Group items tagged

"Scott McLeod, in his blog, Dangerously Irrelevant, recently reminded us of a line from Mission Impossible, and we must apply that challenge to all of society. "Your assignment, should you choose to accept it" is to take education truly into the 21st century. It is not enough to say that we are already living there. Technically it is the 21st century, but our schools are not there, and our challenge now is to reinvent schools for the 21st century - for the sake of our children, our students and the welfare of our world. Making such a paradigm shift is not easy. After all, when any of us thinks of education, we usually think of what we knew as school - the way it has always been. That is how parents, policy makers, politicians and many students think of school. But we have to make the paradigm shift to 21st century education. So what is 21st century education? It is bold. It breaks the mold. It is flexible, creative, challenging, and complex. It addresses a rapidly changing world filled with fantastic new problems as well as exciting new possibilities. Fortunately, there is a growing body of research supporting an increasing number of 21st century schools. We have living proof, inspiring examples to follow, in schools across the United States. These schools vary, but are united in the fundamentals of 21st century education - see Critical Attributes of 21st Century Education and Multiple Literacies for the 21st Century. Scott McLeod has issued the challenge of creating a plan to get us from "here" to "there"."

Derek Wenmouth produced this slideshare "Introducing some of the challenges, changes and trends facing schools and teachers in NZ in 2011"

"Building programming capacities through coding mini-challenges"

"ICTEV encourages you to be part of our 2013 state conference to be held on Saturday 25th May 2013, with the theme IT Takes A Village. The educational landscape is no longer one of isolation and remoteness. Teachers, students and communities are now part of the greater picture of global learning. The development of ICT has had a huge impact on this ability to share, communicate and collaborate. As educators we can help promote and tell the stories of our craft, our innovations, the successes and challenges. This is what we like to hear and learn from. We like to make a difference in our own educational settings so that we do not isolate our students but rather help them to attain their own aspirations and dreams.

It is commonly recognized that our nation's progress depends on improving learning, thereby creating healthier communities and a stronger workforce. In today's world, that requires us to take advantage of new learning tools to ensure that our children's learning is practical and prepares them for the challenges of the 21st century. The advantages of digital media now greatly outweigh the disadvantages and require that schools update their thinking and policies to provide guidance on the use of these tools to improve student learning and achievement.

"When we perceive of risk in sharing publicly and interacting online we nearly always risk obscuring huge benefits with our own inflated fear of the unknown. Research shows that digital risks are far outweighed, in fact, by challenges more close to home and school." From Ewan McIntosh comes this review of current research into issues of cyberbullying and connectivity

This post is an excerpt from the Challenge section in my latest book, Tuned Out: Engaging the 21st Century Learner.

Barclays, the U.K. banking behemoth, is challenging Barclays To Host Blockchains Hackathon developers to assist refurbish the worldwide derivatives market next month at a hackathon. Disclosed to the media this week, DerivHack will take place at Barclays' Rise accelerator spaces at the same time in New York and London on September 20 and 21, 2018. The ISDA (International Swaps and Derivatives Association), Thomson Reuters, and Deloitte are co-sponsoring the hackathon.

"Computational thinking (CT) involves a set of problem-solving skills and techniques that software engineers use to write programs that underlay the computer applications you use such as search, email, and maps. Below is a list of specific techniques along with real world examples from our every day lives. "

Some great programming challenges that can be used to stimulate learning and thinking.

"We are suffering here and there from a cut-and-paste culture bred by the ease with which any of us can locate and save information. Sadly, Google and its relatives give us all a false sense of security and wisdom as we can search for something as elusive as "the truth" and Google delivers an answer in less than ten seconds. Enter "the truth" in Google, elect "I'm Feeling Lucky" and with little hesitation or needless strain or effort we have our answer."

An older but good blog post by Jaymie McKenzie that explores the wisdom we think we are getting when we totally rely on a search engine to deliver the 'answers' instead of activities that are more challenging and worthwhile.