marc prensky ecis tech conference march 2013

Marc [email protected]

© 2013 Marc Prensky© 2013 Marc Prensky

ECIS TECH CONFERENCE 2013

PLANS FOR THE SPACESHIP:Helping our kids take off

In the 21st century March 15, 2013, Cobham, UK

Hi there!

© 2013 Marc Prensky


Beware theIde(a)s of Marc(h)


If you want a copy of my slides:

Send an email to:

[email protected]

It may be a funeral for [Time Magazine] but it’s not a

funeral for us. We can’t wear black crepe every time

somebody prefers to read on a tablet….


…we can’t be like the auto industry and the G.O.P., who got accustomed to

waiting around for it to be 1965 again.

— Maureen Dowd inThe New York Times


Learning to love the

iGeneration?


I say ship ‘em ‘ome & bring in a

Proper bunch of kids from the

1950s!


I’m sorry, but those iKids just don’t fit in well with some

of our faculty


They think they know more than

we do about technology!


Heck, I know the multiplication

tables through 50!


I bet none of them can work out 57 x 26 while writing 10,000 words backwards in

messy ink!


I’d like to see one of them use a

slide rule


Rubik’s cube indeed!


NEW

PERSPECTIVES© 2013 Marc Prensky


My assumption…

00:00:00


Our goalis to bring our kids

into the future…


equipped with the skillsthat will allow them to

function and thrive


in a 21st century context!

Althoughpeople blame everyone

In the world(including the iGeneration)

for our problems…


What is really causingOur current educational

problems is


The newNEW CONTEXT

in which welive and teach


New Perspective:

IT’S THE CONTEXTFOR EDUCATIONTHAT’S CHANGED


We all live, teachand learn in a

NEW,WORLDWIDE

CONTEXT


of

00:00:00


VUCA


Volatility

Uncertainty

Complexity

Ambiguity

00:00:00

and

00:00:00



accelerating

00:00:00


“Learning to Love the iGeneration”


Learning toAdapt to theNew Context

Now, every day

00:00:00


New technology isconceived and born

00:00:00


for kids to learn with, and about.

00:00:00



Those people who went into education

because it was…


Steady

Certain

Ordered

Unambiguous

Are now findingthat they live and teach

in a world of



accelerating

and


VUCA


Volatility

Uncertainty

Complexity

Ambiguity

And they are just startingto learn to deal with it!


Some more than others!


And it’s our job to help them!



So please, don’t worry, because…

00:00:00

Taken by Sky, Age 3½

I am here


00:00:00

to help youcope with the new context…


00:00:00

…and still stay sane!


00:00:00

Because the changes are often very

SCARY© 2013 Marc Prensky

We all must be daring and courageous…


…feeling the fear— and doing it anyway!


Which is the definition of

COURAGECOURAGE

I’m back!because…


they keep asking me these silly questions!


“Is education ready to embrace the

irresistible IT vision of tomorrow’s classroom?”


How the heck should I know?


But I do have a better question:



Is education ready to have the “classroom”

be the world?


It’s NOT aboutbringing IT into the classroom

It’s aboutnot having

“traditional classrooms”at all, thanks to IT


Physically,

We still herd our kids around,and into little rooms


Based, for the most part,

on“date of manufacture”


00:00:00

A “herd”(i.e. a class)


“Herding”is a silly wayto educate

00:00:00

Because what’s going on

intellectually is this:



Our strategy

has beento rein their attention in


But technology

wants to do the opposite:


i.e. to reach outAnd contact the world!


That’s the tension going on:


A fightFor the kids’ attention


In my life outside school I have to constantly think

and make decisions.

In school they tell me what to do—I just have to

follow their directions.

--a H.S. student


“I could stand on my head

and it wouldn’t make any

difference”--a teacher


My argument


Is that you gettheir attention

NOT by closing theclassroom down


But by

Opening it Up!

LIVE IN THE WHOLE WORLD


Today’s kids

IN THE WHOLE WORLD


Educate them

THE DIGITAL CLASSROOM


feel like the world!

Teachers need to make


It’s a mashup!

This is the worldThey live in:


Science

Technology

Engineering

The social sciences


The Humanities


The Arts


Almost all the advances,in every field, are a result

of adding technology


It’s inconceivable to thinkof a scientist or engineer,

or even an academicworking without technology



So how basic IS technology in the 21st century context?

There are a lot of fadsin education


IS TECHNOLOGY A FAD?



“You guys think of technology as tools.

We think of it as a foundation: it underlies

everything we do.”—a HS student

Technology is nowas foundational

as reading


00:00:00


Because wisdom nowcomes from the

human-technologysymbiosis…

Technology must be partof everything we do

in the same way thatreading is



to succeedin our new digital context

People need technology

(and Digital Wisdom about using it)


“If I lose my cell phone I lose half

my brain”-- a high school student


“My phone is my third hand”-- a high school student

TURN IT OFF?

00:00:00


“Everything I’m about to tell

you is wrong.”


A scientist, to kids:

“AORTA”(Always-on Real Time

Access)

00:00:00


Technology is NOT just about“ENGAGEMENT”



“Engaging” all kids with stuff we make or do for

them IS IMPOSSIBLE

It’s far tooTOP DOWN


Top-Down has issues:



We need BALANCE

Top Down

Bottom Up

Men Women



LISTENINGTO THE WOMEN

20th century

Over 25

Under 25© 2013 Marc Prensky


LISTENINGTO THE KIDS

21st century


What we need to get it is NOT to

“engage our kids”but to


Engage WITH our kids


Talk to them

Listen to them

When we do,we will learn that

our kids arereally full of



Sports Space DanceCoins

History Singing WritingNature

Music Medicine

PeopleThe Environment

Programming

MotorcyclesAnimals

Business

The Internet


The most fundamentalthing technology does

is let peopleCONNECT


AROUND THEIRPASSIONS

We used to preparekids to

CONNECT LATER

00:00:00



00:00:00


Now we must


EMPOWER EMPOWER OUROUR STUDENTSSTUDENTS



BY CONNECTING THEMBY CONNECTING THEMALL THE TIME!ALL THE TIME!



A far better wayto educate everyone

00:00:00


Is to connect all our students,teachers and citizens as

NODES ON THE NETWORK

00:00:00


The networkwill soon become

THE PRIMARY SOURCE FOREDUCATION FOR ALL

00:00:00


We need to change fromviewing education as

HERDING(into hierarchical pens)


To viewing education asA NETWORK

of people connectedaround the world


00:00:00


The Educators’ New Job

00:00:00


Is to teach our childrenTO EDUCATE THEMSELVES

USING THE NETWORK

00:00:00


because

04:58


Once we show themhow….

04:29


Connected peoplebecome empowered

04:52


toLEARN LIVE

WORK EARN

PARTICIPATEfar better

04:46

THE DIGITAL CLASSROOM


feel like the world!

Teachers need to make

It’s about having the BEST / FASTEST

NETWORKpossible!

00:00:00


and USING IT!

00:00:00



THAT WE CONNECTALL OUR STUDENTS

AND TEACHERS AND USETHOSE CONNECTIONS

Is far more importantthan any individual

educational programs we find or use

00:00:00


Technology is NOT aboutSTUFF…

00:00:00



Technology needs to be about

EXTENDING OUR THINKING!


Technologyis a part of

MENTAL ACTIVITY

Human brains are beingINCREDIBLY

ENHANCED and EXTENDEDBY TECHNOLOGY



left brain

right brain

Extended Brain(by technology)

Thinking abouthow to use technology

is more important to our students’ education

than using it!


00:00:00

• Reasoning• Reflecting and contemplating• Combining reason and emotion• Solving problems• Learning from experience• Working with other people• Creating• Storing and retrieving• Building up expertise• Having empathy• Having a sense of context• Having a sense of humor• Telling stories• Lying

Because while human brains do many things well:


• Using trillions of data points

• Dealing with extreme complexity

• Predicting the future

• Going beyond our senses

• Understanding others’ thoughts and intentions

• Holding multiple perspectives simultaneously

• Separating emotional and rational

• Remembering everything

There are things brains ARE NOT GOOD AT:



• improve our communications• improve our relations and our

health• make better decisions• deepen our analyses• derive new and useful insights• increase our creativity• involve our whole planet

Technology extensions to our brainsare helping us:


Those things our BRAINS DO WELL

Combining

Those things that TECHNOLOGY DOES BETTER

with

in the best possible way


is“DIGITAL WISDOM”

DON’T FAVOR ONLY THEBRAIN ALONE;

EDUCATETHE EXTENDED BRAIN


New Perspective:

TRIVIAL ITvs.

POWERFUL IT© 2013 Marc Prensky


Most of what we do with technology is just

“Old things in new ways”

These are “TRIVIAL” usesof technology


Our kids need “POWERFUL” uses of technology, i.e.

“New things we couldn’t do before”

Powerful uses include:



SKYPING AND TWEETING SKYPING AND TWEETING AROUND THE WORLDAROUND THE WORLD


COMPUTATION ENGINES and AI

SIRI

How much arable landis there per human?


What if peopleSPREAD OUT?


Wolfram Alpha,



3D PRINTING

SIMULATIONS

VIRTUAL WORLDS

COMPLEX GAMES

ROBOTICS

New Perspective:

LASTINGvs.

CHANGING© 2013 Marc Prensky

As everything changes,WHAT LASTS?

00:00:00


VERBS (i.e. SKILLS)

00:00:00


What lasts are:


Nouns(Tools)

PowerPoint

Verbs(Skills)

Presenting

Change rapidlyStay the same

EmailCommunicating

WikipediaLearning

Texting

You Tube????

Verbs vs. Nouns

Twitter

FlashHTML5

00:00:00

• Being rigorous


VERBS

Stay the same

• Creating emotion

• Communicating

• Presenting logically

• Thinking critically

• Understanding context

• Persuading

00:00:00

AnalyzingCalculatingCollaboratingCombiningCommunicatingComparingCompetingConnectingCooperatingCreatingDebatingDeciding Estimating

PredictingPresentingQuestioning, Socratic (i.e. thought-provoking)

ReflectingSearching / FindingSharingSimulatingThinking criticallyThinking logicallyTryingVerifyingWriting


Ethical QuestioningEvaluatingExperimentingExploringImitatingInnovatingLeadingListeningNegotiatingNetworkingObservingPracticing

VERBS00:00:00

• Blackboards Electronic Boards

NOUNS

Change

• MySpace Facebook

• Laptops Tablets

• Overheads PowerPoint

• Books e-books

• Mobile Phones App Phones

• Clickers Mobile phones

00:00:00



What are the key verbs (skills)

we want our students to learn, practice and

master?

We must ask:00:00:00


“Am I using the appropriate / best /

latest nouns for the verbs (skills)

I am teaching?”



“Am I ready andflexible enough

to move to new nouns as they appear?”


BE SURE TEACHERSTEACH & ASSIGN VERBS

AND GIVE STUDENTSTHE CHOICE OF NOUNS


Leader's role:

EMPATHYCHOICE

PASSION

00:00:00


What also lasts are:


THINGS THAT TECHNOLOGY

CAN’T DO AT ALL!


Empathy ( Desire)

Choice ( Motivation)

EMPHASIZEEMPATHY

GIVE KIDSCHOICE


Leader's role:


Empathy ( Desire)

Choice ( Motivation)

Passion ( Persistence)


Helping studentsHelping studentsfind & follow their passionfind & follow their passion

is a key to 21is a key to 21stst century century education!education!

If tomorrowevery teacher

askedevery student


“What are you

passionate about?”


And wrote it down and acted on it


Our education would take giant leaps

overnight!



OnSHARING

SHARING IS KEYBecause…

00:00:00



When we share more,we learn faster

Old context:DON’T’ SHARE

“Keep it close to the vest”

New context:SHARE EVERYTHING

“First to share gets the reward”

00:00:00


It’s important tounderstand that


00:00:00

In any fast moving field,(and we are now one)

there ARE NO

“best practices”


00:00:00

There are onlygood practices

Our job is toInvent and share

better ones every day


00:00:00

So to be effective,WE ALL NEED TO

EXPERIMENT, INVENT, ANDSHARE WHAT WORKS

EVERY DAY


“Don’t experiment with my kid”

— a parent


WE HAVE TO EXPERIMENT—RESPONSIBLY—

BECAUSE WE DON’T YETKNOW WHAT WORKS IN THIS

NEW CONTEXT


And quickly shareWHAT WORKS



Today’s sharing tool is VIDEO


There are 2 kinds of “video”:

“Produced”Video

“Personal”Video

The best way to share todayis short (under 30 seconds)

“You Tube” video

Make and post one per week!

00:00:00


When we share in personwe reach only a few

When we share with videoWe can reach many more,

Even the whole world


VIDEOIs our 2nd most important

technology tool—HAVE THE KIDS USE IT

EVERY DAY!

00:00:00

All teachers and studentsshould regularly make and post short videos

about succesful practices,

and use them to learn



“Are my kids making video as much as they

are writing?”

Teachers must ask:00:00:00


If you are not comfortable being in a

video?

GET COMFORTABLE!


AND IT’S NOT HARD!


OnPROGRAMMING

00:00:00


We must teachall our kids

PROGRAMMING!

Our kids have to knowhow to make their powerful

technologiesdo what they want them to!

00:00:00



SPREADSHEETSIn elementary school!

MACROSalways!

ROBOTICSat all ages/levels


APPSStudents can create

apps in and forevery subject and class

EVERY CLASSshould make an app


If you don’t know how…


ASK THE KIDS


AppDevSecretshttp://appdevsecrets.com/?hop=ascott10

…and USE THE WEB!

Programming is aKey Tool and Literacy

of the21st Century



NOW HIRING!

00:00:00


OnSIMULATION

00:00:00


Simulation is somethingwe couldn’t do as well

before computers!

00:00:00


SIMULATIONUse it as much as possible

00:00:00


Find (or create) simulationsand use them

for everything you teach

00:00:00


We’re now starting toSimulate the Brain

00:00:00


Kids can be part of this with

00:00:00


Eyewire

OnGAMES


1. Use/Adapt complex games (e.g. WoW, Minecraft)

2. Use Mini-games3. Use “Game principles”4. Design games (thought experiments)

5. Create games6. Include “gamification”


6 ways to use games in K-12

“It’s amazing what we’ll do for

points” – A student


To find learning games:•by subject•by level•by age


Spreegames.com


www.spreegames.com

Better:Use the kids to find the best,

most appropriate games


On EDUCATING



Educating our kids≠

Making them get highertest scores


Educating our kids≠

“producing learning”


“Learning”(as measured on tests)

is theWRONG GOALfor students


The real goal for students is

BECOMING


The goal of their education is for them to

BECOMEfor example, better

— Thinkers— Actors

— Relators— Accomplishers


“Learning”is not the end,it’s a means!


And technologyshould be a means to

BECOMINGas well!

On WHAT’S BASIC


OLD:

MathEnglishScienceSocial

Studies


00:00:00

What’s Core?NEW:

EffectiveTHINKING

EffectiveACTIONEffective

RELATIONSHIPSEffective

ACCOMPLISHMENT

On TESTING



In this age of testing…


One of the MOST POWERFUL

things that technology canhelp us with is


TEST PREPARATION

!

Teachers don’t need toteach to the test…

00:00:00


…because technology can!

00:00:00



There’s an app for that!


FINALLY,


Many say

It’s time for

change!


00:00:00

BUT…


00:00:00

Interesting pics

NO ONE wants to

do it !


00:00:00

PeopleHATE

to change!

00:00:00



TO CHANGE!

00:00:00

So I’ve stopped telling people

Instead, I’ve begun inviting people to do

something


00:00:00

THEY ALREADY KNOW HOW TO DO:

00:00:00



to00:00:00


We ALL need to00:00:00

to the new 21st centurycontext


Educators need to00:00:00

to the world we, and our students, live in!

The good news is

00:00:00


WE ALL KNOW HOWTO ADAPT,

00:00:00


because we do it every day!

00:00:00



is something humans are all good at!

00:00:00


00:00:00

Remember…


00:00:00


The kids are going tocreate their world…

00:00:00


and it’s our job to help them…

When you find yourself struggling…


00:00:00

Don’t blame thetechnology…


00:00:00

BLAMETHE CONTEXT!


00:00:00


And look forDIGITALLY WISE

ways to adapt

00:00:00

And to HELP EACH OTHER

ADAPT


00:00:00

The Quest forDigital Wisdom


00:00:00

can be hard…

00:00:00



can be scary…

00:00:00

and it can sometimes be unpleasant

00:00:00


But despite


Lack of funds


And Slippery Slopes


We can do this!

00:00:00


So let’s all search for theDIGITAL WISDOM


00:00:00

To prepare our students


00:00:00

to live and thrive into live and thrive intheir NEW context!their NEW context!

00:00:00


Thank You

For helping the kids!


00:00:00


REMINDER:If you want a copy of my slides:

Send an email to:

[email protected]

marc prensky ecis tech conference march 2013

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