This was one of the best keynotes I’ve seen in a while. Here are my unedited notes from Alan November’s speech this morning:
It’s an interesting time to make stuff up
Assuming technology will change, what is essential?
Integrating technology across the curriculum is worse than Logo. Why would you apply technology to a curriculum that is flawed?
Tech is causing the culture of school to continue. The 1000 dollar pencil. Death by 1000 apps.
Good teaching trumps good technology any day. It doesn’t make bad teachers better. Put it in the hand of creative teachers and the gap gets wider.
Essential skill- being able to let go of what you’re good at
Definition of learning – you can apply the knowledge in a place other than where you learned it
Some schools are technology rich, but information poor. If you don’t have the right information you can’t teach well.
What do teachers really need to know?
Because of the web you can ask students to ask questions everyday. Too many lesson plans are based on teacher knowledge, rather than the pattern of questions that come in from the day before (Professor Mazur from Harvard)
The curse of knowledge
Knowledge of teacher could be biggest barrier to student learning
Technology should make thinking visible to teachers
How much should a teacher talk?
Has teaching become harder or easier? Has learning become easier or harder? Most people say teaching has become harder and learning easier.
Invest in students owning their learning
We’re spending too much time teaching teachers technology, not enough time teaching them to be critical thinkers on the internet.
In the age of internet, students need more structure – for example, you need two Iranian sources for a project on Iranian hostage crisis
Understanding global perspective should be embedded across the curriculum