The Global Search for Education
“The iPad has enabled greater access for both the education consumer and the creator.” — Tony Wagner
Education Technology
By C. M. Rubin with Harry Rubin and Michael Freeborn
EdTechTeacher will host the first national iPads in education summit, bringing together educators, researchers, tech directors, principals, school leaders and industry partners to identify best practices for integrating iPads into education. The conference will be held from November 6th to 8th at The Joseph B. Martin Conference Center, Harvard Medical School in Boston.
Schools and districts nationwide continue to invest in mobile technologies. The EdTechTeacher iPad Summit hopes to provide educators in this country and overseas with a forum to discuss how to leverage these devices in order to further empower teachers and students as creators of their own learning. “While there are some technical sessions,” explains the EdTechTeacher team, “the focus is on creating effective pedagogy, enriching curriculum, and leveraging the device in order to support students and teachers as innovators.”
“Knowledge is rapidly becoming a commodity and is increasingly democratized and globalized.”— Tony Wagner
The keynote speaker at the conference is Tony Wagner, Innovation Education Fellow at the Technology & Entrepreneurship Center at Harvard. Wagner, an advocate for the need to better prepare students for 21st-century careers and citizenship, collaborated with noted filmmaker Robert Compton to create the 60 minute documentary, The Finnish Phenomenon: Inside The World’s Most Surprising School System. Tony’s latest book, Creating Innovators: The Making of Young People Who Will Change the World (Simon & Schuster), provides a powerful rationale for developing an innovation-driven economy. He explores what parents, teachers, and employers must do to develop the capacities of young people to become innovators. What role can the iPad play in their education? What additional professional development for teachers is needed? What examples of best technology practices can we learn from around the world? Tony agreed to discuss these subjects with me.
“Students will need to learn to work in teams, understand and solve problems using multiple disciplines, persevere, take risks, and learn from mistakes.” — Tony Wagner
How has the iPad made learning in education more innovative, and how can educators use the iPad to achieve significant innovation in teaching and learning?
First, the iPad has made using most computer-based learning applications far more accessible and intuitive. You no longer need to take students to a special room full of computers for that occasional experience; you don’t need to pull a laptop cart around the school. And students don’t need hours of training to learn how to use the device or its applications. Assuming a decent broadband connection, most computer related work - researching, writing, sharing - can happen at any time and for every student, with little or no advance preparation. Secondly, the comparative ease of creating and distributing an iPad app, versus writing a program for a computer, has given rise to a dramatic increase in the number of education-related applications being created and disseminated. In short, the iPad has enabled greater access for both the education consumer and the creator.
“We need assessments of the skills that matter most - like the online test called the College and Work Readiness Assessment, which measures problem-solving, reasoning, and writing skills.” — Tony Wagner
Is the missing link in education technology trained teachers?
Having teachers who are comfortable with the technology and who know how to apply it in the classroom is critical, but that problem will be mostly solved by time. As older teachers retire in growing numbers in the coming years, and many young people who are digital natives come into teaching, I think we will see a much more rapid adoption.
But the real question is: what will this technology will be used for? I toured a school district recently that had, with corporate help, put web-connected white boards and student clickers into every classroom at huge expense. But, in classroom after classroom, what I saw was all of this technology being used for drilling and test prep. Instead of having work sheets on their desks, students had clickers that enabled them to “vote” for the right answer on the practice test. More and better teacher preparation won’t solve this problem. We need assessments of the skills that matter most - like the online test called the College and Work Readiness Assessment, which measures problem-solving, reasoning, and writing skills - to encourage more powerful teaching and learning, both with and without the new technologies.
“As older teachers retire in growing numbers in the coming years, and many young people who are digital natives come into teaching, I think we will see a much more rapid adoption.” — Tony Wagner
Can you share a couple of examples of good teaching/technology practice that you’ve seen in top education systems around the world, for instance, in Finland?
In Finland, what I saw was much less teacher-centric uses of technologies - I don’t recall seeing a single white board, for example - and much more student-centric technology applications. I saw students using Moodle (the e-learning platform) to share and discuss work. In a marketing class, I saw students discussing how various social networking applications were being used to market products and services. Here in the US, I’ve seen some schools like High Tech High require all students to have digital portfolios that show evidence of progressive mastery of the skills that matter most. I’ve seen virtual dissections in biology classes that teach far more than having to actually cut up a frog. And I’m excited about new software being developed that will enable students to better understand disruptions of complex ecosystems through simulation. Finally, the US Army has developed a wide variety of gaming applications to teach strategy.
“Developing the skills, habits of mind, and dispositions of an innovator, in my view, requires effective coaching - that is what I think all teachers must strive to become.” — Tony Wagner
Online education continues to be an ever larger force in how students learn - how far can it go to changing education as we know it?
Knowledge is rapidly becoming a commodity and is increasingly democratized and globalized. You no longer need to be in a classroom to acquire the knowledge you want or need. But in my view, knowledge is only one of the three pillars needed for life-long learning, work, and citizenship in the 21st century. In addition to knowledge, students also need so-called 21c skills, such as those I’ve described in The Global Achievement Gap. Finally, students need the motivations and dispositions that will enable them to innovate - to solve problems creatively - in whatever they do, which I’ve written about most recently in Creating Innovators. They will need to learn to work in teams, understand and solve problems using multiple disciplines, persevere, take risks, and learn from mistakes. They will need to be intrinsically motivated to acquire new knowledge and skills throughout their lives. Developing the skills, habits of mind, and dispositions of an innovator, in my view, requires effective coaching - that is what I think all teachers must strive to become.
For more information:
Creating Innovators
EdTechTeacher iPad Summit
Tony Wagner and C. M. Rubin
Photos courtesy of EdTechTeacher and Tony Wagner.
In The Global Search for Education, join me and globally renowned thought leaders including Sir Michael Barber (UK), Dr. Michael Block (U.S.), Dr. Leon Botstein (U.S.), Professor Clay Christensen (U.S.), Dr. Linda Darling-Hammond (U.S.), Dr. Madhav Chavan (India), Professor Michael Fullan (Canada), Professor Howard Gardner (U.S.), Professor Andy Hargreaves (U.S.), Professor Yvonne Hellman (The Netherlands), Professor Kristin Helstad (Norway), Jean Hendrickson (U.S.), Professor Rose Hipkins (New Zealand), Professor Cornelia Hoogland (Canada), Mme. Chantal Kaufmann (Belgium), Dr. Eija Kauppinen (Finland), State Secretary Tapio Kosunen (Finland), Professor Dominique Lafontaine (Belgium), Professor Hugh Lauder (UK), Professor Ben Levin (Canada), Lord Ken Macdonald (UK), Professor Barry McGaw (Australia), Shiv Nadar (India), Professor R. Natarajan (India), Dr. Pak Tee Ng (Singapore), Dr. Denise Pope (US), Sridhar Rajagopalan (India), Dr. Diane Ravitch (U.S.), Richard Wilson Riley (U.S.), Sir Ken Robinson (UK), Professor Pasi Sahlberg (Finland), Andreas Schleicher (PISA, OECD), Dr. Anthony Seldon (UK), Dr. David Shaffer (U.S.), Dr. Kirsten Sivesind (Norway), Chancellor Stephen Spahn (U.S.), Yves Theze (Lycee Francais U.S.), Professor Charles Ungerleider (Canada), Professor Tony Wagner (U.S.), Sir David Watson (UK), Professor Dylan Wiliam (UK), Dr. Mark Wormald (UK), Professor Theo Wubbels (The Netherlands), Professor Michael Young (UK), and Professor Minxuan Zhang (China) as they explore the big picture education questions that all nations face today.
The Global Search for Education Community Page
C. M. Rubin is the author of two widely read online series for which she received a 2011 Upton Sinclair award, “The Global Search for Education” and “How Will We Read?” She is also the author of three bestselling books, including The Real Alice in Wonderland.
Follow C. M. Rubin on Twitter: www.twitter.com/@cmrubinworld
The Global Search for Education
“We reinvented the notion of a film festival and we were disruptive mainly out of necessity.”— Craig Hatkoff
In Search of Innovation
By C. M. Rubin with Harry Rubin and Michael Freeborn
“Educate to Innovate,” President Obama’s campaign for excellence in science, technology, engineering & math, is a call to action that our education system embrace a specific type of orientation. Innovation requires educators to think about a 21st century education incorporating both critical and creative thinking beginning with the earliest years of a student’s education. And why is this focus so important? Welcome to the 21st century world of disruptive innovation.
Disruptive innovation definition: A disruptive innovation is an innovation that helps create a new market and value network, and eventually goes on to disrupt an existing market and value network (over a few years or decades), displacing an earlier technology.
Following on from my interview with Dr. Tony Wagner (author of Creating Innovators - The Making of Young People Who Will Change the World) in the “Global Search for Education: Is Your Child an Innovator?” my curiosity led me to discover further examples and perspectives of real world disruptive innovation in the fields of education and entertainment.
The Tribeca Film Festival, in association with noted Harvard Business School Professor Clay Christensen and the Disruptor Foundation, will hold the third Tribeca Disruptive Innovation Awards at NYU Stern School of Business today (April 27). Successful disruptive innovation will be honored in the fields of culture, education, healthcare, philanthropy, politics, religion and social entrepreneurship. Innovation Award honorees include Jack Dorsey (Founder of Twitter and Square), John Wood (Founder of Room to Read), Daniel Kahneman (Author of Thinking, Fast and Slow), Justin Bieber, Scooter Braun, Rick Rubin, Pat Metheny and Edward Burns.
I had the pleasure of connecting with Clay Christensen (Kim B. Clark Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School, co-founder of Innosight and author of the upcoming book, How Will You Measure Your Life?) and Craig Hatkoff, co-founder of one of the world’s most disruptive film festivals, namely the Tribeca Film Festival.
“In the history of access to knowledge, we’re at an inflection point that is rivaled only by innovations like the printing press.” — Clay Christensen
Clay, what is your view on the evolution of the role of technology in schools and what disruptive innovation based on technology have you seen in practice?
Schools have spent more than $60 billion over the last two decades placing computers in schools. But the traditional instruction style for all students still typifies the system. That’s because schools have done what all organizations are inclined to do when incorporating new technology. They cram the technology into their existing structure. And very little changes. But online learning is entering the system more disruptively, in a way that could eventually disrupt the classroom. We’re seeing it take root in areas of nonconsumption, meaning instances where the alternative is nothing. These include places like dropout recovery, credit recovery, advanced placement courses, and home schooling. As it gets it footing there, online learning stands a much better chance to improve over time and eventually become good enough to offer a competitive value proposition even for mainstream students. That’s when the classroom system will really change. Parents will start demanding it.
Craig, what is one of the more significant disruptive innovations that you have seen come out of the living laboratory provided by Tribeca?
There are many examples but one of my favorites is the move from the once traditional model of film distribution, i.e. the theatrical release/home video/ pay TV cycle, to a series of new distribution models, driven by various developments in technology and new enterprises that have made use of them.
In the new model, we have been able to change film release windows by creating a video on demand/iTunes/Netflix, etc. ecosystem (including festival day and date releases) as well as an online Tribeca Film Festival. We are now in 40 million homes year-round. Netflix and iTunes have also become significant factors. While the when-I-want where-I-want model may not be a perfect substitute experience for a sophisticated festival junkie, it is pretty clearly finding a new market. Plus it is good enough for markets across the country that don’t have access to their own film festival. You can only sell so many tickets over 12 days at the festival, but to reach 40 million homes on film distribution even if outside the actual dates of the festival is a pretty big innovation for a film festival. More and more filmmakers are becoming receptive to this type of film distribution. Tribeca has even set up our own distribution company that buys films out of the festival just like other distributors. For now we are focusing on the smaller budget films because that is where the need is and the festival platform itself gives us a competitive advantage.
“Online learning is entering the system more disruptively, in a way that could eventually disrupt the classroom.” — Clay Christensen
Clay, what programs or ideas entailing disruptive innovation are you aware of that have had or you believe will have a significant impact on the education achievement gap?
In the past only the privileged had access to computers. In fact the first computers, the mainframes, cost upwards of $2 million, so they were clearly out of reach. But through the process of disruptive innovation along came minicomputers, then personal computers, and now tablets and smartphones. That’s the force of disruptive innovation, and it is closing the achievement gap on an international level. Children in India only need handhelds to access the world’s most advanced courses. In the history of access to knowledge, we’re at an inflection point that is rivaled only by innovations like the printing press. Online learning may not close America’s achievement gap, however, because it might accelerate kids at the top as fast as kids at the bottom. So the population as a whole advances, but the gap doesn’t narrow. The reason why is that evidence is now emerging that online learners outperform traditional learning with many students and in many fields. The technology can be tailored to each student’s learning style. It also can be structured to help each student feel success every day.
Craig, the Tribeca Film Festival has been a disruptive innovation. What have been the key elements of this phenomenon and who have been the primary beneficiaries?
The Tribeca Film festival itself was started in 2002, right around the time I was spending time with Clay Christensen who created the disruptive innovation theory. I saw the opportunity to use Clay’s framework of simpler, more accessible products that got the job done. Our film festival had many jobs to do. We wanted to connect filmmakers with new audiences. We wanted to bring people back to the streets of Lower Manhattan. We had to keep the film purists satisfied. At first they did not understand the mission, voice or identity of the Tribeca Film festival. We wanted something for everyone, lots of free large-scale public events, and everyone to feel invited and to participate. I took great joy in disregarding purported rules of what a film festival is supposed to be. We reinvented the notion of a film festival and we were disruptive mainly out of necessity. Lower Manhattan was still in shambles because of 9/11 for our first two festivals. We had to be inventive relying on non-traditional venues, so we set up a drive-in on the west side highway where we even screened the final episode of Friends— that was pretty radical. The drive-in is now an annual event at the North Cove at Battery Park City.
As to who has benefited, I think this has been a win-win-win. The filmmakers have benefitted, the audiences old and new have had more access to independent films, and clearly Lower Manhattan has seen the rebirth that was the initial mission of the festival.
For more information: www.tribecafilm.com/disruptive
Craig Hatkoff, C. M. Rubin, Clay Christensen
Photos courtesy of Stern + Associates and Tribeca Film Festival
In The Global Search for Education, join me and globally renowned thought leaders including Sir Michael Barber (UK), Dr. Michael Block (US), Dr. Leon Botstein (US), Dr. Linda Darling-Hammond (US), Dr. Madhav Chavan (India), Professor Michael Fullan (Canada), Professor Howard Gardner (US), Professor Yvonne Hellman (The Netherlands), Professor Kristin Helstad (Norway), Jean Hendrickson (US), Professor Rose Hipkins (New Zealand), Professor Cornelia Hoogland (Canada), Mme. Chantal Kaufmann (Belgium), Dr. Eija Kauppinen (Finland), State Secretary Tapio Kosunen (Finland), Professor Dominique Lafontaine (Belgium), Professor Hugh Lauder (UK), Professor Ben Levin (Canada), Professor Barry McGaw (Australia), Shiv Nadar (India), Professor R. Natarajan (India), Dr. Denise Pope (US), Sridhar Rajagopalan (India), Dr. Diane Ravitch (US), Sir Ken Robinson (UK), Professor Pasi Sahlberg (Finland), Andreas Schleicher (PISA, OECD), Dr. Anthony Seldon (UK), Dr. David Shaffer (US), Dr. Kirsten Sivesind (Norway), Chancellor Stephen Spahn (US), Yves Theze (Lycee Francais US), Professor Charles Ungerleider (Canada), Professor Tony Wagner (US), Sir David Watson (UK), Professor Dylan Wiliam (UK), Dr. Mark Wormald (UK), Professor Theo Wubbels (The Netherlands), Professor Michael Young (UK), and Professor Minxuan Zhang (China) as they explore the big picture education questions that all nations face today.
The Global Search for Education Community Page
C. M. Rubin is the author of two widely read online series for which she received a 2011 Upton Sinclair award, “The Global Search for Education” and “How Will We Read?” She is also the author of three bestselling books, including The Real Alice in Wonderland.
Follow C. M. Rubin on Twitter: www.twitter.com/@cmrubinworld
