Ed-Tech – Nosce Te Ipsum

Technology, Art, Design and Leadership

January 26, 2017April 14, 2017
by Muhammad

Appreciation of all these four elements in a successful person is rare to find and John, in his TED talk, explains the necessity of cultivating the understanding and presence of Technology, Art, Design and Leadership quality in our young generations. It is widely accepted today that the future is vastly different from how it looked to our parent’s generation when they were worrying about our education in schools and universities. The world we live in today is getting ever populated every passing minute. Abundance, penetration and reliance on technology as well as energy resources is evident in almost everything humans do on daily basis.The amount of data which flows through Internet, is created and stored on servers around the world, the crude oil pumped out, the electricity created, the number of planes flying across the globe, the production, consumption and wastage of food… the numbers representing the staggering and jaw-dropping daily statistics will simply blow your mind.

Our children are growing in an ever competitive world and they will have to develop unique qualities, not only to excel in their professional lives but also to become thoughtful, compassionate, empathetic and decent human beings. The work of educators and leaders of today is tough and has to encompass several fields of specialities in order to help prepare the next generation take care of our home we lovingly call ‘Earth’.

John highlights in a charming and humor filled talk how these elements are connected together, their importance and impact on our inward and outwards perspectives. Our schools need to adapt for these changes and start connecting all the key elements required for successful young people tightly connected to their roots and ready for the challenges of the future.

Ed-Tech

Reimagine Learning @ Learning 2.016

October 9, 2016October 10, 2016
by Muhammad

It is always exciting to attend Learning2 conference and even though this was my third time the inspiration is no less than the previous occasions. We even had a participant in my cohort who openly stated that he had come with a ‘skeptic’ mind but was clearly impressed with the quality, suitability and standard of learning which took place during the three days. Then there was the participant who mentioned yesterday – “It’s a shame that today is the last day, I just got all hyped and powered up… wish there were more days to this conference”. Last but not the least was a comment I heard from the crowd in yesterday’s social: “I am tired and inspired!”. It is always satisfying to hear these unofficial comments by fellow participants during a conference to know that the time and money was well spent and feelings are mutual.

This year’s conference was held in Ho Chi Minh City from 6th till 8th October at the magnificent campus of Saigon South International School (SSIS) and there was an amazing lineup (click here to see the full conference schedule) of Learn2 Talks, Extended Sessions, Workshops and Unconferences. Not to forget the importance of connections and PLN (professional learning network) opportunities during the social events. The most exciting part was obviously the student participation, not only in the shape of ‘Geek Squad’ members who were omnipresent throughout the conference to help resolve the ‘tech’ issues but also helping presenters run their sessions as well as leading the student workshops which were planned for the afternoon on last day of the conference. They did a marvellous job at helping participants understand the science and technology behind makerspace activities, presenting in student workshops teaching us: to code, use minecraft in history lessons and explaining how a flip classroom works, among many others. Two of the outstanding Learn 2 talks were given by SSIS students with the confidence and quality comparable to a viral TED talk.

Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0) License. Photo by Brandon Hoover (Flickr)

The only regret I always have from Learning 2.016 is that I can only select one extended sessions, workshop or unconference for every time slot available. I wish I could be magically present in all of them! Learning 2 organisers and presenters take care of this need by sharing their presentations and continuing the discussions via forums and cohort groups on Learning 2 website. As in any conference in this age of ubiquitous technology, inspirations from Learning 2 are shared and ideas are spread by Twitter throughout and even after the conference. All this hyper activity firing zeros and ones from participants’ devices leaves behind a plethora of knowledge nicely saved in the cyberspace for us to consult, review, share and continue to learn from.

It was clear from this year’s Learning 2.016 that there is a serious push in all leading schools about a need to open doors for including ‘personalised learning time’ into our learners’ daily routines at schools. Positive, strong and inspiring messages from learners and teachers alike were heard about this main theme, resonating throughout the conference. Not only the importance of allowing students to indulge in project based learning based on their own passions was highlighted but various methodologies were discussed and even practiced in extended sessions to help the participants understand and take back to their schools. Specialist educators and administrators shared the research, data and their own experiences fortifying these movements in every school from where participants had attended this conference to ‘Reimagine Learning’. There was a clear understanding that even though we may not know what jobs in future await the generation of students in our schools but we are becoming increasingly sure of the ‘skills’ they will require to perform those jobs. Our purpose is to find and implement effective ways to impart these skills of creativity, curiosity, inquiry based learning, critical thinking and empathy to support a ‘growth mindset’ in our students. This article by John Spencer defines this concept in an excellent way and is worth reading for every educator, administrator and parent.

Though I can continue to write about all the inspirational learning which I have absorbed during the last three days, I guess I will share it in shape of blog posts highlighting the practical ways in which the inspiration from Learning 2.016 will continue to reshape not only my own learning paths but also impact the schools and projects I am involved with. Meanwhile, for those of you who have not watched this video yet – Enjoy! and those of you who have – let it re-inspire you!

Ed-Tech

Balance, technology and learning

September 6, 2016September 6, 2016
by Muhammad

Balance is important. We are all well aware of this fact! We talk about it all the time in our everyday lives. We mention it in reference to food we eat, hours of the day we spend working and resting, money we earn and spend. Balance is tightly integrated in human systems. What reminded me importance of balance is an article published in ‘Time Online’ last week. It is not the first time though that media distributed work from this author on this topic. The article stirred a lot of activity on Twitter, probably due to the use of word ‘hoax’ with a big $ figure attached to the title.

In my opinion this was deliberate. A catchy title with a monetary figure is obviously going to get people talking. Money is also important to humans. Probably more important than ‘balance’! Get them alarmed about financial impact of anything and they will pay attention, change habits and go to great lengths in order to save money. Fear is a great tool for control and command!

Unfortunately, not many people who shared this article through their social media channels actually commented on it or provided their opinion. Fear again? of speaking their minds or perhaps they are not sure about their position on this topic. What alarmed me most is that it is the educators, administrators and people related to schools – the centres of learning for our young generations – who noticed and spread this article but at the same time refrained from providing their thoughts.

I would have liked Time to allow ‘comments on this article so someone could pick up the debate providing readers, who could be parents of young children, more food for thought and assist them in reaching a ‘balanced’ view of the situation.

Yes, as parents, we are all guilty of using technology as our replacement in order to avoid providing the active engagement our children seek but can we blame technology for this? As schools, districts and governments we are responsible for playing into the hands of tech businesses and happily ‘spraying and praying’ – in words of Alan November. Isn’t this due to the absence of ‘balance’? Aren’t these poor choices made by those put in power of our ‘learning centres’ and why don’t we question them? instead of blaming technology!

I have seen Sir Winston Churchill quoted around many classrooms

“He who fails to plan is planning to fail”

and yet we have such sensational writings by intellects like Dr. Nick Kardaras failing to dig deeper into the subject and providing some constructive debate on the topic.

Technology, as in electronic computing technology, is all around us these days and we all know that it’s impact is only going to grow. In last twenty years this world has exponentially increased not only the computational speeds and data storage but also miniaturised the devices at the same rate putting a computer in everyone’s hand, near permanently connected to the ‘information highway’. Advancement in computing technologies has brought revolutionary and permanent changes in our lives today and it seems we are increasingly thirsty for more!

Does it even seem wise to blame technology for all the risks to our next generation when we ourselves are heavily dependant on technology? When we know that our children will be even more ‘hyperconnected’ than ourselves?

I prefer the approach of the people in this ‘World Economic Forum’ from video above, who understand that technology is not going away and we have to adapt and find ways of finding the ‘balance’ in our lives with this new reality!

Education, as we know it will be an entirely different animal in 5-10 years from now and we have to brace ourselves for this change. I am afraid if we keep getting excited about tech fear mongering we will be wasting our precious time which shall be allocated instead in the process of accepting the change and implementing it in our schools through teacher training and specialist tech coaching. We need to accept that technology is here to stay and it will change the way we learn, create and share knowledge. We need to find the balance where we use technology for our benefit and not letting tech companies use us for theirs. Parents, teachers and school administrators need to spend more time and energy in making sure that our children are being guided in the use of technology and not living a sedentary lifestyle due to it. Screen and online time has to be managed and these skills have to be coached by experts in this field and learned – not only by the young ones but adults too 🙂

this article is cross posted on www.wildfire.tech

Ed-Tech

Designing Technology Infrastructure for Transformational Learning Spaces – part2

June 1, 2016June 1, 2016
by Muhammad

We cannot afford to not include an ubiquitous, agile and integrated technology infrastructure as one of the top priorities when designing new schools today or refurbishing old ones. It simply cannot be an after-thought as it mostly has been in the past. Tech infrastructure has to be included in the designs from day one!

Messy Tech — messy data centre – Image by Cloned Milkmen (Flickr). Creative Commons (CC BY) License

Similarly, having a team of specialists to do that job is also a must. How many times have a single person held the authority in making decisions about technology in a school? Yes, we have all seen that happening… and failing!

This team should include not only a visionary and experienced school leader but also learners, educators, parents and most importantly an expert from the information technology sector with hands-on experience working in education sector, with passion for both technology and education, member of technology and educational professional networks and with access to the tech industry. thats me 😉

We should be working backwards for designing the technology provisions and choosing the devices we will invest our time and money in. The guiding principles for our choices should be informed by

neat data centre - Image by grumpygir (Imgur) — neat data centre – Image by grumpygir (Imgur)

the experience, the program, the environment and ecosystem which this technology is going to support. Only then we will be able to come up with something which will resemble ‘success’.

While we discuss the provisions of technology in a school’s fabric we should also realise that the programs and experiences designed by the board, administrators and educators of a school should understand and appreciate the role of technology played today in education and professional world. The impact of technology on our lives today and its impending exponential increase should guide the design of learning spaces and the educational programs in a truly 21st century vision school and an innovative, visionary school needs the best teachers who can inspire their learners. Teachers’ roles should not be diminished by technology rather evolve into a role model who burns the fire of learning in the young minds and become their champions

cross posted on www.wildfire.tech

Ed-Tech

Designing Technology Infrastructure for Transformational Learning Spaces – part1

May 13, 2016May 20, 2016
by Muhammad

The definition of ‘transformational learning’ that resonates with my personal approach is:

Transformative learning is the expansion of consciousness through the transformation of basic worldview and specific capacities of the self; transformative learning is facilitated through consciously directed processes such as appreciatively accessing and receiving the symbolic contents of the unconscious and critically analysing underlying premises.

Wikipedia – Citation

I am going to restrain myself to keep this blog post within the constraints of the topic which is to look at designing ‘technology infrastructure and systems’ to support transformational learning. It is certainly not a novelty in this age and time to notice and discuss the ‘changes in educational methodologies’ being researched, developed and experimented around the world. I remember when Sir Ken Robinson’s TED speech on ‘Schools killing Creativity’ went viral 9 years ago. I am not yet sure if the timing of this speech was perfect, world was ready for a change, Sir Ken’s delivery of his concepts was impeccable or perhaps a bit of everything. One thing I am completely clear about is that transformation of and advancement in communication technologies brought this speech to every corner of the world with a speed unimaginable just fifteen years ago! All the work we have seen in the past decade, not only in the fields of designing learning spaces, development of new pedagogical methods, collaborative platforms but also the instant accessibility of information via miniaturisations of computing devices as well as

Lighted Bulb during Night Time – Pexels – CC0 License

fast speed wireless connectivity, in my point of view, was accelerated at phenomenal velocity due to the advancements in the field of information and communication technologies.

Technology or it’s integration into learning spaces is equally if not more important than designing the physical structure of a school itself. Learning methods are evolving faster than ever and built around the concepts of personalised, self paced environments. Coursera, which is a true ‘digital learning company’ and not a traditional university offering online courses has recently announced a MOOC (Massive Online Open Course) which will lead to an actual degree! This is a new frontier made possible only via wonders of technology and though the final degree will be awarded by a conventional University the method of ‘self paced learning’ via ‘stackable’ online courses is a modern one.

It was only 2004 when I installed a consumer grade wireless system between two buildings of a UK school where I was put in charge of the IT systems. It is around the same time when I used the MiniTel in France – one of the most successful pre-WWW information and communication service. Well, before I left that school in 2008, I had led the IT infrastructure project which saw installation of a campus wide enterprise level Cisco WLAN system with 1200 computers on site. The transformation of technology infrastructure in a traditional UK public school and most importantly the speed at which it was done was simply mind blowing. UK government and school realised that investment in IT infrastructure was vital to the survival of education in 21st century.

I will touch upon some of the key components for a successful and effective implementation of IT infrastructure in learning spaces in my second blog post of this series. Would like to leave you with this slightly less older TED talk from Sugata Mitra about technology and self-teaching.