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Learning Technologies 2008 Conference
Thursday 6th November
Gary Putland, General Manager of education.au
Learning Technologies: are we in control of my learning?
This is a catchy topic and Gary addressed it through the challenge of considering how we might address the needs of 21st century learners in Australia, and what education.au is doing to get this process underway. The general message was that we are way behind and need to be active in doing something NOW!
Gary’s session explored:
• Hyperconnected worlds
• Risk-taking and risk-sharing
• 21st century learning and the lag in policy implementation
• The National services education.au offers
MCEETYA has just published a paper about the learning needs of our students. This report recognizes Australian students as global citizens, and as members of the Asia Pacific region, and discusses the importance of Asian literacy. It also recognises the complex problems that students face today, and the role that ICT technologies play in their life.
The report also recognizes:
1. The digital divide: the haves and have-nots and the need for equity of access
2. That education extends beyond the school gate, and that students are currently learning in very different ways outside of school
3. Students’ need to develop critical skills – cross disciplined thinking in our networked world
4. Students’ need for values and skills: resilience, ingenuity, tolerance etc
Gary also discussed the key points of the Cutler Report on Innovation and ways in which the government has supported (or not supported) innovation through education.
He also noted that more people now have Broadband internet connectivity: 98% of connection time in 2006-7 was for personal use.
Kids today are able to do lots of things that they couldn’t do a few years ago. They are both consumers and users of technologies. They are the mash-up masters – they are hyper-connected. They are in control of their use of the net and all of the services and spaces they access and master.
Risk profiles on the internet are shifting. Innovation and creativity involves risk taking. In our world of fear, we are less prepared to take risks and we, as educators have learnt to become risk-adverse! We have removed the risk factor for our students. They are not learning from mistakes.
He asks: how, as teachers can we move that risk dial back so that our students can learn through the process of making mistakes?
How can we help students develop internet citizenship? Risk and opportunity go hand-in-hand.
21st century learning: change is not happening quickly enough!
Its about:
Fun, motivation, engagement
Intrinsic motivation: about life, curiosity, having degrees of control, undertaking challenging and collaborative tasks
Engagement: involved in relevant active, cognitive processes
21st century learning equips students with basic skills for life:
1. Skills for learning: negotiated, collaborative, interactive
2. Connect with local and global communities: flexible, anywhere, anytime
3. Flexible and Personal: anywhere anytime, personal programs, any technology
His organisation is currently developing thinktanks and blogs related to a national ICT Strategy
Get involved! Have a say!
Go to the education.au website to find out about these and acces lots of resources and information
http://www.me.edu.au/FusEd
Is a collaborative site for contributing to innovative ways of using technology in education, however currently the link does not seem to be working
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