As Thomas Friedman persuasively argued in this book "The World is Flat," we live in a very different and rapidly changing economic and cultural environment. Schools need to change to prepare students for the dynamic opportunities of the 21st century workforce. Collaboration in most of our schools today is still called "cheating." Our factory model of transmission-based education must be transformed into one where learners regularly collaborate, access and "remix" digital information, and extend their learning beyond the traditional bell schedule. One to one laptop initiatives, where every student and teacher have wireless computing devices; schools and libraries becoming community learning hubs offering public wireless and wired connectivity to the Internet; and the deregulation of education which frees learners to spend time in real-world, problem-based and project-based learning need to become hallmarks of education in the 21st century. This presentation shares this vision for reinventing education: Designing School 2.0, and offers suggestions for how civic leaders can move toward this vision at local levels.
Reinventing Education for the 21st Century (Designing School 2.0)
1. Reinventing Education
for the 21st Century
(Designing School 2.0)
by Wesley Fryer
handouts.wesfryer.com/ohio
speedofcreativity.org
2 February 2009
1
53. quot;As for enhanced efficiency in learning and
teaching, there have been no advances (measured
by higher academic achievement of urban,
suburban, or rural students) over the last decade
that can be confidently attributed to broader
access to computers. No surprise here, as the
debate over whether new technologies have
increased overall American economic productivity
also has had no clear answers. The link between
test score improvements and computer availability
and use is even more contested.quot;
Dr Larry Cuban. Oversold and Underused: Computers
in the Classroom. Harvard University Press. 2003.
ISBN: 0674011090. pages 178-179.
53
55. quot;...the billions schools have spent on computers
have had little effect on how teachers and
students learn... The reason for this
disappointing result is that the way schools have
employed computers has been perfectly
predictable, perfectly logical-- and perfectly
wrong. As we show in this chapter, schools have
crammed them into classrooms to sustain and
marginally improve the way they already teach and
run their schools, just as most organizations do
when they attempt to implement innovations,
including computers. Using computers this way
will never allow schools to migrate to a student-
centric classroom.quot;
Christensen, Horn & Johnson. Disrupting Class:
How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the
World Learns. McGraw Hill. 2008. Pages 72-73.
55
70. quot;While not abandoning core fundamentals, many NMS
educators have slimmed down their curricular expectations
over time, choosing instead to identify the most critical
outcomes, which are drilled down at the expense of
breadth. By utilizing a variety of web tools to focus on
students as content producers for an authentic audience
and building collaboration between learners, many teachers
engage students in an information-rich learning
experience.quot;
Students as Content Producers: 1-to-1 Laptop program at Nashwaaksis Middle School:
Participating in the design and delivery of curriculum
12 Jan 2009
By Jeff Whipple, Technology Learning Mentor
Nashwaaksis Middle School, Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada.
www.aalf.org/Issues/view.aspx?id=23
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107. Reinventing Education
for the 21st Century
(Designing School 2.0)
by Wesley Fryer
handouts.wesfryer.com/ohio
speedofcreativity.org
2 February 2009
107