Crystal Ball or Rear View Mirror? A View of 21 st Century Learning

1. Crystal Ballor Rear View Mirror?A View of 21st Century Learning • Delaware Department of Education • October 16, 2007 • Tom Welch • tom@twelchconsulting.com

2. How about a graphic organizer to help you out this morning?

3. OMG! Oh Aha!

4. My challenge today . . . • To invite you to look at learning and what you are doing at the DEDOE to facilitate it in a whole new way. • NOT as an improvement on what you have been doing.

5. Today’s Essential Question • What year is it?

6. We need to get beyond a 1967 mindset or even a 1997 mindset! • The future of Delaware is too important! • Your role at DEDOE in that future is too vital

7. You may find some of the things I say leaving you feeling very . . . • “uncomfortable”!

8. “If you don’t like change . . . • You’re going to like obsolescence even less.” • -- Gen. Shinseki (ret.)

9. Ever play the game . . . • “I never _____” • Raise your hand if you would “win” with these questions . . .

10. I’ve never listened to an iPod. • I’ve never downloaded a podcast. • I’ve never subscribed to an RSS feed. • I’ve never installed a widgit. • I’ve never been in Facebook. • I’ve never downloaded from YouTube • I’ve never read a blog • I’ve never been on a wiki other than Wikipedia • SL vs RL? I don’t have any idea what you mean!

11. Welch’s Brief History of the Ages of School • Pre-industrial age • School as a cottage industry • Industrial age • School as a factory

12. In the Industrial Age, the worker went to the work • The student went to the school • “The John Derringer model”

13. Work and School in the Industrial Age

14. I think it’s significant that you are the Delaware Department of • EDUCATION • NOT • The Delaware Department of • SCHOOLS or Schooling

15. If you don’t relate to the factory model of school, let me illustrate the current modern dilemma in a different way . . .

16. My home town had a good little public library

17. What if someone in Washington DC had said: • Libraries are so important that . . . • We have to make EVERY good local library, • A GREAT library!

18. And the reason you don’t have a great library in this town is because you have a good library. • Your good local library needs to have, on its shelves, the BEST books that are available in the BEST libraries in the United States.

19. Is that a noble idea? • YES! • Would that be a really good thing for every town to have? • YES!

20. Is it practical? • Even possible? • NO! • 

21. Thank goodness for the TELEX machine. Model 28, ca 1963

22. With that machine, ANY library could get ANY book.

23. So let’s look at the chart again, This time as Work and School in the Information Age

24. What about Delaware? • Are you approaching education with one eye on the rear view mirror, as if it’s 1997, or 1987?

25. When learning is available to anyone, • Anywhere • Anytime • And in any amount . . . • It’s not about every school being a great school, any more than it was about every library being a great library

26. It’s about the DEDOE establishing the systems to make every student a great learner. • And give every student access to the best opportunities for learning that exist.

27. In 2007, the limits of Geography could be called “artificial” at best. • Frankly, I would be more likely to characterize them as “outdated” • “artificial” • repugnant • And frankly • “Immoral”

28. We’ve all heard what Bill Gates said in February of 2005.

29. “America's high schools are obsolete. By obsolete, I don't just mean that they're broken, flawed or underfunded, though a case could be made for every one of those points.

30. By obsolete, I mean our high schools, even when they're working as designed, cannot teach all our students what they need to know today.'"

31. Isn’t it amazing to figure out why he’s trying to fix an “obsolete” model. • We don’t need to reinvent the flat tire!

32. The Delaware Department of Education can take the lead in showing the nation what can be done!

33. It doesn’t mean we close the schools, anymore than we should close the libraries.

34. It means that the 21st Century Knowledge Economy demands 21st Century solutions!

35. This is extremely difficult because it means redefining who you are as Department employees • And redefining how you operate, both independently, and with each other.

36. Let me give you one example • Let’s talk about Technology

37. Here are a few of the ISTE Standards . . . • National Educational Technology Standards for Students: The Next Generation “What students should know and be able to do to learn effectively and live productively in an increasingly digital world …”

38. 1. Creativity and Innovation • Students demonstrate creative thinking, construct knowledge, and develop innovative products and processes using technology. Students: • a. apply existing knowledge to generate new ideas, products, or processes. • b. create original works as a means of personal or group expression. • c.. use models and simulations to explore complex systems and issues. • d. identify trends and forecast possibilities.

39. 2. Communication and Collaboration • Students use digital media and environments to communicate and work collaboratively, including at a distance, to support individual learning and contribute to the learning of others. • Students: a. interact, collaborate, and publish with peers, experts or others employing a variety of digital environments and media. b. communicate information and ideas effectively to multiple audiences using a variety of media and formats. c. develop cultural understanding and global awareness by engaging with learners of other cultures. d. contribute to project teams to produce original works or solve problems.

40. There are others, covering • 3. Research and Information Fluency • 4. Critical Thinking, Problem-Solving & Decision-Making • 5. Digital Citizenship • 6. Technology Operations and Concepts

41. Remember the trick of adding a phrase after you read your fortune from a Chinese fortune cookie?

42. 99.99% of the time we do the same thing with these and other standards. • Let me show you . . .

43. 1. Creativity and Innovation • Students demonstrate creative thinking, construct knowledge, and develop innovative products and processes using technology. • Students: • a. apply existing knowledge to generate new ideas, products, or processes. • b. create original works as a means of personal or group expression. • c.. use models and simulations to explore complex systems and issues. • d. identify trends and forecast possibilities.

44. I would be willing to bet that you silently put in the words • “…in their school” or “in their classroom” or “for their teacher” after each one. • And you didn’t even realize you were doing it!

45. Think you’re too old to learn new things? • Let me tell you about Lilian!

46. You know what an authoring system is, right? • What if Delaware could lead the nation in developing the equivalent in the student learning domain?

47. Two of the essential elements that motivate students (and adults) to act are • Power and Control

48. Who has it in schools?

49. What if . . . • You lead the transition to a system where students, on an increasing basis were given power and control to demonstrate their learning?

50. What if they had to be responsible for demonstrating how they met the established standards, and how they could demonstrate it?