Dr. Milton Chen from the George Lucas Education Foundation gave an inspirational talk about the future of the American education system. Edutopia.org promotes the reinvention of education and provides answers to how we can motivate and re-energize our youth. He focused on taking advantage of informal learning spaces such as museums, libraries, churches, recreational areas to provide educational opportunities for youth.
Innovation is the key to creating an education nation
· A must do rather than a need to know
· Influence of technology – every minute 24 hours of new video on YouTube.
· Bugscope.com – now a child can post a picture of a bug to educational institutions and receive an answer from a renowned source
· Move from what to how
· Internet is fairly new – ability to share media and pictures accelerates the innovation cycle
· On a smart phone, all types of applications are available at a child’s fingertips – camera, internet, texting which open a whole world of accessibility. I never thought about that...
In his book, Education Nation: Six Leading Edges of Innovation in our Schools, Chen outlines 6 leading edges of k-12 innovation:
1. Thinking
2. Curriculum assessment
3. Technology
4. Time/Place
5. Co-teaching
6. Youth
Chen had some great examples of innovative processes for educational experiences:
· Google Art Project – bicycles equipped with cameras toured leading museums so you can tour the museum and view art
· Genyes.org
· EAST – Environmental and Special Technology program - In Little Rock, Arkansas, Horace Mann Middle School children have technology available to work on special projects – work on using problem solving skills, learn about community, 21st century skills, asked what they can give back to the community. One project was about the Japanese American Internment camps – one of which my father’s family was interned!
Thinking edge
o no longer a solo practitioner but a team collaborator
Curriculum edge
o social and emotional learning
o globalizing the curriculum
o bilingual education for all
o real work life
o connectedcalifornia.org
Technology edge
· Weapons of mass instruction
o IPod, iListen, iRead
· Online learning
· Wiki based
· Students love it!
o Study in Oregon – gave online tests vs. paper tests – students answered more questions
o Education and Ecstasy by George Leonard
o iRead in Escondido School District – every student receives an iPod to record their reading , share readings, kids want to improve their reading skills
Time/Place edge
o Smithsonian project – teams of school aged children were given the task to create a scavenger hunt for other children to follow. Create a mystery, story using multimedia. Children examined items in the museum more closely, collaborated on hunt. Peer based collaboration empowers children to believe they can make a contribution become more confident
Greatest edge = Youth
o 95% of the stakeholders are children
Co-teaching edge
o Students take on roles as teacher’s aide, empower them to teach each and learn from ea. other
o On Chen’s website Edutopia.org, he told us to look at Digital Age link and watch the segment with Jalen
He asked us what your definition of a great learning center is and make it short and memorable. His answer was : “Do the kids run in at the same rate as they run out?” which was very funny but really true! I think about the many times after storytimes where children come of out storytime and don't want to leave because they are playing with the Illuminart. As one of the “informal learning spaces”, I think our library does provide many opportunities for informal learning. When he was speaking about the time/place edge I thought about the teen GPS scavenger hunt program and how successful that was. If we offer special programs utilizing media they would definitely be popular - but the quesiton comes down to time and staffing - when could we offer the programs?
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