uLearn17 Conference - Future of Education

A great 3 days in Hamilton hosted by Core Education.  1600 attendees, 290 workshops, many litres of coffee, lots of connections, and heaps of fun.

The key note speakers

Eric Mazur - The Balkinski Professor of Physics and applied physics at Harvard University
Click here for the official blog of his speech. (You need to login but it is worth it)


Brad Waid - he’s described as “an influencer, a change agent a thought leader and a futurist”
Click here for the official blog of his speech. (You need to login but it is worth it)


Abdhul Chohan - Known as a pioneer for his work in learning through mobile devices, Abdul enabled student learning and empowered students at Essa Academy, Bolton.
Click here for the official blog of his speech. (You need to login but it is worth it)


Ann Milne PhD - Kia Aroha School, Colouring in the whitespaces.
Click here for the official blog of her speech. (You need to login but it is worth it)

My Key Take Aways

  1. Social media is powerful and is the world of our youth, Brad Waid
  2. Entrepreneurial business thinking should taught from Year 1
  3. The world is changing, the students are changing, is your practice and your classroom changing? Brad Waid
  4. Are the stats about jobs being lost and new jobs going to be created reliable?
  5. SAMR is important, are we using tech to substitute or redefine the pedagogy 
  6. 90% of people trust peer recommendations 14% trust advertising
  7. Make your classroom and your teaching as dynamic as the world around you!
  8. Growth Mindset is essential to be entrepreneurial
  9. The education revolution will not be authorized!
  10. Who decides when students should or need to talk and discuss, I say it is the students know when they need it.
  11. You have no excuse not to be engaging online, it is the world
  12. Professional Development - Specific to a profession VS Professional Growth - Applicable across professions
  13. SAMR is the measure we should use for why we are using tech
  14. Your digital footprint will be your resume and probably is becoming it now! eg, Profiles, search results, comments on you and your work, youtube, google maps contributor, reviews on trip advisor, ratings on you, recommendations on you. 
  15. Being anonymous online has consequences just like being everywhere. 
  16. Interactive learning activites are essential for online learning spaces 
  17. Live out loud. Share your everyday. Will be someone that will want to listen and can benefit
  18. 22% of gaming students play lol, 2.5% play minecraft do the math (which costs more???)
  19. Collaborative teaching is about how you work with your colleagues, you need good intentions and an open heart, the systems will reflect this. 
  20. Mainstream is a white stream
  21. Sustainable is the new relevant and responsive in relation to Culture. 
  22. What is school as Maori, Tongan, Samoan etc, not just as white western, european, pakeha?
  23. Can culturally sustaining practices be inclusive of all cultures or do they need to be seperate alongside each other with links made? 
  24. We dont teach maori about being Maori or Tongan or Samoan or etc, how far should we go, I get maori and euro centric teaching but how many cultures should we teach explicitly about and too?

Also presented two great workshops.

Citizenship through Minecraft - Check the slides here.

And

Using Teacher Agency to Break out of the Status Quo
This was a great session that finished with some really awesome work by the attendees adding to the google slides about their learning and plans for the future, processing the conference and relating it to their contexts.


And Finally some slides from a great workshop I attended by some teachers from Stone Fields High school from Auckland.
Great slides with heaps of great models, systems, and extra links and videos.