ISTE 2012 Monday Highlight

The metaphor:
Today was a salad with dressing on the side kind of day: healthy dose of affirmation, not too heavy on the sales pitches, not too saturated with bells and whistles, and a little bit of crunch to balance the dish.

The facts:
The highlight session for me was session #1 with Dr. Michael Fullan talking about "Stratosphere: Integrating Technology, Pedagogy, and Change Knowledge."

In short:
The session talked about the ineffective role of technology in change knowledge when it was not paired up with pedagogy.

My takeaways:

student motivation decreases the older they get (the above graph charts enthusiasm by grade level. At 9th grade, the enthusiasm rate drops to a low of 37)
teacher satisfaction also decreases - "55% of new teachers leave the profession within the first five years" - Michael Fullan
the necessary breakthrough to combat the downward trends comes with new knowledge created with the partnering of technology, pedagogy and change knowledge
the criteria for new learning needs to include the following four things:

irresistably engaging for student and teachers
elegant, efficient ease of use
technologically ubiquitous
steeped in real life problem solving

digital saavy is not pedagogy - just because students are fabulous at technology doesn't mean that they are learning

goals and success criteria:

does the technology in question enable:

students to meet the success criteria
get there faster
achieve higher levels of learning

compared to previous similar students not using the particular technology

practice impressive empathy - empathy for people who get in your way
disruptive innovation in the early stages is not necessarily better than status quo. May not work in the beginning, but get over the innovation dip, and forge ahead.

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