher to use technology is only the tip of the iceberg and that shifting the focus of control in the classroom  to become more learner centric is a much greater challenge. 

It is certainly true that for some students school is an ideal experience, but for many they do not flourish and develop their potential until they move out into college, university or work. We all know of children in Primary schools that suddenly lose their enthusiasm for learning when they move into the high school. Some schools do make major efforts to create the sort of learning environment in which individuals flourish but I have yet to see very many classrooms, let alone schools, where technology is used to stimulate, engage and aid collaboration and communication. There are bits of these in a lot of schools and usually where specific teachers have a vision for using technology ineffective and engaging ways.The trouble in many such schools is that once a creative and innovative teacher leaves then the innovation they brought in often withers and dies.

Alan might be fighting a cause that can never be won but it is a battle worth fighting.

If you spend any time trying to find a definition of 'Transformation' as it applies to education then you won't find anything definitive. there are lots of people and organisations that state they are engaged in transformational change but very little to describe what that fundamentally means. Let us look at what we know:

• Young people now engage in a wide range of activities some of which were not available only a few years ago. Much of this activity is connected with communication, either through their mobile phone or via the various communities they join online.
• There are some young people who have no interest in technology and although most will have a mobile phone they may well not take part in any online collaboration.
• The curriculum in many schools remains as it was ten or more years ago. In the UK we are exploring new structures for learning through such things as diplomas which will require collaboration between institutions but the bulk of the curriculum is still focused on traditional models
• Quite a lot of the technology kids will use outside school will not be allowed in many schools
• Kids like to collaborate and be creative.
  
• Technology will continue to develop and will do so based on what the market requires - much of the market are young people

So what are the implications?
The outcome of the above is that we are creating two worlds; one which is the formal world of school and the other is the personal space surrounding the learner. Of course there is already overlap between these two but the impact of technology is pushing the world of the personal
space further away from the formal world of school.
In my view transformation, in part, must be greater inclusion of the informal personal space within the formal education space. How you do that and to what extent is the real challenge.

Marc was  a keynote speaker at the Worcestershire Learning Technologies Conference in the UK and in this podcast I discuss with his views on building schools of the future.

As a passionate advocate for preparing learners for an ever changing world Marc challenges us all to consider how best we can prepare learners for the 21st Century. He is interested in the challenges we face as educators and how the education process needs to change to accommodate new technologies and the opportunities that they offer. 

Almost unique to Marc's presentation technique is his effort to connect with learners in front of an audience of educators. A group of young people ranging from 11 to 17 joined Marc to answer some of his questions about their experience of school.  Marc discussed with the group their thoughts about schooling, their use of technology and their hopes for the future. The students were well able to express their views and made it very clear that listening to young people is an essential activity for teachers and school leaders if they are to develop an education process that will meet the needs of every student.

In this Podcast Marc's views on learning and the opinions of the learners combine to give some valuable insights into how we need to rethink our learning spaces. The discussions also tell us that educators have a superb resource to draw on when thinking about the School of the Future - their students.