Posts tagged IT skills
Education tech highlighted in three nations
Feb 7th
The growing importance of technology in education was clearly evident in three different countries over the past few months.
In November 2010 the U.S Department of Education released its National Education Technology Plan Learning Powered by Technology http://www.ed.gov/technology/netp-2010.
John Kershaw
The plan was led by Karen Cator, Director of the Office of Educational Technology. Cator is well versed in learning and technology having previously worked with Apple’s education group and as a previous chair of the Partnership for 21st Century Skills (http://www.p21.org/). Cator’s plan is inspiring and echoes her core belief that positioning America for success in the global knowledge economy calls for the integration of technology with learning to enable the nation’s youth to be equipped with 21st Century skills.
Now the Obama administration must breathe life into the plan through advocacy and concrete investments. We trust P21 members will be vocally supporting the plan. Read the rest of this entry »
Inclusive ICT rich education needs to expand coverage
Jan 6th
New Brunswick is well known for its inclusive education system. The province’s ongoing effort to successfully integrate children with disabilities into the regular classroom is to be lauded and emulated.
John Kershaw
Unfortunately, some pundits believe incorrectly that inclusive education is solely about ensuring children with disabilities receive the accommodations they need to be successful in the classroom. This thinking is both erroneous and dangerous. Read the rest of this entry »
Canada should to follow U.S. 21st Century skills program
Nov 11th
In the United States, the Partnership for 21st Century Skills (P21) has emerged as a coalition determined to advance 21st Century learning agenda in that country. The P21 website states that: The Partnership for 21st Century Skills is a national organization that advocates for 21st century readiness for every student. As the United States continues to compete in a global economy that demands innovation, P21 and its members provide tools and resources to help the U.S. education system keep up by fusing the three Rs and four Cs (critical thinking and problem solving, communication, collaboration, and creativity and innovation). While leading districts and schools are already doing this, P21 advocates for local, state and federal policies that support this approach for every school.P21 consists of federal and state agencies, private sector businesses and non-government agencies that all recognize the need to advance 21st Century learning in the United States.
John Kershaw
Canada would do well to emulate P21 and create a coalition of Canadians and Canadian organizations devoted to advancing 21st Century learning in this country. The Ministers of Education in Canada have taken an important step in declaring their commitment to work together; it is time for others to join the movement in this country and create a “coalition of advocates” for 21st Century learning.
Provincial and Territorial Ministers of Education in Canada recently committed themselves to explore the global 21st Century learning movement and its potential impact on public education systems. The Ministers met in Winnipeg on September 23/24th , 2010 to advance their Learn Canada 2020 agenda. Read the rest of this entry »
New Brunswick releases 21st century learning plan
Jun 8th
On May 14th the Anglophone sector of the New Brunswick Department of Education released its proposal on how to shift our public education system to a 21st Century learning model. The plan was developed using a co-leadership model with principals and district leaders, and the consultation document will now be used to engage our teachers.
John Kershaw
As New Brunswick teachers were each allocated a notebook computer, for the first time in history we were able to forward a copy of a draft learning strategy to every teacher, for their advice and counsel.
The plan, entitled 21st Century Learning (NB3-21C) is available for review at our departmental website: http://www.gnb.ca/0000/index-e.asp.
While the three year plan is quite comprehensive, four key elements are emerging as critical pillars to success. Let’s call them the CRT2 formula, where C is Creativity, R is Relevance; the first T is Time and the second, Technology. Read the rest of this entry »
Three questions for learders seeking 21st century public education
May 18th
Transition expert William Bridges (Managing Transitions: Making The Most of Change, 2009) cites three questions he poses to leaders when they seek help with change. He asks these questions so leaders anticipate what people affected by the change will be asking.
Bridges position is that if the leaders of change can answer the questions concisely and informatively, their chances of success will be higher. His questions are: What is changing? What will be different? Who’s going to lose what?
John Kershaw
As we seek to shift our New Brunswick public education system to a 21st Century model of learning, Bridges three questions resonate and we need to have the answers for our teachers, school support staff, parents, partners, stakeholders and elected officials.
As we continue designing our NB3-21C strategy we are finding that ICT is offering us a host of venues for engaging people in our system. Our recent NB3-21C video (http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=new+brunswick+education&aq=f) set the stage on “why” change is required. We are now turning our attention to identifying “how” change needs to takes place. Read the rest of this entry »
The Coolest Stuff in Digital Media: Checking Out Ryerson’s Digital Media Zone
May 5th
I’m often asked at IDC what the coolest technology is that I’m seeing in Canada from tech startups. In the Digital Media space, and in Toronto specifically, a good place to source out hot new digital media technology is at Ryerson’s new Digital Media Zone (DMZ), which officially opened on April 7, 2010 (http://www.ryerson.ca/dmz/).
Located on the 5th floor overlooking Yonge-Dundas Square, the DMZ connects Ryerson students, graduates and alumni from different disciplines to take digitally inspired concepts and make them real solutions and marketable products. Ryerson’s President Sheldon Levy explained that Ryerson does not take a stake in the technology being developed; instead it provides the space and equipment for students to test and try their ideas in a safe environment supported and funded by the school.
The result? Some pretty cool and marketable technology. Examples include: Read the rest of this entry »
1:1 computer model for students gains international approval
Mar 5th
“The world is finally accepting the inevitability of the 1:1 computer model in the classroom.”
Bruce Dixon, a globally renowned learning visionary, made this pronouncement at a conference in Vienna, Austria on February 23, 2010. The conference, hosted by the Austrian Ministry of Education, was sponsored by the OECD, the Inter-American Development Bank and the World Bank (www.bildung.at/nml-conference2010). Dixon’s declaration was heard by 120 delegates representing 42 countries, including many developing nations. What delegates had in common was their effort to introduce one computer per child models into their public education systems to meet the needs of New Millennium Learners. Read the rest of this entry »
Preparing today’s students for a tech-driven future
Dec 16th
Is public education fading in relevance to today’s young learners?
As the Deputy Minister of the Anglophone Sector of New Brunswick’s public education system this question haunts me every day. My senior management team and I recognize that rapid advancements in information and communication technologies in the “Knowledge and Innovation Age” are dramatically impacting economies, societies, governance models, and individuals. Authors such as Thomas Friedman (The World Is Flat) are helping us comprehend the breadth of the changes that are sweeping digital planet earth. Read the rest of this entry »
