I recently compiled a short list of quotations that have greatly influenced my thinking about schools, technology, and the future. I’ve been handing it out to K-12 administrators to spark their thinking about schools’ obligations to prepare students for a digital society. I’m including it here and encourage you to disseminate it broadly. Pass this out to the staff in a school building, or to a group of administrators, and then ask them what they think! Get a conversation started!
On a different front, Consuela Molina is a student at UCLA, a gifted videographer, and a graduate of the San Fernando Education Technology Team (SFETT). Molina’s video, Digital Kids @ Analog Schools, should be required viewing for secondary educators, college faculty, and university administrators. Here are some choice quotes from the video:
- We have all this access to technology – something that can help us learn better – something that can help us personalize learning – and professors don’t really seem to get that.
- The workforce is … moving more towards a creative side. We’re not preparing students with skills that are necessary for these new kinds of jobs that we have.
- The jobs that colleges are preparing us for are jobs that are being outsourced.
- Anywhere you go outside of the classroom, that technology is being used… and I don’t understand why we’re not applying it to class.
- It seems like in order to progress in the world you need a document that says you’ve learned, regardless if you’ve really learned the skills that you need in the workplace.
- If your sole purpose is just to prepare them for the future, then you have to go outside and see what the future’s going to be.
- If this place isn’t perfecting my skills for the new business world, then why am I here?
It’s easy to substitute teacher or school for professor or college and see the relevance of this video to K-12 schools. If you are not familiar with the work of Marco Torres or the SFETT, you can read the two articles on his Edutopia profile.
enjoyed The handout, will Send it on to people that understand, and many that need to
Excellent collection of quotes. I’ll be sharing it with my staff at Monday’s staff development session.
Great! Let me know what kind of reactions you get!
Your list of quotes was just what I needed to find today! I have been dealing with some tech-resistant faculty members as of late, and this will be an excellent resource for initiating dialogue with them. Thanks for sharing!
Kim, I’m so glad this list was helpful. Drop us a note later and let us know how the dialogue went!
Digital Students @ Analog Schools
Karl Fisch Fischbowl Blog) recommends this movie … I agree that it is well worth watching! Karl got it from this blog post …. ## we live in a connected world##…