Ulearn so far... Keynote One

Well it is day two at Ulearn 08, and my breakout has just been canceled, which is a bummer because I was really looking forward to getting to grips with actionscript in Flash.

So I'll try and be productive and fill you in on some key ideas and points that have stood out for me so far in the conference.

Yesterday we were treated to a keynote shared by Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach and Will Richardson. They talked about the need to progress from merely sharing and connecting with others, to true collaboration and contributing to change. Her point that I most resonated with is that we now have as teachers an almost moral obligation to make sure that our students are equipped with 21st century skills. No longer can we justify that reading, writing and basic facts are our core learning areas.

I have some teachers in my cluster that are 'reluctant' technology users, some that are embedded in their teaching ideology...and they are great teachers. But the fact is, they won't be great teachers for much longer if they do not change and adapt, and this is a hard pill to swallow. I've heard the argument that schools can't incorporate inquiry learning, thinking skills, personalised learning because of decile rating, social demographics and behavior problems within the school.

"We just can't do that, because our kids would just run riot!". But it is these schools where it is needed most. These are the schools whose students do not always have access to a safe environment where they can explore, grow. If you are not going to provide them access to the tools they will need to succeed in the future, the ability to not only communicate, but to collaborate and make change...what is the point?

For me, the bottom line is, if you are a passionate teacher, excited about educating the future generations of NZ society, you will need to be just as adaptable as the learners in your classroom. You cannot say "the way I teach is fine, and it'll stay just fine."

Will Richardson put out the thought that in the future (and the future is now!), employers will be googling potential employees to see a 'true' picture of them as a person rather than looking at a paper CV. When my daughter is applying for her job at Apple when she leaves school, will the fact that she had a blog at age 7 have more weight than her high school exam results?

Will said that we need to teach our students how to live in an online connected world, that at the moment we have tech savvy kids that have no idea of how to have a productive presence on the web. Instead we are bombarded with millions of Bebo and Facebook pages filled with bikinis and drinking. Our task is to educate them to not only share their experiences appropriately and safely, but also how to tailor their online persona into something that complements and promotes them as a person.

How are you preparing your students to be Googled in the future? Change for the children.