We Are All Designers

“We are all designers.”

Some may balk at this statement. Some may say that they don’t even actually know what that means.

I don’t make that statement lightly.  I taught history, am  a “techie”,  and  can’t draw very well (i’m trying though). In the past, I did not consider myself as the creative type.

With that in mind, design is not about making logos, building websites, or creating an inexpensive incubator for countries in the third world. Design is a mindset. It is an approach that addresses how we collaborate, how and what  we create.

Design is about creating interactions. Design is about understanding our users. Design is about developing something that will make a difference. As educators, we do this ALL the time. We create lessons and experiences that support our students’ learning. Design is at the core of what we do.

This past weekend at Next Chapter in Atlanta, GA, we heard this over and over again: “ design is a verb not a noun.” I know some people may say, “What does that even mean?” but it is at the core of how we can improve how we teach and learn. Design is about how we interact and create.

To understand and embrace this concept of design takes time. I’ll be the first to admit, seeing ourselves as designers does not come easily. You are not the expert. For some, this may be antithetical to how they were trained, how they have operated, how they have built their career. The outcomes, while undefined, may not be what they suggested or had in mind. It may not come easily. We were taught to have structure and a clearly defined outcome or argument.

Despite that, I ask you to try to let go. Try to embrace the uncertainty of the process. Many of our colleagues cry out for empowering our students, to create curriculum that is authentic. We talk about teacher as “facilitator” or as “guide on the side”. If we are truly to embrace the concept of authentic and student-centered learning, we must be open to letting go: to embrace a process that is messy and does not have a pre-defined outcome.

I am not suggesting that you upend your life to embrace the design process. Rather, find small ways that you can incorporate  the process into your life. Start by  addressing  a small challenge that your colleagues, students, or family is facing. For example:

1. Use the process with students and teachers to define how to recreate a space in the  library to best suit the needs of the community.


2. Build it into a unit for a class you teach.


3. Brainstorm exercise with a few of your colleagues during a faculty or department meeting.


4. With your family, reconsider how you use your backyard.

Give yourself the time and space to explore the process in a way that suits your personality and needs. Do not try to copy an approach. Think about who you are and what you need.

If you  need guidance, find someone who would be willing to explore this challenge with you. Do you need to research before you begin? See below for some resources. Find an approach that speaks to you and adapt it to suit your particular need.

The idea of design and design thinking is not to uproot  our core values but to heighten  our ability to create experiences that will extend how we teach and learn. It will empower our students and colleagues. It will create experiences and outcomes that we could never have imagined.

Release. Play. Make. Celebrate.

Resources

• IDEO - "Design Thinking for Educators"


• Stanford - "k12 Lab Wiki"


• Prototype - Design Thinking Resources

Photo credit: Hugh MacLeod

Mobile Learning is coming but...

I saw a tweet that included the poster shown below. As I scanned the poster I was in agreement with the overarching thesis:

YES

mobile technologies are here.

YES

they are transforming how our students learn/interact/think.

YES

we must be aware of this and think about how we can best incorporate mobile technologies in to our teaching.

BUT

before we do, let us take a step back and think long and hard about the approach. Is the technology allowing the curriculum to be something much more transformative? Is archiving our notes or being able to record your voice going to transform how our students learn in a world that is changing before our eyes or is it simply creating a shinier tool for an outdated model of learning?

As you examine how technology can be incorporated into your school, make sure you think through these questions:

1. How is [fill in the blank] creating a more engaging and dynamic learning experience?
2. Will this empower students to be self-directed learners?
3. Is it allowing students to create their own knowledge?
4. How is this extending the classroom?
5. Is it helping students realize that learning is not about getting to the next step?

YES

there will be some technologies that simply improve how we operate and effectively transfer information.

BUT

if we are able to answer these questions knowing that we are using the available technologies to transform our learning environments, then we will be headed in the right direction.


Via: Voxy Blog

Photo Credit: Yagan Kiely

Using Design to Make Life More Interesting

A really great talk from TEDxSanJose that speaks to the power of design. When we think about our students, we should see it as a similar opportunity to rethink where, how, when, and what we learn.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvqcS6-7tNc[/youtube]

Rives and the iPad

Rives is a man of many talents, he is a spoken word poet, emcee, pop-up book writer, and conversationalist. As one of the hosts of TEDxSMU this past October, he was given the chance to show off some of his skills and gave a powerful storytelling performance using an iPad.

His four minute "talk", seen below, is an example of the potential of the iPad, or any tablet for that matter. Far too often we see computers as a means to check email, write papers, or watch videos. In an age of, as Clay Shirky puts it, "cognitive surplus", we have the opportunity to use that technology and our time towards "doing something" and being "creative", two things that we must ensure our students embrace. The tools at our disposal, including the iPad, are extremely powerful, so let's make sure that our students are using the technology to do more than write five paragraph essays or create PowerPoints. Let's make sure they truly create.

In the end, as Rives points out, no matter the medium, it is about telling a "story". We need to let our students embrace the mediums that work for them (iPads/cellphones/whatever) and allow them to create stories that they care about. By giving them a voice, we will not only empower our students but allow them to develop their creative spirit all while maximizing that "cognitive surplus".

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNhdRvBfg7A&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]

Learning from Google's Creative Lab

Google's Creative Lab has been around for a few years but the concept has been a transformative one for the company and a model that schools should consider.

The Creative Lab

Google, which had been known more for their search than their advertising, has made a large impact in the digital media scene over the past few years. Their multi-disciplinary team in the Creative Lab has been responsible for some very critically acclaimed work including, their "Google Chrome Speed Tests", "Wilderness Downtown", and "Parisian Love".

Projects like these have transformed Google's image. The Creative Lab has been an opportunity to infuse creative talent into an Internet company while also training the "creatives" on the power of Google. Those who work in the Creative Lab stay for a year or two before being sent back into their respective industries. By following such a model, Google has been able not only train up and coming designers and writers on the power of Google but reap the benefits of their talent.

Bringing the Creative Lab to schools

The power of the Creative Lab has been in the fact that it has helped transform Google into a force in the digital media world.

Why can't the same be done in schools?

It could be a "Teach For America" for creatives. Innovators and designers will spend two years working within a school to help bring innovation and an understanding of design thinking into schools while in turn they are trained as educators. The schools benefit by having access to amazing creatives who can help transform the experience of learning in an academic institution while the creatives benefit by being trained as educators. After a stint in a school, the creatives return to their professional worlds with an understanding of education that many dedicated to helping lack.

Far too often I meet very creative people who want to make a difference in the world of education but do not understand schools. By developing a program like this, a school will give those passionate creatives an opportunity to make a difference the world of education and in turn become a much more informed public. This type of work would provide an opportunity to solve two problems:

1. The need for schools to truly embrace a different way of thinking when it comes to learning


2. Create more informed social entrepreneurs, innovators, and designers

The Google Creative Lab has transformed Google into a powerful player in the advertising and media space. Schools can benefit from the same approach. Design and innovation are becoming more important in our schools and this is a great opportunity to create more "teachers" while benefiting from the power of creativity and innovation.

If anyone is interested in such an idea, let me know and lets dream this up together.

Education, Play and Design

I found this video by Plikums via @ethanbodnar.

It focuses on the intersection of education, play, and design. In my mind, it is a powerful video about real learning that we should all watch and take to heart.

"Education is not learning the system"

[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/20949186[/vimeo]

Why we need a new conversation

Twitter is full of education hashtags. Those symbols of community bring educators from around the world together. One hashtag in particular is very powerful within the our community. #edchat has become a beacon for many educators. It has connected them, it has enabled them to share ideas, resources, and stories. I believe that hashtags like #edchat are critical to create a sense of community for educators, many whom feel isolated in their schools or districts.

I will not speak poorly of #edchat. As I mentioned, it has played an important role in connecting and enabling many educators. I value what the creators and curators of #edchat are doing to unite and support educators around the globe.

BUT

I believe we must move beyond #edchat.

While it plays an important role, I believe we need to hear new voices. Many educators are stuck in an echo chamber. Rather than learning about another web 2.0 tool or rehashing futile debates, I want us to be inspired. I want us to be challenged. I want to extend us to extend our thinking about what is possible in the world of education.

For the past few years I have been seeking inspiration and connections among my fellow educators but also reaching out to innovators, designers, and visionaries. This has led to some eye opening experiences and connections that are transforming the way I work and in turn helping others understand how to engage with educators.

For educators to move beyond the echo chamber, It is necessary for us to engage in conversations with people outside the world of education We should be reading more Fast Company and GOOD, just to name two, and fewer teacher blogs, including mine. Educators are not the only ones who want to improve the status of education. Very smart and creative people are looking to help. They are looking to make a difference. We should be engaging these innovators and designers to dream up ways to improve where, how, and when learning happens.

To make this happen, not only do we need to create conversations that kill the echo chamber but educators should attend events that have nothing to do with their specific discipline. True innovation comes when there are disruptors. For changes to be made at a national level, we must do a better job at engaging innovators in other industries. Those innovators can help us think differently about how our schools function, we can build partnerships, and in turn we can help educate a non educators about the real challenges we face.

Schools like the REALM Charter School in Berkeley, CA, or Science Leadership Academy in Philadelphia, PA are examples of how this can be done. They are being very particular and creating a close relationship with institutions and companies that provide educators and students an opportunity to connect the worlds between education and innovation.

Educators have the chance to change the conversation by reaching out to their communities and build relationships with individuals, companies, and organizations who want to make a difference.

We can learn from the amazing creatives who are rethinking so many different industries. If educators do not engage these people, if they do not join these conversations and build these relationships, a huge opportunity will be lost.

You should still continue to be a part of #edchat and the myriad of other education hashtags but all I ask is that you also join a conversation in a completely different field. Be madly curious. Go engage and by doing so you'll be able to transform your practice and open your students up to a world of new opportunities.

Links:
REALM Charter School
Science Leadership Academy
#edchat
Fast Company
GOOD

Serving Up PD

For the the past few years, I have been exploring the idea of professional development. While the mindset of helping educators has always been the same, the methodology has evolved.

There are a number of people out there who are doing the same thing. We are attempting to inspire and connect by using models that include edcamps and TEDx.

My first exploration started a few years ago when I ran across TEDx. In my mind, TEDxNYED and TEDxSFED were meant to be the answer, TED like events that brought inspiration to educators. These are powerful opportunities but these are once a year.

Over the past few months I have been thinking about the idea of community, learning, and innovation.

The more I thought about it, the more I realized that TEDx as a one day event, while inspiring, does not bring the type of results I have been seeking. The real goal is to create opportunities for sustained interaction between educators, innovators, and designers.

What got me to this mind set was at first the TEDxNY salon. Then there was Detroit Soup. And finally, today I read Glen Lubbert's post on Jeffersonian dinners.

These events all have something in common: bringing people together to connect, share, and explore what is possible. They are not difficult to produce and they are not time consuming. They are simple methods to connect and create opportunities that can transform education.

As I move forward, my goals are to:

1. Provide a platform for educators to connect on a regular basis
2. Introduce the worlds of education and innovation to each other

That is possible by:

1. Following the TEDxNY and TEDx Tuesdays at SMU models and create a regularly scheduled salon that bringing educators and innovators together to inspire, learn, share, and create opportunites that will transform education.

2. Create regularly scheduled dinners like Detroit Soup or the Jeffersonian Dinners that provide opportunities to inspire, connect, and plan over a meal.

I know these ideas are not new but I do not see many opportunities that connect the worlds of education and innovation. My goal is to bridge the divide of education and innovation by creating opportunities for the two worlds to meet. Far too often educators are not included in these type of events.

Hopefully, by introducing these models, I will be able to help feed the conversation around how we can assist our educators, expand their network, and transform their teaching.

In order to give credit where credit is due, the ideas mentioned stemmed from the following models:

TEDxNY
Detroit Soup
Jeffersonian Dinners
edcamp

While TEDxSFED is on April 9th, I believe these goals are definitely ideas worth spreading and plan to move forward soon after our first iteration of TEDxSFED is over. I hope that you do the same and create your own Jeffersonian Dinners or something similar and help bring educators and innovators together in order to serve up better professional development.

Photo Credit: Ed Yourdon

I'm an educator, I mean designer, I mean...

I had the chance to attend CompostModern this past weekend. It is a conference for designers by designers.

As an educator, I was not exactly sure what to expect. I initially felt as though I would be the odd man out. I mean, I was no where near as fashionable as 99% of the attendees and at no point have I or will I pretend to be an artist. Just ask my old students, I was the master of the stick figure.

That being said, I do consider myself a designer. In my mind all educators are. The bonds that unite "designers" and "educators" are far deeper than you would expect.

Both are asked to solve problems. Both deal with clients who don't necessarily like their ideas. Both must find ways to sell their ideas and, if they are good, will use images to do so.

Far too often, I see teachers simply consider themselves to be content experts and get caught up in data and numbers. Rather than focusing purely on statistics, let us, as "educators", think as designers:

• How can you use a story to solve your problem? (i.e. help your students learn)


• How can you visualize the learning process?


• How can you ensure that you stay true to your vision (i.e. the content) while meeting your client (i.e. the student) where they are as well?

What really hit me while at CompostModern, a conference on sustainability and design, was the fact that so many designers want to make a difference. Many of those designers want to help or be educators. This became obvious when I offered an unconference session on education and design and it was attended by over 30 people. As educators, we cannot ignore this. We must look to designers for help as we have a lot to learn on how as Dan Meyer put it, "sell a product the consumer doesn't want to buy".

The power of design, story, and imagery have changed the world. Images and story have helped shape our culture. In an age of abundance and information overload it is becoming every more apparent that what we as educators need to do is think more like designers.

It doesn't matter how many gadgets or gizmos you throw at a classroom, they will not make a difference unless the story behind the material is compelling, unless the process is visual, and unless you engage your students differently.

So I ask you, from one educator to another, to think about the following:

• Are you presenting your students with a clear and relevant problem?


• Is the material clear and telling a story?


• Is your approach visual?

If you are answering yes to all three, then you are more of a designer than you think. If you did not answer yes to the questions, then think about how you could change reconstruct your approach.

What we teach must take design into consideration. The days of just buying a shoe are over. Consumers want a story (TOMS) they can believe in. Education is no different. Designers are itching to make a difference. If you are not comfortable with this transition, reach out to someone who can help.

In short, designers can be educators and educators can be designers.

Photo credit: Active Free

Design as a mindset. Design as a methodology.

I recently joined the Be Playful team. After a year of transition, I have found an opportunity where I will help others understand the process of Design Thinking in order to engage our students and help them solve problems.

The concept of Design Thinking is something that is not necessarily new, rather it is a mindset that enable students to solve problems. When faced with a world where students, for the most part, are disconnected from school and are not engaged in the learning process, Design Thinking offers an alternative methodology that will transform any learning environment.

Below, David Kelly, the Founder and Chairman of IDEO, explains Design Thinking and how it can empower our students.



As an educator, I have seen students who came to school and went through the routine because it is what they are "required" to do in order to get to the next step in their lives. For those students, learning was not the goal, personal fulfillment was not the goal. A curriculum based around the principles of passion and problem solving changes that.

I am extremely excited about this next step in my career as it will enable me to help schools, and more importantly, students engage in their learning. This path will help students become active learners and problem solvers rather than passive recipients of information.

To learn more about Design Thinking, download this bootcamp provided by the Stanford d.school.

Photo credit: Think Public

Thirty Conversations on Design

"Thirty Conversations on Design" documents what some of the most creative professionals think of design. While there were a number of great talks, and I suggest you take a look, there were a few that stood out to me

This included a talk by Emily Pilloton, who describes how learning can be reshaped by using design principles. She runs Project H Design, which is dedicated to "the re-thinking of environments, products, experiences, and curricula for K-12 education institutions in the US."

Another education related talk was Dan Pink, who discusses using design to reshape systems.  In particular, he focuses on how we should not be optimizing current systems, which has been the traditional practice but rather use design thinking to create new approaches to solving our biggest problems within education and other systems like health care.

If you believe we must rethink how we approach what, how and where students learn, I challenge you to take a deeper look into design thinking and how it can be a catalyst for actual reform within systems like education.

To learn more, visit

K-12 Lab @ Standford's d.school

Project H Design

Nueva School

Requirements for change

The word change has different connotations depending upon who you are. For some, it incites fear. For others, it is thrilling and the focus of their work. In my experience, leadership is about harnessing an ability to be visionary and anticipate change while also being able to understand your colleagues, their predispositions towards change, meet them where they are and be persistent in the support of your vision in order to successfully implement that change.

Vision

For many leaders, this is the easy part. Vision is an ability to see possibilities, to envision a better school through certain changes, understanding that like every other industry, your world changes and to stay relevant you must be able to adapt to that change. When a leader is able to look forward and has a clear vision to what school must include, she is taking the first step. There are many school leaders that embody this idea but a couple that stand out are Chris Lehmann and George Couros. If you want to understand why vision is so important, read up on these men. They are true visionaries.

Understanding

Almost more importantly, understanding your faculty and their inclinations towards change is vital to a successful implementation of a clear vision. While you should not limit your vision because your faculty may not all be supportive, you must understand where your faculty are and be able to find a path for them to reach your vision on their own terms. For a school leader to be able to implement her vision, she must be able to find methods that meet their faculty half way. Understanding and acknowledging  their biases while giving them incentive to think forward will lead to a greater chance of success.

Instituting mandates to create change will not work. Ensure that you create a cohort of supporters who will readily test your vision in order to provide you data. In addition, provide your reluctant adopters the time and support to explore your vision on their own terms. They may not value your vision at first but that's where persistence comes into play.

Persistence

To ensure a successful change in a school, a leader must be persistent. When a leader does not give up and makes an idea the cornerstone of her success, the faculty will understand that it will not simply go away. That being said, keep the idea manageable. Ensure that your faculty will not be biting off more than they can chew at one time. If the vision is powerful yet manageable and your support for it is persistent, the faculty will understand that they cannot simply avoid it. In turn, the vision will begin to receive traction, data will begin to be collected to validate and if successful, the idea will become accepted by the community.

Change will initially be met by challenges but a leader who has a clear vision, understands her faculty, maps out a clear path to meet them half way and is persistent in continuing to stick to the vision will ultimately find success.

Photo Credit: Scott McLeod

Starting with Education Futures

This is a week late but better late than never, right?

I am starting the Open Course in Education Futures with George Siemens and Dave Cormier because I am not content with the status quo in education. While I consider myself to be ahead of the curve regarding implementing new practices or technologies in my classroom, I am only one person. In the past, I have worked to help my colleagues to understand current trends but I hope that this course will help improve my impact as an educational futurist.

Based upon our first reading, this course will be dedicated to understanding how to anticipate trends, plan for different scenarios, map out a vision and mission, create goals and implement strategies to ensure schools will be prepared for future challenges and changes.

Learning about and preparing for our educational futures is something that EVERY school must do. My hope is that this course will help me understand how to prepare for the massive changes we will continue to face. I want to be able to help a school prepare for the changes, draft a vision that a whole school can support  and help a school adjust to those changes while still embracing their particular culture.

Change is inevitable and if we are not properly prepared for it our schools will struggle to adapt. As I begin this course, my hope is that once I finish I will be able to extend my understanding of future trends and be better prepared to help a school adjust and be prepared for those potential futures.

If you feel the same way, you should join the class. We are only two weeks in.

Photo Credit: Pink Sherbet Photography

The case for mobile phones in education

Mobile phones are ubiquitous.  Whether you like it or not, your students have them and are probably texting or on Facebook while in your class.  Some may see these tools as a massive problem for teachers but mobile phones are the one technology that has the most potential to improve education around the world.

There are many initiatives to improve educational opportunities for students.  Laptop programs have been extremely popular for the past few years.  While laptops provide access to information and offer the opportunity to engage the world, they are expensive and not every student can afford one.

Mobile phones, on the other hand, are less expensive and provide many of the same opportunities to extend the classroom for learning.  We need to find a way to provide quality education for all people around the world and at this point mobile phones are our best bet.

To support this argument, I have listed below a number of very useful blog posts, presentations, or websites that examine the power of mobile phones in the classroom.  At the end of the day, mobile phones will not change what we need to teach but they can improve how our students learn.

Post: Please turn on your cell phone

Presentation:  Cell Phones as Classroom Learning Tools

Website: Cell Phones in Learning

Wiki: Cell Phones in Learning

Wiki: K-12 Cell Phone Projects

Delicious: Articles on cell phones in education

Website: MoblieActive

Photo Credit: Quinn.Anya

The Next Step

I have been thinking a lot lately about where teaching will go next. As mobile and cloud computing become more ubiquitous and globalization increases, collaboration and communication will define the success of an educational institution.  In the 2009 Horizon report, the authors state that some of the future trends in educational technology will only enhance these principles.

3 C's

While at Educon 2.1, Kendall Crolius, founding partner of The Sulevia Group, stated that the purpose of school is based upon the three C's: Creativity, Collaboration, and Courage.  Those three C's are the basis of what students need to learn and how we need to teach.  If our teaching does not address these three C's and I would add a fourth, Communication, we are doing our students a disservice.

Globalization

As our world becomes smaller and folks in New York must work live with their peers in Bejing, it is imperative that education help students develop the skills necessary to be prepared for the scope of collaboration needed for success.

The majority of our classrooms are not built for this kind of learning.  We must force our students to see beyond hardbound books and multiple choice tests to have them prepared for the world they will face after school.

How To Get There

If we are to maximize the global collaboration and communication stated in the Horizon Report, we must focus on developing programs like the Horizon Project 2008. The project brings schools from all over the world together to work on a common goal.  Programs like Skype, Ning, and Google Docs allow the ability to design an environment where students from around the world can communicate and work together.  It is this type of communication that will build a community and it is that community that will build the skills and understanding that our students require as they look ahead to their future.

Our model of education is outdated, are we ready to address this on the macro level?  I sure hope so.

The Educational Impact Of Our Inauguration Trip

I write this from Worcester, MA the day after returning from Washington, D.C. and our Inauguration trip. While in Washington, 11 students from Worcester Academy worked three 18 hour days, conducting interviews, producing videos, and writing blog entires examining the Inauguration. While it is obvious that experiencing the Inauguration alone is monumental, it is the work that the students have done and their intrinsic motivation that stands out in my mind.

Ever since this project was developed, the idea behind it was two fold.  My co-director, Pete Smith and I wanted our students to experience the Inauguration but just as important, was the educational potential the trip provided.  This trip was about giving our students the opportunity to document history and express themselves and their perspectives.  Watching my students wake up at 6am and for some to work until 1am the next morning was awe inspiring.  These students put their all into collecting and producing quality content about the Inauguration.  They spent time developing strong articles on real issues surrounding the Inauguration.  They had to develop questions and interview tactics for everyone from Dee Meyers, President Clinton's Press Secretary and Congressman James McGovern, to high school students.  The challenges they faced are one's journalists face on a daily basis and the work they created added a valuable perspective. The students recognized that they were not only witnessing history, they were documenting it and people were interested in what they had to say.

The Educational Impact

Our 11 students' focus and dedication that developed from this trip drives at the idea that the way students learn no longer can fit into a 19th century or even 20th century model.  The value of the students taking ownership of this trip to produce a quality article, image, video, or twitter update (tweet), outweighs any learning they would have gained through a lecture.  Brian, one of the students on the trip, stated the following on his Twitter account:

no it was a lot of work but it was much more fun than the work back here.....soooo maybe it was a vacation?

Today's students are capable and ready but we must engage them.  We must get them interested in learning.  This trip did that but it does not have to be the exception to the rule.

No matter the topic, whether it is the Inauguration or Geometry, when students can produce and share something of value, their willingness to really invest their time and energy will dramatically increase.  If we really want to find out how you can get your students to want to learn and be engaged, find a way to have them take ownership of the material.

Students today are surrounded by an amazing array of media tools.  These can be used by classes in any discipline to get your students to synthesize learned content and produce a something of value that highlights their understanding.  A student's education is not about simply learning facts but rather understanding the concepts.  If you want your students to really understand the content, they need to see its worth, they need to produce something of value connected to that content.  Regurgitating information does not work.

While social media was our medium for this, there are many ways and methods for a class to accomplish this concept.  Student driven learning is possible and necessary.  As the technology becomes more ubiquitous, we must prepare our students to understand that the tools they use on a personal level can produce quality content of value.

I witnessed history and I will never forget that but what will always stay with me was the dedication and efforts put forth by our students.  Their work is proof that student driven or project based learning is valuable and worthwhile.  As my memories of the Inauguration fade, it will be the dedication and hard work that our students put into producing their work on this trip that will always stay with me.

Photo Credit: Brandy Agerbeck

A cross-posting from http://wainauguration.org

Teaching In A Cognitive Age

A Shift in Thinking

I have read a few articles over the last few days that deal with cognition and how our world is evolving in the 21st century. The articles by David Brooks of the New York Times, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, and Wayne Hodgins all focus on the development our cognitive abilities as a requirement for success in the 21st century. The argument all three state is that our economic struggles and potential successes are not based upon globalization and the expansion of China and India, but rather it is a matter of building and supporting our ability to think. Wayne Hodgins, a "strategic futurist" states,

The future is about putting more and more focus on leveraging and augmenting our cognitive abilities

Teaching and Cognition

Much like I mentioned in my last post about Dan Pink and Johnny Bunko, our success as a nation is dependent upon teaching our students to develop their abilities to think, solve problems and be invested in their work. It is not about memorization or regurgitation. We have computers that do that for us. Sites like Wikipedia make the lecture based classroom obsolete. The teacher is no longer the sole holder of knowledge. Whether you like this or not, the fact of the matter is that we have machines to retain information. For our students to succeed in today's marketplace, we must prepare them for the "cognitive age". The skills we teach and the ability to process information and develop solutions will be much more valuable than the simple memorization of dates or formulas.

Our future success as a nation, rather as a globe, is dependent upon our ability to synthesize information and focus on problem solving. Not only will we be preparing our students for a flattened marketplace but in teaching the ability to think and be creative, our teaching will become rewarding for our students. If the students can see the value of what we are teaching, they will become intrinsically invested. If our students become invested they will be motivated to do well.

It is a linear progression. If we teach cognitive skills to our students, they will be prepared to handle the problems facing businesses in today's global economy. If the students see the relevance of their work and enjoy what they are doing, they in turn are motivated to work hard and do well.

When examining the question of teaching in this cognitive age, we must understand that we can not do justice to our students with traditional methods. Our students must be prepared and that will only come from having them become invested in learning how to solve problems to the topics they face.

With the advancement of technology and a flattened playing field, employers now require their workers to be highly skilled problem solvers. This ability will only be developed by moving away from memorization of facts and teach how to think and problem solve using those facts. If we do not address this gap in our teaching we will do a disservice to our students and our nation's future success.

photo credit: symic and mark(s)elliot

Welcome

I have recently been hired as the Director of Academic Technology at Worcester Academy and this is my first entry on my new site. In this role I will be integrating technology at both the departmental and classroom levels. I will help faculty, staff, and students understand and utilize the technologies available to assist the learning process.

Previously, I was solely teaching World History and the focus of my thinking was on incorporating technology into the history classroom. This blog and my future entries will go beyond simply the humanities. I will investigate the state of education and how we can improve and support it with creative and innovative teaching methods across all disciplines. This blog will not simply identify potential technologies, rather the goal is to bring awareness to how technology as well as creative and innovative teaching methods are improving our profession. Topics will range from learning environments to lesson plans.