Thanks to all those who came to my workshop and keynote speech at the III Forum Microsoft Educacion, Madrid (#IIIForumEdu). This was a really well organised and well attended event – and thanks to my Microsoft colleagues, especially Juan Ramon Alegret Crespi; Maria Zamorano Alberruche; Irene Ocaña del Rey; Lola Chacon Gutierrez; and Fernando Bocigas… Read More
What can we learn from South Korea?
Of all the places I’ve visited, I’ve not seen technology so deeply embedded into daily life anywhere as much as in South Korea. Boasting technology giants such as Samsung and LG, South Korea places a conspicuous high value on technology in practically all aspects of life. Korea’s remarkable technology driven growth has also been accompanied… Read More
2012 – The Year of Constructive Disruption?
This article is a personal perspective of the key Education Technology trends that we can expect to see in 2012. Whilst not expecting anything as apocalyptic as the Mesoamerican Long Count Calendar theory, my belief is that the world of education technology will see new and powerful disruptive forces in 2012. Whilst there are certainly… Read More
BYOD / BYOC?
The question of “Bring Your Own Device” (BYOD) is dividing opinion across the world of Ed Tech – and increasing scrutiny over how schooling budgets are spent is fuelling the debate. In essence, BYOD is about letting students bring their own devices – from mobile phones to full blown laptop PCs – into school as… Read More
Putting the “i” into Singapore Schooling
With top rankings in PISA and TIMMS, Singapore is the envy of many schooling systems around the world. Whilst ICT is just one of a range of factors that affect learning outcomes, it is a key tool for meeting at least two of the four key desired outcomes of the Singapore schooling system – for… Read More
CRADLE Conference, Singapore
On August 1st I was fortunate to be given the opportunity to deliver the Keynote at the CRADLE conference in Singapore. The presentation contained a mix of material contained in “Schooling at the Speed of Thought” and some of the articles in this blog, especially the Transformation Phase article. Here’s the key points: ABSTRACT Introduction Singapore was one of… Read More
The Transformed Phase
This is the fourth and final article on the phases of transformation that schooling systems go through. The first was “Taking the First Steps”, and this phase is characterized by access. The second, Taking the Next Steps – The ‘Enhanced’ Phase, is where technology is used to enhance existing processes. The third -“The Strategic Phase”… Read More
Transforming Schooling in Old Buildings – “New Wine in Old Bottles”
A question that I get asked constantly is “how do we implement change in ordinary ‘factory schooling’ buildings”? Last week I was fortunate enough to be able to visit the Cornwallis Academy in Kent in the UK where they are part way through transforming out of the factory schooling model into something much more effective. Whilst, clearly,… Read More
SeeChange Plans
Strategic plans to improve schools are crucial, however the vast amount of data can make this process time consuming and ineffective. In the US, Mariner’s SeeChange™ Plans allows teachers and managers to turn data into insights to drive school improvement. Teachers and administrators can easily access the relevant data, ask the relevant questions and measure outcomes. SeeChange™ Plans… Read More
Bad ICT practice – key things to avoid
Michael Trucano from the World Bank highlights some bad Education ICT practice: Dump hardware in schools, hope for magic to happen Design for OECD learning environments, implement elsewhere Think about educational content only after you have rolled out your hardware Assume you can just import content from somewhere else Don’t monitor, don’t evaluate Make a… Read More
